The 8 things that should be in every band's electronic press kit
Updated by Melanie Kealey on Apr 18, 2024 in: Website Tips, Music Marketing & Promotion, EPKs for musicians
Posted on Feb 05, 2015
People with many different roles will visit your music website. Your fans might go to your website to read your latest news, or to learn about your new music. Event bookers might go to your website to see your performance history and watch videos of you playing. And media might use your website to compile promotional material about your career.
No matter who is visiting your website, you’ll want to be sure they can easily find what they’re looking for. Creating a digital press kit, or a Onesheet EPK, directly on your website is a surefire way to do exactly that for industry professionals.
What is an electronic press kit?
An EPK, or electronic press kit, is a digital version of a promotional package that musicians used to mail out to venues, festivals, or talent buyers. A band can use their EPK to help with booking shows, generating buzz around an upcoming album release, and as a way to share music with bloggers and journalists. A press kit can expand and grow as your career progresses, or can be updated and changed through different music releases.
What should be in an EPK?
You’ll want to tailor your press kit to your purpose, and add the material that will showcase your music and your career at its best. Overall, an effective Onesheet EPK should include everything the press needs to highlight your new music or project. These are the assets that should be in a digital press kit:
1. Artist bio
2. Promotional photos
3. Music
4. Video
5. Press and reviews
6. Highlights and achievements
7. Social and streaming links
8. Contact information
Now you know what an EPK is and what it’s used for. Whether you’re creating an EPK from scratch or looking to update yours, let’s take a closer look at the material you need to put in your press kit:
1. Artist bio
Start your press kit by writing a great musician bio. Adding your bio up front is an effective way to introduce yourself to a promoter or venue when they reach your EPK.
Add a few sentences that say who you are, and mention your genre of music along with a recent accomplishment. This is like your elevator pitch — the way you would introduce yourself quickly in person.
Keep in mind that bookers and festivals have different needs and word limits for bios, so it’s a good idea to include bios of different lengths in your EPK if you’re booking or advancing a lot of shows. In addition to your elevator pitch (1-2 sentences), you may want to include a short bio (1 paragraph), a medium bio (2+ paragraphs) and a long bio (3+ paragraphs).
To keep your EPK looking streamlined, these versions of your musician bio can be added as downloadable files. Or, you can write out a medium-length musician bio with your first paragraph as the pitch, keeping in mind someone may copy and paste just parts of it.
Electronic press kit example: Kim Yang
2. Promotional photos
The next thing an artist needs in an EPK is high-quality photos. Your press kit should contain a variety of photos in different styles and sizes to accommodate different needs.
Posed band photos work well along with a live shot or two that convey your performance style. If you’re focusing on promoting a new album to music reviewers, include photos that are on-brand with that music, plus the album’s artwork.
In terms of sizing, it’s a good idea to include vertical and horizontal options, plus a black and white image. Include a horizontal image with some space around the edges of the subject to account for cropping — this will help your imagery appear professional on social media or music review websites where the image framing might change. Including a square image, or a portrait image that can easily be cropped, will be also useful for stories and social feeds.
These photo options should cover the needs of most industry folks, whether they’re looking to learn about you, promote your music, or advertise your upcoming show. You can put thumbnails of your photos into your press kit to be sure you have lots of room. Just link to the high-resolution versions for easy download.
Electronic press kit example: gg music
3. Music
Because your band EPK represents your musical identity, select your most popular tracks to include in your press kit. A promoter or music supervisor may not have heard your music before, and they may only listen quickly to the first track or two, so be sure to add songs that you feel best show you off as a musician.
Your press kit should have a music player that plays your songs in full. You will want to be sure that it’s an easy click to start listening. Add some brief text that describes your music in your EPK as well. This could be about an upcoming album or a popular single if you’re including multiple tracks.
This way, if a journalist wants to describe your sound, you have already laid out a starting point. You can write this yourself, or include a quote about your music if you have one available.
You can also specifically make an EPK for your music - one that is uniquely dedicated to promoting an upcoming album or single release.
Electronic press kit example: Rachel Beck
4. Video
Media sites often embed videos of artists they’re covering to help make the article more engaging. Venues and festivals also like to use video on their websites to promote artists they’ve booked.
Embed a few of your music-related videos in your digital press kit to make it easy for promoters to find these high-quality videos. Add new videos regularly and remove old ones, to be sure you’re offering your most recent — or most relevant — work.
If you’re using your EPK to help book shows, be sure to use live videos so that talent buyers or promoters can see and hear you in action. If you’re using your EPK to promote a new album, adding a lyric or music video for a single from the album is a solid way to encourage interest in your songs.
Electronic press kit example: Rufus Redward Martin
5. Press and reviews
There is merit in posting to social media when you get good press. But you’ll want a dedicated section on your press kit for press and reviews you’ve received. This shows that there's a story to be told, and industry professionals can see it in one convenient spot on your EPK.
Reviews add appeal and communicate that your music is worth hearing, creating incentive for people to listen. Articles that discuss your killer live show can also help you book even bigger and better shows.
The goal of your EPK is to convey a sense of who you are. You don’t want to overwhelm a reader with too much content. So pull the best quote from each review and include a link to the full article, plus its source, below each quote.
Electronic press kit example: Jordana Talsky
6. Highlights and musical achievements
One goal of any band press kit is that it’s professional, like a resume. So it should include highlights of your career to date. This is a great way to show your music or your live show in a positive context. It also helps anyone visiting your EPK to get to know you better through what you’ve done so far.
A few examples of musical achievements might include are awards you’ve won (or been nominated for), radio play you’ve built up, success on streaming platforms, or significant YouTube traffic. If you’ve supported a big act on tour, or performed at noteworthy festivals, include that information in this section of your EPK.
The purpose of listing your musical highlights is to grow buzz. Whether that’s around you as a performer, or around new music, list the biggest and most relevant accomplishments only. You’ll want to update this section regularly as your career moves forward.
7. Social and streaming links
While your EPK is a really important way to tell your story, social media also paints a fuller picture. Add links to your other online platforms in your press kit. Choose the platforms on which you're most active, and that show you and your music in its most current form.
You can focus on streaming links only, if your goal is to showcase your streams and create momentum for new music.
Or, you might set up links to social platforms like Instagram and TikTok if that’s where you have a bigger following. You can combine the two as well — it all depends on where you’re most present.
8. Contact information
Detailed contact information is an important element to include in your EPK. It helps to have everything in one place for media and bookers. You can use a contact form, or an email address on the page. Just make sure it’s easy to locate.
If you’d like, you can also add contact details for each member of your team, whether that’s your booking agent, manager, or publicist. Many musicians handle these roles themselves, and in that case you can include your main contact info for press and booking inquiries.
Electronic press kit example: Echo Elysium
As a professional artist, it's important that you make a music website that contains all of your songs, merch for sale, and information about you. An EPK for your music should be a key part of this equation — think of it as a snapshot of your latest music or project, summed up in one spot.
Building a band EPK with these elements should help you start booking more gigs, and make it easier for the media and industry to promote your music. Make sure to update your press kit regularly as your music and performances evolve — this will help to boost your career.
Additional resources:
Now that you know what to include in a band press kit, you can build one quickly and easily with Bandzoogle, or you can add an EPK page into your full musician website. This article will help with the steps: Creating an EPK
Finding an EPK template and adding the content is a great way to get started: How to create an EPK using a template
If you are pitching your music specifically to radio, reviewers, or playlisters, check out How to create an EPK for your music (with examples!) for ideas.
And if you’ve already built an EPK but want to update the look and feel, here are some EPK examples of real artists’ designs to inspire you: Website design inspiration: best electronic press kits
Build a stunning band website and store in minutes
- Promote your music on your own unique website.
- Sell music & merch directly to your fans. Keep 100%.
- Grow your fan base with built-in marketing tools.
Free 30 day trial, no credit card needed.
Comments