[EltonJ]

One of my players wants his Shaman character to perform songs.  I thought that it would be great if he could get a band together, so I had him read Attitude (SR4A, still).  My question is this:

Can Artisan work as a performance skill, or is it okay to have perform be a custom skill?

[Xenon]

Can Artisan work as a performance skill

Yes

In 4th edition "The Artisan skill represents a number of different creative skills, including singing. (SR4 p. 126 Technical Skills - Artisan)

For using the Artisan skill as a social skill to perform in front of an audience rather as a technical skill to create or compose I would personally consider linking it to Charisma rather than Intuition.

is it okay to have perform be a custom skill?

Yes

In 5th edition there was an Artisan skill (linked to Intuition) and a separate Performance skill (linked to Charisma and part of the Acting skill group together with skills such as Con and Impersonation).

In 6th edition Artisan is not explicitly spelled out, instead there is a generic Engineering skill (could see a Artisan specialization here that would likely be linked to Intuition) and a separate generic Con skill (linked to Charisma which include specializations such as Acting, Disguise, Impersonating and also Performance).

[EltonJ]

Ah, thanks to you!  Now the player doesn't want to risk his character getting famous as a singer, though.  It's sad, waste of potential plots if you ask me.

[Ajax]

Ah, thanks to you!  Now the player doesn't want to risk his character getting famous as a singer, though.  It's sad, waste of potential plots if you ask me.

Grab a copy of Mercurial from SR1, blow off the dust, and tweak any date references to make it fit in your chosen edition of the game. Add some punk rock back into the cyberpunk, maybe you’ll inspire your players.

[EltonJ]

Ah, thanks to you!  Now the player doesn't want to risk his character getting famous as a singer, though.  It's sad, waste of potential plots if you ask me.

Grab a copy of Mercurial from SR1, blow off the dust, and tweak any date references to make it fit in your chosen edition of the game. Add some punk rock back into the cyberpunk, maybe you’ll inspire your players.

Ah, good idea! I'll check ebay. 

[FastJack]

Ah, thanks to you!  Now the player doesn't want to risk his character getting famous as a singer, though.  It's sad, waste of potential plots if you ask me.

Grab a copy of Mercurial from SR1, blow off the dust, and tweak any date references to make it fit in your chosen edition of the game. Add some punk rock back into the cyberpunk, maybe you’ll inspire your players.

Ah, good idea! I'll check ebay. 

Or, you could purchase the PDF at Catalyst Game Labs for $4.00, or the PDF or Print on Demand at Drive Thru RPG

[EltonJ]

Ah, thanks to you!  Now the player doesn't want to risk his character getting famous as a singer, though.  It's sad, waste of potential plots if you ask me.

Grab a copy of Mercurial from SR1, blow off the dust, and tweak any date references to make it fit in your chosen edition of the game. Add some punk rock back into the cyberpunk, maybe you’ll inspire your players.

Ah, good idea! I'll check ebay. 

Or, you could purchase the PDF at Catalyst Game Labs for $4.00, or the PDF or Print on Demand at Drive Thru RPG

Yeah, I bet POD is cheeper than paying 18 dollars for a used copy ($10 for the book, $8.50 for shipping).