As an independent artist, you need to constantly find ways to put yourself out there as much as possible. It’s a tough, competitive industry and having a killer electronic press kit (EPK) is vital to show people who you really are. Plus, it’s also crucial for scoring press coverage and better gigs to propel your music career as an independent artist or band!
An electronic press kit, aka an EPK is a digital press kit filled with your music, promotional material and key information about you. Think of it as a professional music CV for writers, journalists, promoters, or anyone in the music industry to get a better understanding of who you are as an independent artist and why they should invest their time and energy in you.
Dropbox is a great place to store, organize and share multiple, often large files, in one place. You can upload files of sizes up to 50GB, as long as it’s within your storage limit. The platform is also mobile-friendly, increasing your productivity whilst you’re on the go.
Every Google account comes with free 15GB Google Drive, and it’s a super easy and convenient place to store large files! Plus, you can also create, edit, store and collaborate on documents.
Promotion Platforms
Sites such as ReverbNation and Adobe Spark are great platforms for music promotion and creating your EPK.
ReverbNation’s EPK is completely customizable and allows you to monitor your audience activity through advanced data tracking. This gives you a strong insight into what you need to do moving forward. The platform offers additional tools such as Crowd Reviews, which allows you to submit your music and get unbiased feedback from real fans. You can also explore gig opportunities using Gig Finder.
Adobe Spark allows you to create a great eye-catching EPK fast and for free without any programming or design knowledge. This app also gives you tips on how to stand out on social media.
Your Website
Display your EPK as a webpage on your website! You can name this page ‘EPK’ or ‘Press Kit’ for example. A URL is easy to access and also mobile-friendly. You still may need downloadable links on this page if the file sizes are too large.
Sites like Wix are great to make a website! It’s free, and you can also create a website with limitless amazing design options that caters to your aesthetic and music.
Imagine you are writing a press story about a band or artist – what information are you going to need? An EPK is like a one-stop-shop for all of this.
You’re going to need a standout bio that includes your best achievements. Make sure it’s well-written and up to date. For an EPK, it should be longer than it would be on your website or Spotify artist page, but make sure it is business-centered, concise and to the point. Consider these points:
Remember to have varying lengths of your bio for different mediums such as press releases, social media pages and your artist profiles on streaming services. A bio within your artist profile on streaming services could be shorter because people will be focusing on your music; a press release bio will be more informative and have an in-depth story of your journey.
You’ll want stunning images of yourself and eye-catching album artwork. Images of yourself (or any band photos) should be primarily from promo shots and a few really good live shots if you have them. Make sure the images are high quality (300dpi) and look professional, you want to be taken seriously!
Your music is the most important part of your EPK. Refer to your streaming stats and put your best three tracks at the top, and remember to include streaming links for accessibility. Include a play button for your songs so viewers can play it immediately.
People want to be able to see you play live, so you’re definitely going to need video content. High quality videos of you playing live are going to be very useful to music promoters as this gives them a taste of your stage presence. Be sure to include any music videos and promo videos as well.
Your stats are important as they give an insight into who your demographic is, what songs are well received, how many followers you have and they provide information on which areas need time and money invested in.
Promoters and journalists will be looking at how you interact with your fans on your social media pages and how many likes you have. It’s also vital that these pages are aesthetically cohesive and always up to date. Personality is key, so make sure this shines through because people will want to buy into who you are, as much as they do your music.
Your tour calendar should include past and upcoming shows, as this is useful for promoters to see where you have played/are playing and your availability for potential upcoming gigs.
Finally, don’t forget to include contact information for yourself, plus your manager, booking agent, and anyone else whom you feel would be suitable and appropriate. You never know who’s going to hit you up and give you your next big break!
Now, go forth and put your stunning EPK to the test!
