A street team is what a "grass-roots" organization might be called that is called upon to advertise and promote an event.

Originally, street teams were used by punk and unsigned bands to help promote their upcoming shows or recordings. Often unpaid, these teams are often comprised of teenagers who are rewarded with free band merchandise or show access in exchange for a variety of actions;

• bringing friends to the shows
• convincing friends to buy band merchandise
• phoning your local radio station to request their songs be played
• putting up posters
• posting to band forums or spamming bulletin boards online
• maintaining zines or websites dedicated to the band

In some cases, points are assigned to an individual for a particular action, and those points can be exchanged for tickets to shows, or for band merchandise. Some bands even produce special items just for street team members.

Professional street team management firms like M-80 have co-opted the street team concept in recent years. In exchange for promoting new major label music or movie studio dvd releases, team members are eligible to win prizes. Critics of this concept point to large corporations exploiting the unpaid labor of ardent fans.

Other grass-roots organizations are working with the street team idea, and are typically those that appeal to young, liberal idealists; PETA, Greenpeace, etc.