Musician: Tips & Tricks
[Ultimate Guide] Making The Best Electronic Press Kit (EPK) as a Musician, Band or DJ
If you are trying to make a living from your music, you know that spreading the word about your music is key to developing a good fanbase. An electronic press kit (EPK) will make it easier for fans, media, critics, venues etc. to promote your music in the best possible way.
Because, the easier it is for them, the more they’ll share stories about you.
In this article, I will go through everything you need to know about electronic press kits.
The quick overview
· What Is an Electronic Press Kit · Content In Your EPK · Storage for your EPK · Structuring Your Electronic Press Kit · Start Small · Any Questions about Electronic Press Kits?
What Is an Electronic Press Kit
It is usually an online storage space where media and others can search and find all the needed material about you/your band. An EPK usually contains stuff like music, photos, videos and contact information.
The more you can offer — while still keeping high quality and easy navigation — the better.
Content In Your EPK
1) Bio text
Provide them with the best and most accurate description of you, your music and your history. Whenever somebody chose to write about you, it is important that there is no doubt about the important facts. You should both have a fact bullet list and a longer description.
2) Logo
Most bands/artists have a logo. Maybe not in the traditional way, when we think about logos for companies, but you might write your name with a special font (and maybe in a special way). Here you really want to serve a lot of formats, because there can be so many different use cases for the logo. Make sure to have it in square, landscape and portrait formats, so it can fit any use case. If you got your logo produced by a professional graphic designer, you should be able to offer it in more different formats like .svg, .ai, .jpg and .png.
3) Promo Photos
Great photos are essential in all promotions. Before you can add these to your EPK you need to take some photos that are at least semi-professional. It can be OK with a smartphone if it is a fairly new one, you have plenty of natural light and you have some flair for taking photos, but I would highly recommend getting a photographer. Maybe you are lucky to have a friend who did some hobby photography, or you can hire a professional photographer.
4) Cover art
For all your releases (singles, eps and albums) you should provide the used cover art. Make sure it is provided in as high resolution as possible.
5) Music
Share the highest-quality versions of your tracks. This would properly be as WAV files. You should also have an MP3 version of the same tracks available if somebody should prefer a file with a compressed file size.
6) Video
If you have any nice video material, it should be in your EPK. If you do not have any video at all, I would strongly recommend making some. In almost every scenario is video something that helps build a relation with the audience.
7) Press and Reviews
This is only relevant if you already have some stuff to show. Do not show an empty folder, if you haven’t got any. If that is the case, you’ll simply wait to add it until there is “enough” material for it to have its own folder. But if you do, this will help journalists and fans to get an idea of what you already achieved which can be great material for an article.
8) Achievements
If you won a competition, were nominated for a prize, were selected for a special event or something else, it can help create even more exciting stories. This also works as a “trust builder”, which makes the writer more sure that your music is “interesting enough” to write about.
9) Social Media Links
Even though this might be pretty easy to find, it is important to serve these links in a list that gives the best overview. If you do not serve these links, they might overlook one or a few of your social media profiles — especially in a time with so many different social media platforms.
10) Contact Information
The final and very essential object for your electronic press kit. When your EPK contains contact information, it is much easier for fans, journalists, reporters, critics and others to reach out and get additional information.
Storage for your EPK
You need to find some online storage where all your files and folders can be. It is important to have a few things in mind before you settle on a host for your EPK.
- Should be easy to share with other users (some of it with “anyone” who has the link and some files/folders only with specific users)
- Should be great for handling large files
Which host you chose is totally up to you, and most of the providers offer quite similar products. Here is a list of possible options for hosting your electronic press kit:
- Cloud storage services (Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox)
- Your official website (with a specific landing page presenting your EPK)
- Online music platforms (Like ReverbNation and Sonicbids)
- Social media platforms (Like Facebook)
Structuring Your Electronic Press Kit
There are many good ways to structure your EPK. Here below I’ve shown the very basic structure that I believe most bands, musicians and DJs should start with.
Start Small
I know that many musicians end up skipping this point because it takes time to gather all information and documents. But it is not important that your electronic press kit contains all information at the start.
I would recommend every band musician to start with these few steps:
- Decide on a provider (Google Drive is my favourite)
- Create a folder called “Electronic Press Kit: BANDNAME”
- Share it with all band members, promoters, managers etc.
- Make sure everybody has access both from phone, tablet and computer
- In the created folder, create empty folders according to my “Simple Structure”
Then the foundation is set, and even though it might not be ready for sharing with the media, the first steps have been taken. This means, that every time you have new content, you have a place to put it and then you’ll slowly start to build it.
And if a media asks for your logo, you can upload the logo to your EPK and send a mail saying “Hi, I’ve put a link to our newly created electronic press kit. For now, many of the folders are empty but all the logos are in the “Logo” folder for you to use. And as time goes on, we will gather all of our information in here”.
Any Questions about Electronic Press Kits?
I am an educated graphic designer, have worked 16 years in digital marketing and have been a musician for around 14 years. So I feel to have a pretty good idea about how to make and structure a solid electronic press kit. So, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.
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