Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Photographer’s journal: A night with a street team

By Brody Mulligan of Brody Blog

Brody Mulligan

AUSTIN — Three strong, they started on campus, toting album promotion for Jack's Mannequin; A once-nightly tucked niche project of Andrew McMahon, the piano-pounding frontman of Something Corporate, now receiving the royal poster treatment deep in the Heart of Texas.

Under cover of darkness, on streets with treaded footpaths, campus enclaves between grassy quads, and plywood construction thoroughfares, they moved from place to place, taking just enough time to scope out the area, pull out a sizable poster and secure it with duct tape.

After midnight, there were few souls stirring about on campus--most everyone headed west or went out on the town to Sixth Street--and I quickly learned that my bright flash was not an asset in their environment, but was spared from paying it too much mind by the fervor and premeditated movement of the trio that made keeping my eye behind the lens a welcome challenge.

Brody Mulligan

Once I snapped a thick impromptu kiss, an open air boy-meets-girl celebration, I realized the same rush of feeling they gained knowing a musician they loved would be at the very least seen, if not heard.

"Street teams," as they are known, are hardly ever paid or compensated financially for time and expenses associated with doing everything from passing out flyers to clandestinely slipping sleeved compact discs onto the shelves of music stores.

Some record companies offer point-based campaigning systems, allowing them to track the amount of advertising and promotion done, and many distribute demos, merchandise, and even concert passes.

In the age of the internet, digital music, and declining record sales, street teams give record companies needed muscle on the ground, sewing grass roots in hopes of growing green.

But for many of the thousands of tireless promoters, it's a welcome task that is not to be taken lightly. Like many urban areas, cranes frame the skyline and construction controls traffic along hundreds of streets and boulevards.

For places beyond college message boards, there are unspoken rules for seemingly random and rampant plastering of adverts. Unless the date has passed, common courtesy is granted to other existing postings, and care is taken to ensure that one's work will not be ripped away without merit.

Brody Mulligan

But for the busiest streets or the newest construction facade, all bets are off--it's a war, in some ways--with the losers stuck with less-than-ideal real estate, and the winners crowning a vital intersection's electrical box. Seen by all those stopped going one way, and by all those going the other, for however long it stayed.

I wrote off some of my exhaustion to the pounds of camera equipment I carried, but couldn't deny that the whole ordeal was quite taxing and required a valuable luxury: time.

But for those who carry out the task, it's just another brick in the wall. Over cheeseburgers and soda before the outing, as they discussed locations, plans, song lyrics, and homework, Louis Miller perfectly described the ordeal.

"Whenever I can, I tell people how great this [or that] music is, and when I'm able to put up posters about albums or help get the word out about something, I feel like I'm a part of the band."

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