How To Make The Perfect EPK for Your Music
An EPK or Media Kit is a page filled with resources about your band created for media outlets, promoters, and venues - your EPK is a one-stop area for industry professionals to learn all they need to know about your band/music.
What is an EPK?
EPK is short for "Electronic Press Kit". An EPK or Media Kit is a page filled with resources about your band created for media outlets, promoters, and venues - your EPK is a one-stop area for industry professionals to learn all they need to know about your band/music.
Why Do I Need An EPK?
Creating an industry-standard EPK is incredibly important because if you are reaching out to a media outlet or applying to a festival if they have to scrounge for information about your band it's unlikely that your band will be considered. Your EPK acts as a simple and effective collection of all the information about your band.
What Is An EPK Used For?
A well-written EPK can be incredibly versatile and according to the information included, it can be used for a ton of different applications in music outreach and promotion!
1: Your Resume
An EPK is most frequently used to serve as a band's resume or digital portfolio. Many artists will delve into their biggest achievements, best shows, biography, and creative direction in their media kit - and the best part is how easily you can update it while your band grows!
2: Submit to Media Outlets/Music Festivals
A big part of landing huge gigs and promoting your music is outreach. If you are submitting to a media outlet or festival, having an EPK you can link to saves time for everyone involved. Linking your EPK with your music and socials will make a media outlet much more willing to work with you as it gets everything in one place for them. Similarly, you can utilize an EPK for submitting to labels, promoters, radio, booking agents, and much more.
3: Providing More Information for Fans
Some bands will use an EPK as an in-depth type of biography that fans wanting to learn more about them can dive into. With a catalog of music, links, photos, and information on the band, your fans can enjoy discovering more about their favorite band!
Before You Get Started
Prior to making your EPK, we recommend considering your goal. Think about what you want your EPK to accomplish, what is its audience? - and include everything that would be needed for who you plan to send it to.
What Should I Put In My EPK?
An Artist Bio
We recommend starting off the EPK with a short (typically 1-2 paragraph) artist bio. Make sure to include your band's genre and location as this is the information that professionals in the music industry look at first.
Your Latest Music
Somewhere in the EPK you will definitely want links to your music included, make sure to add your best music that will leave a great first impression. You can add music videos in addition to streaming links so that visitors can see your visual production too.
Promotional Images
Your EPK should include a gallery of images to download (this is a huge time saver). Add a few of your favorite photos of the whole band and your latest album/song cover that you are currently promoting.
Press/Reviews and Recent Achievements
Incorporating press and reviews of your band's music is an incredible way of showing relevance and how well your new music is being received.
Another great aspect to include in your EPK is your band's biggest achievements. You can include things like hitting a social media follower milestone, opening for a national act, a certain number of streams, or anything you are proud of.
Links, Links, and More Links
You should have all your links to streaming services, social media, merch, and your website in one easy-access section of your EPK. Most Industry Professionals will look at your social media and streaming numbers before even listening to your music as those are the biggest metrics in today's music world.
Always make it as easy as possible for someone to find your links and lead people to follow and interact with your social media. Utilizing a tool like Linktree is a great way to gather all of your links into one accessible link.
Contact Information
Finally, it is often recommended to leave some form of contact info other than your social media for press outlets, promoters, or festivals to contact you. Leaving an email contact form or just simply your email address will allow an easy line of contact for anyone who takes an interest in your EPK.
Different EPK Formats
Most commonly there are two different formats that most bands will use for an EPK, a PDF file or a website page.
PDFs are less commonly used but will occasionally be sent through emails so that they can be downloaded. This still image format can be designed creatively but can be harder to update easily.
Website
Using a web page is what we recommend you to use for your EPK as it provides the easiest editing, and customization while looking more professional. You can use a free website builder like Wix with some limitations or opt for building/hosting your own website (which admittedly has a little bit of a learning curve).
Whatever you choose, getting your own EPK is very important for every band and an excellent resource that you should be taking advantage of.
Need Help Building Your EPK or Writing an Artist Bio?
If you are struggling to create your EPK - we know how hard it can be to write about yourself especially - we provide industry-standard EPKs for bands which we can host on our very own website (or send you all the text to put on your website). If you are looking for a customized high-quality EPK or Artist bio contact us on social media or here to learn more.
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