An EPK, or Electronic Press Kit, is an essential tool in the music industry for any musician or singer-songwriter looking to promote their work and get booked for shows. Your press kit includes all the promotional information you’ll need to send to booking agents, talent buyers, promoters, and bloggers. Your EPK represents your musical identity and is your digital resume.
But what exactly should you include when you create an EPK? In this blog post, we’ll go over what you need to have in your EPK so that you can put your best foot forward and start landing the gigs you’ve always dreamed of playing.
Before we dive in, check out this EPK example built using ReelCrafter (for a fictitious band called The Electric Bluebirds). We’ll highlight the individual sections of this EPK example below.
Check out a live version of this EPK »
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8 essential elements to include in your EPK:
1. Two bios to tell your story
Your EPK should ideally include both a brief bio and an extended bio. A brief bio tells readers who you are, where you’re from, and what kind of music you make. This is your chance to provide a snapshot of your musical journey. Be sure to keep it short and sweet — the people receiving it are likely very busy. But when a blogger or promoter wants even more detail to highlight you, an extended bio helps tell your full “story.”
When crafting your biographies, remember that a promoter or blogger may be pressed for time and might copy and paste your bio into their own materials. For this reason, it’s crucial to write a well-crafted bio that succinctly sums up your band, genre of music, and story.
2. High-quality photos
High-quality promotional photos are essential for creating a professional and polished EPK. Include several high-resolution images of yourself that are on brand with your music and capture who you are as an artist. These photos should be well-lit and show you in various settings — onstage, backstage, practicing, etc.
If possible, book a session with a photographer who specializes in music photography to take some shots specifically for your professional electronic press kit. Also, consider investing in a hair and makeup team to help you look your best, and make sure to bring a variety of outfits and looks to the shoot. This ensures you’ll have plenty of options when it comes time to put together your EPK. With great photos, your EPK will capture attention and make a solid first impression — ensuring that the listener takes you seriously as an artist.
3. Your music (of course!)
When choosing tracks to include in your EPK, focus on your most popular songs or the ones that best represent your musicianship. It’s important not to overload your EPK with too many tracks — the recipient may only listen to the first one or two, so make sure they’re your strongest songs. Also, never require the listener to download an app or leave your EPK page to listen to your music — streamable links are essential.
However, it might be beneficial to provide downloadable options like MP3 or WAV/AIFF files as well for specific recipients such as radio stations or music bloggers, who might need the files for their work. This gives them the flexibility to use your music in a way that suits their needs without any extra hurdles.
If you’re comfortable playing multiple styles of music, and the EPK is not curated for a specific style, it’s a good idea to showcase a mix of up-tempo and downtempo music, as well as a variety of genres. Ultimately, the goal is to give the listener a taste of what you have to offer, so make sure every track is high quality and represents your sound in a positive light.
4. Engaging videos
Make it easy for venues to see your stage presence before booking you with a great live video showing a recent performance. High-quality videos are a great way to give the listener a taste of your music without them having to search for it themselves. Alternatively, including professionally produced artistic music videos will show your creativity and help establish you as a serious artist.
If you don’t have any live performance footage or videos, now is the time to create some! Shoot some live video at your next gig, or create a video specifically for one of your songs. These videos will be a valuable addition to your EPK and help you get booked for more shows. You may want to consider creating a YouTube channel as your video library grows.
5. Press and accomplishments
If you’ve been featured in articles or news stories, include short pull quotes with links to full articles or videos in your EPK. Make sure to attribute these quotes to the original source to avoid any potential copyright issues. This helps validate you as an artist and gives readers an idea of the press coverage you’re generating. When someone sees that you’ve been featured in a major publication, they’re much more likely to take you seriously as an artist. So if you’ve been lucky enough to get press coverage, highlight it in your EPK.
Are you getting lots of attention locally or online? You can also include any recent achievement, such as being named “Best New Artist” at a local music festival.
6. Upcoming show dates
With an upcoming show list or tour dates in your EPK, promoters and venues can quickly see when you’re available. Include the date, city, venue name, and ticket or “more info” link for each show. This way, they can easily compare your schedule with their own and decide if you’re a good fit for their event. Plus, having all this information in one place will save them time and hassle. ReelCrafter’s dynamic Event Calendar makes it easy to keep your show list up to date!
7. Contact information
You should include your contact information on your EPK, including a direct link to your website and email address, so that media and bookers know who they should contact. It’s also a good idea to list each member of your team, as well as the main points for press inquiries or booking requests.
For example:
Booking Agent: [Name, Email, Phone Number]
Manager: [Name, Email, Phone Number]
Public Relations: [Name, Email, Phone Number]
Remember, your EPK’s purpose is to facilitate connections, so don’t create barriers by making your contact information hard to find. Keep it current to ensure that potential collaborators, booking agents, and press have no trouble reaching you.
Worried about keeping this information up to date? With ReelCrafter’s dynamic defaults, updating contact details is quick and easy across all your EPKs.
8. Social media links
Your EPK should include all the promotional material needed to book a gig, but you’ll also want to make it easy for listeners to check you out and follow you on social media. On your EPK especially, it’s important to only add your most active social platforms, with a growing following. For example, if you have 50 Facebook followers but 5,000 Twitter followers, it makes more sense to put your Twitter link on your EPK than your Facebook link. The same goes for any other social media platform.
An EPK is an essential tool in the music industry
Wrap up
Now that you know exactly what to put in your EPK, it’s time to start putting it together! The tips we’ve provided should give you a good starting point, but feel free to get creative and add additional content if you think it will help. For example, you can include a link to your new album or perhaps a Dropbox link to a PDF of your stage plot.
It’s important to keep in mind that the contents of your EPK should be tailored to the specific audience it is intended for. For example, booking agents might be more interested in your upcoming shows, while music bloggers may prioritize your music and biography.
Remember, the goal is to make a great first impression and show bookers and promoters that you’re serious about your music career. So take your time and make an EPK that represents you as an artist in the best possible light.
With ReelCrafter, you can add photos, audio, video, interactive event calendars, social media links, and more to help you stand out from the competition. We also offer a variety of customization options to ensure that your EPK is genuinely unique. Best of all, our platform is easy to use and trackable, so you can see who’s viewing your EPK and how they’re interacting with it.
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