What Is An Electronic Press Kit (EPK)?

An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is a powerful tool for any artist, band or creative looking to widen their reach, win over industry professionals, get booked for gigs and get signed to a label. It is a digital portfolio that contains all the essential information that media outlets need to create content around said artist or band. EPKs are also incredibly useful for promoters, radio DJs and booking agents who are looking for new music to feature.

An EPK provides an easy way for the artist, band or creative to present themselves so that industry professionals can immediately get an impression of their music. You can design an EPK themselves, hire a designer or customize a free template to your specific needs and goals, leaving you with a professional-looking portfolio to share with the world.

Why Your Band Needs An EPK

A cleverly written EPK will immediately let venues, record labels, booking agencies and other music industry professionals know exactly what music you play, what you and your music stands for, what genre you play, what you look like and how to get in contact with you.

Ideally written as a one-pager, an EPK will give every contact person you send it to a quick overview of your band, so they can immediately decide if they want to work with you or your music. They will want to click links, find contact information and get a good sense of what your music is about before they reply to your request.

Showcase Your Professionality

The main benefit of having an EPK is to show industry types that you are serious about your craft. You run your music project as a business – with a well-styled design, a clearly formatted document showcasing your artwork, photos, music and information.

An EPK with a Solid Design will put your Artist Identity On Display

Having a graphic designer style your EPK will put your authentic artist identity on display, immediately catching the attention of your music industry contact – even before they see your music.

Photos, fonts, colors and graphics can all build your artist identity and be showcased as part of your EPK. Spice up the information with some eye candy.

All Your Info In One Place

Lower the hurdle for any potential partners to find what they need to find ASAP on one piece of paper (or PDF). Structure the document well so that they can read your bio, view your photos, click links and call or reply to you via email straight from the comfort of their laptop. If you make it hard for them, the chances of them booking or signing you are going to be lowered considerably!

Common Components of an EPK

There are several key components of an electronic press kit, including:

1. Biography: This section should provide a brief overview of the band or musician’s history, background, and accomplishments.
2. Music: Use this section to showcase your music with links to streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music. I would avoid sending mp3s attached to an email or Dropbox links – conventional streaming links are best.
3. Photos: Include your high quality band photos from your latest photo shoot or live show – or from both. Make sure the photos are compressed enough so you aren’t sending a 50MB pdf, but don’t show any compression artefacts. If unsure, ask your photographer to supply you with photos for web usage.
4. Videos: Showcase any music videos, concert videos, live sessions with links to your YouTube channel or any single videos. The best way to do this would be to have a thumbnail image of the video that links to the URL, but a text link is fine too.
5. Press reviews: Include any quotes from reviews of your music from publications like magazines and blogs. Pick out the best snippet and use it as a headline for each quote. Keep each review to a few sentences with a link to the entire article.
6. Contact Details: This goes without saying, but you need to put in all your details of how to contact you for booking and press enquiries, your website, email, postal address.

How to Create an Artist EPK

An EPK consists of three main components – the information, the design and the prose. If you manage to create a document with a well-crafted blend of all three, you will no doubt impress anyone you send it to.

The Info

Before you begin to create an electronic press kit, you will need to collect the following information about your artist or band. Just write it out in a word document to start with – later on you can make it nice and presentable with the help of a graphic designer.

• Artist/Band Name
• Bio
• Genre – Similar Bands
• Press Photo / Live Photos
• Latest achievements/awards/tours/festival slots
• Discography of up to 3 albums
• Links to your music on streaming platforms
• Links to music videos
• Contact information – website, email, phone number, postal address
• Social media links, LinkTree
• Links to your technical rider

I’m sure you know your band name, your website address and the names of your latest 3 albums. But can you trust your bass player to get your instagram username right? Do you really need the 33-digit reference code at the end of a Spotify artist URL? No, probably not.

But you need to get everything else right. If you misspell your email adress, no one will write to you. A wrong digit in your phone number will have your potential record label phone the wrong… erm.. number.

Check and double check the following for mistakes. Copy and paste the URLs into a browser and make sure they take you to where you want them to!

• Email address
• Phone number
• Postal address
• Streaming links
• YouTube / Video links
• Social links
• Links to any other documents

The Design

The look and feel of your EPK will truly make or break your submission – be it to a venue, booking agency or record label. These days every artist is trying to stand out and look slick and professional, even if they don’t have management or anyone pulling the strings in the background. Crafting an EPK with a well thought out design that matches the vibe of your band’s music will boost your chances of receiving positive responses.

Being a creative musician, chances are you have some talents in the visual art world as well. But if not, ask around in your circle of friends for a graphic designer or hire one online. Make sure whoever is creating your design understands your music and where you are coming from, as well as your ideas towards your visual artist identity.

If you don’t have the design skills, connections or money to hire a designer, you can use an app like Canva to design your own. They offer free and paid templates that you can modify to fit your own needs.

One word of warning – don’t go to crazy on the artwork, especially when it comes to fonts and text. You can chop up the titles a bit to look fresh, but make sure you can still read it! There is no point going all avant garde if it defeats the purpose by making the information impossible to decipher.

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The Prose

Apart from the informational stuff like email address, website and contact details, the most important part of your EPK is actually the prose describing your music. The design catches the attention of the reader, the info lets them know how to find out more but your well-crafted bio is what will convince the industry rep to get in touch to initiate a cooperation.

The biography section of sour electronic press kit is a crucial component that provides an overview of the band’s history, musical style, and achievements. The first section should introduce the band and provide a brief history of how the group formed, highlighting any significant events that shaped the band’s sound and style. This part should also include any notable accomplishments, such as awards or chart-topping singles, that the band has achieved in its career.

You should then delve deeper into the band’s musical style, providing insight into the genre or genres that the group identifies with. It should describe your band’s sound, influences, and any unique elements that set it apart from other acts. This section can also include information about the band’s instrumentation, songwriting process, and any notable collaborations or guest appearances.

The final paragraph should focus on the band’s current activities and future plans. This could include upcoming tours or album releases, any new projects the band is working on, or recent collaborations. It is essential to keep this section up to date, reflecting the band’s most recent activities and projects to ensure that the electronic press kit remains current and relevant. By providing a comprehensive and engaging biography, your band’s electronic press kit can help music journalists and industry professionals gain a better understanding of the band’s background, style, and accomplishments.

Conclusion: The Importance of Having an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

An electronic press kit is important for several reasons. First, it serves as a comprehensive introduction to a band or musician. This is particularly important for journalists and other industry professionals who may not be familiar with the artist’s work. An EPK provides a quick and easy way to get up to speed on the artist’s background, music, and accomplishments.

Second, an electronic press kit makes it easy to distribute information about the band or musician. In the past, press kits had to be physically mailed to journalists and industry professionals. This was time-consuming and expensive. Today, electronic press kits can be accessed online, making it easy to distribute them to a wide range of people.

Finally, an electronic press kit is important because it can help to build buzz and generate interest in a band or musician. By providing a comprehensive package of information, an EPK can help to generate excitement about the artist’s upcoming shows, releases, and other projects.

About The Author

Nick Braren is an audio engineer and musician with over 15 years experience in the studio, on stage, back stage and front of house. He is the owner and operator of Upaya Sound, guitarist and vocalist of Vandemonian, father of 2 and husband of 1. When he’s not in the studio or in the band room he’s either travelling in his van or at the beach – or both.

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