A street team is an amazing thing to have. It’s like having some minions to go about and do your bidding. Street teams can bring tons of success to many bands.
As Jack Black says in School of Rock “just because you’re not in the band doesn’t mean you’re not in the band. Enter the street team, a group of fans you can use to hand out fliers for your show, stickers, buttons, your cds, or whatever merchandise and promotional items you may have. Tons of companies do the same thing, think about all the stands you see at malls trying to get you to try some new product.
So how do you get a street team? One way is via your website. You’ll see many artists who have a banner that says “Join our Street Team!” somewhere on their site. Do the same. It obviously works or else artists wouldn’t bother. Also at shows, you can leave a sign up sheet by your merch, or mention it during your shows.
The thing about having a street team is that you have to be the boss. Like a good boss, you have to reward those who are doing well, and get rid of those who aren’t. Since these people are working for free, you want to make them feel that you’re thankful for the work that they’re doing. There’s several ways to do this such as mentioning them at your next show, hanging out with them, giving them some of your free merch, etc. Thanking them in a show may even inspire new members to join your street team.
Remember, you want to assemble an A-team to promote your music (Mr.T would be brilliant to promote my music). As you get more and more popular, more people will want to join your street team, in turn promoting your band even more and more. It’s a snowball effect.
