Photo credit: Priscilla Du Preez
If you’re serious about your music career, you should create an Electronic Press Kit. It looks professional. It helps tell your story. And it can help you get gigs and music reviews.
An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is a digital promotional package you can send to venues, festivals, and people in the press. It’s usually something hosted on your website on a page not shown in the menu – it’s just for the recipients you send it to and not your fans.
An EPK is a great way to give music industry people a simple overview of who you are, what your music sounds like, your story, and why they should care about you.
Who Needs an EPK?
The short answer is, every musician. Especially if you’re independent because it can help your “legitimacy” in the eyes of the venues and press people.
Traditionally, physical press kits were used mainly by performing musicians. They would mail them out to venue managers, music review publications, festivals, etc. But nowadays, EPKs are good for any kind of musician, not just performers.
Here’s how an EPK benefits musicians based on their career goals:
- Performing musicians: a short and simple way to share your music, performance history, performing highlights, and any info the venue/festival requires.
- Recording artists: you can create an EPK as a centralized source for everything a press person may want to know about the release, like the concept, story behind its making, or any interesting ways it was recorded.
- Artists in sync licensing: an EPK can give sync licensing agents and companies a quick overview of you, any previous placements you’ve gotten, and what other sync artists your music sounds like.
How To Create a Good EPK
Above all, your EPK needs to be good looking and easy to navigate. If it’s confusing and looks bad, that’s a poor first impression and may turn off some industry professionals.
While you should make your EPK authentic to you, there are several things that need to be in your EPK…
Your artist bio
Your EPK needs an interesting story of who you are and where you came from.
Start with a few sentences that show who you are, any interesting aspects of your background, the type of music you make, and your biggest accomplishment. This is like your elevator pitch.
Next, you can write a bio that goes a little deeper, one that’s about 1-2 paragraphs long. Last, create a more in-depth bio that’s about 3+ paragraphs.
Why have different length bios? Because different venues, festivals, and press people often have word-length requirements, so you want to be ready.
Here’s a simple outline you can follow when writing your artist bio:
Introduction
Briefly introduce yourself. Include your stage name (if applicable) and your real name. Describe your musical genre or style, focusing on how it makes the listener feel.
Background
This is where you tell your story. What about your life and musical career is interesting and different from other artists? Show who you are as a person.
Musical Style
Describe your musical style in a unique way and mention any influences. This will give people a better idea of what they’re about to hear.
Accomplishments
Highlight any notable achievements or milestones in your music career. Include awards, sync placements, or important performances.
Current Projects
End your bio by looking to the future. Mention what project you’re currently working on, upcoming tours, or any other exciting developments.
Professional photos
Smartphone cameras have gotten really good, so you can get by without hiring a professional photographer. But if you have a little bit of a budget, it’s totally worth it.
A photographer can get shots you wouldn’t be able to on your own. And they can help bring out the aspect of you that fits whatever vibe you want, whatever fits your music. You should ask for both horizontal, vertical, and square photos, just so you have options.
Your Music
Obviously, you need to include your music. On the EPK page of your website, embed a player so people can stream your music while checking out the rest of the page. But also include a downloadable version of the EPK that has links to stream your music. Just make it easy for the person to listen to your music. This is the most important part of your EPK.
Videos
Include any music videos or performance videos you have. Music videos may show you’re serious about your career, and performance videos will show venues and festivals what you offer.
Press and reviews
Press about you and reviews of your music help show music industry professionals that your music is worth listening to. When respected music publications – or just other people in general – praise your music, it then becomes more than just you saying, “You need to listen to this!”
Career highlights
List your career highlights so people can quickly see what you’ve accomplished. This could be awards you’ve won or been nominated for, impressive streaming numbers, or a notable act you’ve opened for or toured with. Any big accomplishment you’re proud of, list it.
Social media and contact information
Including links to your social media profiles gives music industry people a chance to get to know you even better. They’ll see you’re posting regularly and interacting with fans. If you have an engaged audience, that’s good for them because it means you may be able to get people to come to a venue’s show or read a music blog’s review of your music.
And then of course, include your contact info. Preferably, a professional email address ([email protected]) and your phone number.
Electronic Press Kit Examples
If you need some EPK examples, check out my EPK for my 2023 album and also this list of EPKs from Bandzoogle. Steal ideas and make them your own!
