PerfectoPop: Give a Hoot!

Hey guys! In case you've been a bit disappointed with my sporadic blogs about the occasional free music or hot new artist (by the way, anyone see Lightfoot last weekend? I was sick and couldn't make it) over the past 4 months, I am here to say that I have been planning a massive Year In Review extravaganza that at this rate should show up around mid-January (coincidentally, around the same time as the weekend after my mid-terms. And my birthday. Just sayin'.) I've also been planning The World's Biggest, Comprehensivest Blog Ever About the Life and Work of Adam Young, also known as Owl City. And before I post the list of all his MySpace pages (I lost count after the first 12 or so, but believe me when I say it will be massive), I'd like to thank the site that has taught me so much about Adam and exposed me to all of his beautiful work: the Hoot Owls, Owl City's official street team.

Like Relient K and a bunch of other great bands, Owl City's street team is hosted by Fancorps. For the uninitiated, these street teams basically have a website with a list of "orders" for street teamers to complete. All the orders are optional, and they can range from circulating banners and putting up posters to making chalk art and Christmas ornaments. Besides the obvious allure of hanging Owl City on your Christmas tree, one of the main incentives for completing orders is accumulating points. (And of course, you get more for covering your street in chalky lyrics than putting a banner in your Facebook status). All orders require photos, screenshots, or written proof that you completed them, which actually gives me a reason to open the Photoshop program I got 3 years ago for Christmas and never learned to use. (I can't doctor any photos with it, but I can convert my screenshots for web!)

I've heard a lot of people complain that street teams are ways for artists to get free labor, but there's so much more than that, including but not limited to nice prizes like merch items for people who complete the most orders. (I'm shooting for a vinyl copy of Ocean Eyes at the moment!) I also get the personal satisfaction of knowing I am 65th highest earner of points out of the 3,605 members on the team. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

But really, the best part about the Hoot Owls is that it really is a street team. We're a little community that all have one big interest in common, so we all help each other out and don't get in too many heated confrontations!

In fact, my favorite part of the site is the forums. Wayyy back in the day before "Fireflies" exploded (a whopping six months ago!), this was THE place for me to talk to other Owl City fans. Now that us fans are everywhere you look (especially on the iTunes Top Downloads list), you would think the forums would be a bit less special. Actually, they're even better. Now, they're THE place for me to me talk to kids in Nebraska, Utah, and even the UK. Of course, most of our conversations (like the rest of our thoughts) are dominated by Owl City, but we've also had some really good conversations about religion, songwriting, being a fan of a very popular artist vs. a very small one, the coolest hotels in Dubai, and the cutest breed of owl (it's pygmy owls, by the way). It's also a meeting place for some of the most obsessed - er, knowledgeable fans of Adam Young, which means you get to find out about loads of interviews, videos, and side projects that would be virtually impossible to stumble across on your own.

So in conclusion, if you like Owl City, you should definitely check out the Hoot Owls! You can choose to complete as many orders as you wish. (I usually complete as many as I can on Fridays, then attempt to do schoolwork the rest of the week. Though I stop by the forums almost every day... It's all about priorities.) And unlike most lame-ass fan clubs, there's no fee to join - and almost none of the orders require you to own anything but a computer.

Also, we are planning a field trip to Dubai to stay in the hotel on the cover of Ocean Eyes. We are inviting Adam Young and Matthew Thiessen to join us. You doubt that we'll actually accomplish it (I do too), but you know you want in on this action. And the pictures of pygmy owls.