A street team is a term used in marketing to describe a group of people who engage with urban or campus communities to promote events.
[1][2] They are particularly prevalent in the music industry, which uses street teams for grassroots marketing and to promote awareness for artists and bands.
(see Loud Records sale late 1990s) For the smaller labels trying to get in the door of the music business, the thinking was in part to build a loyal fan base in key markets first, getting a strong street hype and "street-cred," getting on the local radio stations through the hype/word-of-mouth, and moving on to the larger record distributors with a much stronger negotiating hand and a solid "sellable" commodity.
Through this method of building a solid fan base with disposable income first, the smaller label could wield greater power in their initial distribution negotiations for the benefit of their recording artists and their profit margins.
The tastemaker was directed to create a team on the streets to make an unsigned music artist more popular through word-of-mouth and hype.