Don't let the title get your panties in a bunch, not all kids these days are lazy as hell. There are quite a few individuals out there that are highly driven by their love of one thing or another. But really, one useful tool I have noticed making it's painful jaunt in the same direction as the late 90's swing movement is the Street Team. Wikipedia (the only place for cold hard facts, ha!) defines a Street Team as a term used in marketing to describe a group of people who "hit the streets" promoting an event or a product. "Street Teams" are a powerful promotional tool that has been adopted industry wide as a standard line in marketing budgets by entertainment companies, record labels, the tech industry, corporate brand marketers, new media companies and direct marketers worldwide. Please correct me if I am wrong but at one point in time it seemed as though you couldn't get away from the damn things. They were everywhere and there was hardly a product, brand, or band that didn't have one. Now, in my time, I was only involved in one local Street Team which was for Spine Productions out of the Bloomington/Normal area so my knowledge is a bit limited. Or, maybe my age is just showing and I'm not hip enough for the times but lets take a look at Street Teams and why I believe they should still be a relevant way of getting the word out to the masses. We will also take a look at why I believe social networking has hindered the ability of the Street Team, in turn, making the entire process a bit lazy.
Its a simple win-win for everyone involved:
Please read over this segment of a statement from the Wiki article again: "Street Teams" are a powerful promotional tool........Not only are they a powerful promotional tool but for the band being promoted, there is very little to no cost at all for the promotion. There are a few different ways that Street Teams work:
1.) Proof of your activities. This is where you would get a picture of yourself hanging up/handing out flyers or a picture of a display you may have made at a local record store.
2.) A "diary" entry of the different ways you may have promoted in which you would log the date and times of activities done. Pictures would also be added here.
Either way the outcome is nearly the same, compensation. The individuals representing the band being promoted would either compensate you with various items or you would be awarded points that you could save up or turn in for rewards. For the most part the rewards are worth your time and effort, things like limited edition merchandise, free concert tickets, meet and greets, etc. made it a pretty appealing and lucrative venture for your time. When all is said and done the rewards as well as the promotional material sent out to Street Team members are a minimal expense in the marketing phase for the band. Not to mention, the fan who supports the band by putting time and effort into the Street Team is compensated for all of their time with items that few individuals get access to.
Social networking and the lazy factor:
Don't get me wrong here, there is a very good chance that you may have learned about this site from one social networking resource or another. They are certainly not the Antichrist and can help spread the word of your band extremely quickly. So where does the laziness come into play? The lack of footwork and actual use of physical items. It is all too easy these days to make a status update with a link to a YouTube video. Social networking has left a majority of us with the attention spans of a goldfish so its status update then off to find the next unknown "cool" to share with our friends. Generally if I see someone taking the time and effort into getting my attention, I usually give the effort more than just a quick glance. With social networking, its just not so. The people with actual talent tend to get buried and forgotten about because there is just too much going on in a short amount of time and the "meh" process begins. There has gotten to be an elitist attitude where people assume you know all the information is out there because one or two status updates had been made.
To give everyone a better view of what it is like to be a part of a Street Team, I contacted a friend who has been involved in more Street Teams then anyone else I have ever known. The following are my questions and her answers:
Q: How many street teams have you been involved with?
A: Oh lord lets see...
I have been on 5 Street teams: Astralwerks, RoadRunner, Century Media, Street Wise and Matador Records.
Q: How hard is it to get involved with a Street Team?
A: It was easy to get involved: You'd just email them, give them a little info about where you lived, what the town was like and the music scene here and that was it. They use to have links on their main web pages for street teams as well. Doubt they do anymore.
Q: What was the first street team that you actively became a member of? Why?
A: I *think* it was Astralwerks. I don't really know why, but I joined. Probably because I just started working at Co-op and wanted to get more promo stuff in for the store.
Q: What were some of the pros/cons of being involved with a Street Team?
A: Pros: Free cds, promo stuff, free shows and sometimes backstage. Cons: Handing out flyers at concerts. The worst thing ever. No one wants your shitty flyer, even if it's for a band they like.
Q: Normally, when being extremely active in a street team, the band or label you are helping to promote will ususally compensate your time in free merch of some sort....what was the best thing you have ever gotten as compensation?
A: Best thing I ever got: I was PAID to be on Astralwerks for a short time before they let me go due to they wanted to focus more on bigger cities (which I didn't blame them). I think I got around $300/month for about 4 months. At that time, Astralwerks was mainly a electronic label, lots of obscure bands. Now they've stepped it up and broadened their horizons.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone that has found a Street Team they would like to be apart of?
A: Advice: Good luck! Their basically non-existing anymore, at least IRL. Now it's all internet promotions. Hell, Roadrunner rarely even contacts us for stock checks. If you have some internet savy to you, and are apart of a lot of message boards, that is probably a plus. Many times they'll want you to post a banner, or something to that nature. But good luck trying to get them to send you anything physical anymore.
When it comes right down to it in today's age the right people can help take your band's promotion to the next level at a very minimal cost. Not to mention having a focused person or group of people on your side can really help spread the word without having to rely exclusively on social networking making the promotion stand out that much more.
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