With recent crackdowns on New Orleans street performers by the City Council, the Catholic Archdiocese, French Quarter residents and now the state itself, it is alarmingly clear that the music of Louisiana is in a state of siege.

Although most musicians say that they have a diligently obeyed current laws, and even drafted their own rules of etiquette which echo the demands of those who oppose them, the recent passage of Senate Bill 909 by the Louisiana legislature, which requires automatic ...