EPK building for Musicians

Now that you’ve made your initial release(s) as an indie musician, and you’ve started gaining a little traction with the press and fans, it is finally time to relax, sip on some beer, focus on making music at your own pace and let your fame compound itself. 

Except that it’s not. 

You first need to make yourself an EPK. 

An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) can be seen as a digital resume that helps people stay updated with a musician or band’s career. But more importantly, an electronic press kit is a place where promoters, venue managers, journalists, and music supervisors can find all of the info they need to promote you. 

EPKs are a great way to share and promote your music among other musicians, journalists, and bloggers. An electronic press kit is also a useful attachment when sending your music to the radio, industry professions, or even smaller venues and events for promotion. 

Best Practices to follow for a great Electronic Press Kit

Some easy practices that can be followed to maintain a great and efficient Electronic Press Kit are:

• Keep your EPK concise, simple, and easy to read
• Try to make a great first impression by including your best material in the EPK
• Constantly update your EPK
• Try to not send .zip or compressed files in your EPKs as the receiver might not bother going through the trouble of extracting it
• Always keep a printed version of your EPK with you when you go out to perform. This can prove to be helpful in case you run into industry professionals and other event managers.
• Do not exaggerate, lie or include useless information. Keep the content to the point and on-brand
• Try to make your EPK unique and eye-catching so it can attract attention
• Look at EPK examples of artists in your scene that are doing well to understand how to make a good EPK
  
  

Things to include in your Electronic Press Kit

1. YOUR MUSICIAN BIO

The foremost thing to add to your electronic press kit is your bio. This can be a great first introduction of you to a new place or a new industry professional. Your musician bio should include the best pitch that you can make about yourself. In this, you can include a short paragraph about who you are as an artist, the genre of music that you perform, and recent accomplishments. Look at a few EPK examples and write different bios accordingly. Writing a musician bio is an art, which we’ve extensively explained here.

2. LINKS TO YOUR MUSIC

Your music is the most important thing about your electronic press kit. You should add links to your best songs and albums in the EPK. Having a link to the music is a better option than putting in downloadable music files. Linked music makes it easier for people to listen to it. Also, remember to put your best songs at the top of the list, as people might only listen to the first few songs on the list. You can also add music mixes in these links, in case you remix a song belonging to another artist or play a mix at a festival. 

3. PROMOTIONAL PHOTOS

You might also consider adding downloadable promotional photos to your electronic press kit. This might make it helpful for the people to promote your work. Make sure that these are good-quality photos that can be used directly. Try to keep the pictures in both vertical and horizontal shapes. Try to add a variety of images to the list. You can even add black and white pictures along with colored ones. You can add some live shots of you playing at a venue as well as some posed pictures. 

4. ALBUM ARTWORK

In case you have already decided on your album artwork and are trying to promote it, you should add your album artwork into your electronic press kit. This adds a great visual element, and as we always say, visuals are everything. The more places you put your album cover on, the more recognizable your work gets on Spotify. 

 5. LOGOS AND BRANDING ASSETS

In case you have settled on a logo for your brand and have particular branding assets, don’t forget to include them in your EPK. Again, they will be useful when someone will be promoting you and will also create a sense of brand awareness. You can look at EPK examples by bands and musicians for inspiration on where to put them. 

6. MUSIC VIDEOS

If you have created music videos for your songs, make sure you add a link to them in your electronic press kit. You should ideally include your best produced music videos in this. To make your music videos more appealing, you can add a brief introduction of the video, and make sure to choose an eye-catching cover photo. Make sure that the videos that you are linking in the EPK are high quality as they are more likely to get featured. You can also include some promotional videos. 

7. PRESS AND TESTIMONIALS

If you have ever been featured in the media in an interview or a special piece, you should add links to those. You can even include short messages and mentions that you got in the press if you don’t have any dedicated pieces written on your music. Along with them, in case you have been reviewed by an industry professional, you can quote them. You can search for a few EPK examples to better understand what to add and what not to.

8. HIGHLIGHTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

You can also include a section of your career highlights and achievements. This can include some awards you might have won, a high achievement on youtube or any other streaming platform, or even on radio. These can help you in creating a certain buzz around your career. 

9. TOUR DATES AND SHOW INFORMATION

If you are a musician who tours, you can also include your future tour dates. You can also add a list of future places and gigs where you will be performing. You should constantly update your calendar so that if someone wants to meet up with you, they can come to one of your shows. If you’re an indie musician who hasn't toured yet but wants to, here is everything you need to know.

10. CONTACT DETAILS

Don’t forget to add contact details in your EPK. This includes your phone numbers, mailing addresses, and all social media handles. You should also include contact information for your agent, manager, and publicists in case you have them. Having all your information in one place can be extremely helpful if someone’s trying to contact you. 

We know, being a musician should only be about making music, but as the entire industry has taken the digital route, only the ones willing to keep up have a chance at getting discovered. Things like making (and maintaining) an EPK is an essential part of marketing your music, and here’s why you shouldn’t shy away from it.