by Abigail Caulder

Created on: May 24, 2007   Last Updated: May 26, 2007

I've been promoting different bands and musicians through street teams for about three years now and I've had countless people ask me how I got started. I hope my article will be of help to anyone interested in getting into the world of music promotions or for anyone who wants to work in the music business in the long run.

The first thing you have to do, is ask yourself if you have a love for music. If you don't have a passion for it, you probably won't have that much fun. Once you've established that, think about what bands you like and see if they have a street team. I've rarely found a band who doesn't, you just have to look. Some bands run their own teams, and others (usually the bigger ones) have teams that are run through their record labels.

Once you're on the team it's your time to shine. Some bands require you to start on an online street team before moving on to the offline team. Promoting online can actually be kind of tricky because you would have to advertise the band on the internet WITHOUT spamming. Many teamers think that spamming is the easiest way to promote online, its not. Most internet users will not even pay attention to spam so your efforts won't really pay off. Some methods that I've found to be effective are going to message boards that have a place specifically for promotions (you can easily find them via search engine). Also if you have your own blog or social profile (such as a myspace, buzznet, or livejournal) definately make your post on there. Be creative and persistant and document everything you do to send back to your team leader. The easiest way to document online promotions is by taking a screencap. Without proof that you've been promoting, theres no way for them to know if you've actually done the work or not.

Once you've shown that you can do the online work, the next step is the offline team. More teamers prefer offline promotion because in most instances you can get some awesome perks such as free materials, free concert tickets, and in some cases even backstage passes. Although the perks are a nice thing to have, remember that your work should always come first. In many offline promotions you'll be asked to hand out materials after concerts and set up displays at "lifestyle shops".

For the concert handouts, make sure the music is compatible with the artist you're promoting, for example, don't promote a country artist at a metal show. If you're attending the concert exit the venue before the last song or the encore to be

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