Great article! Well written, and I enjoyed how thorough they were, going so far as to interview certain people who passed by!
The results are pretty understandable, and the point of context is so potent. The consumerist culture that makes people work so obsessively to make as much money as possible is a bit sad and meaningless - for those who live like that.
I can't help but think this is all such a bad application to the context, a great musician treating a plaza during an 8AM morning rush like it was an evening concert hall. I imagine this would be common sense to the average street performer, something along the lines of 'know thy audience'. It would be nice if the great compositions could be immediately accessible to everyone, but that's just not reality, sometimes we have to help people to appreciate what's great in the music. I know I didn't immediately appreciate all the music that I now love... Though, it was pretty neat that every kid who passed by wanted to listen!
We as performers can do a lot towards controlling/manipulating/adapting to contexts, to the end of giving people the best chance to enjoy the music.