How to create an EPK for your music (with examples!)

Have you been thinking about recording, releasing, and promoting new music this year? As an important part of the digital music release cycle, it’s a must for all musicians to create an EPK for their music. This is a part of your music website that should stay updated as you release music throughout your career.

With an EPK for your music, you can focus your efforts on adding media that’s relevant to an upcoming album or single release. If you’re not putting music out soon, it’s also worthwhile to dedicate a press kit page to your music: a popular or recent album, or a mix of your best tracks that show your range as an artist.

Creating an electronic press kit can be a great way to reflect on your music and put what’s important about it onto the page. Let’s take a look at the basics so you can see what to include in your music EPK, as well as some EPK examples that show how to structure your content.

How to structure a music EPK

A music EPK should represent who you are as an artist, stylistically, and with the content you choose. Important elements to include in an EPK are: music, an artist bio, promotional photos, high-quality video, recent achievements, social media and streaming links, and contact details.

Once you have these elements in place, you’ll want to add them into your EPK in a way that makes sense. Keep in mind that it’s often managers, venues, music reviewers, or promoters landing on your press kit page. You’ll want to convey as much important information as possible in a clear, and concise way.

1. Add your best music

The most important part of your EPK is your music. With that in mind, carefully consider what you’re using your EPK to promote. 

If you have a new album, add the lead single or best track to your EPK. If you’re pitching your EPK to music reviewers, you can add your entire album. 

If you’re releasing a single, this upcoming track should be the focus of your EPK. You can create assets that focus on your single, and have that as the only track, or highlight it within the context of the rest of your music.

If you’re using your music EPK to show what you’ve accomplished so far, choose your best tracks and add those into a player for streaming. Your music should feature prominently near the top of the page. You don’t want a music reviewer or blogger to have to scroll endlessly to find it.

Once you’ve added your music, add some text to describe it. Keep in mind that this text should be short, descriptive, and to the point. It should be easy for someone to copy and paste, and be an accurate, current reflection of your music. 

2. Short artist bio

Your music EPK should include a short artist bio. However, keep your goal in mind when writing a musician bio for this section of your press kit. Rather than focus on live performance highlights, talk about your music specifically.

Your first paragraph might talk briefly about your career to date, and the second paragraph should hone in on this new music. Talk about your style and the music’s inspiration, adding any details that you think are relevant in introducing someone to your new album or single.

Tailor this bio text to the music you want to promote, then add in other tidbits of relevant information. Songwriting awards, past accolades, or an impressive number of Spotify streams can work here. 

3. Promotional photos and album artwork 

When you’re planning to promote new music, it’s a good idea to get a few new photos ready for press as well. These can be used to bring together the look and feel of your EPK, tying it into the rest of your music website and your social media profiles.

Your photos should play up the sound of your upcoming album or single, and be styled to create the same effect that listening to your music provides. It’s a good way to give some visual interest to your music.

You can add just a few photos here, or use your best photo in different, social-media ready sizes. You can also add your cover art for use in promotion, giving context to the single or album you’re highlighting in your EPK.

4. High quality music videos

A professionally produced video shows that you’ve poured time and effort, in addition to passion, into your new music. That, along with immense visual appeal, makes a video a great addition to your music EPK.

You don’t want to overwhelm the page with too many videos, so pick one or two that are relevant to your new music (the official video for your single, a live version, or a music video featuring excerpts from the making of your album) and add those to your page. 

You’ll want them to take up a bit of real estate so that they can be watched directly on the page. Placing two videos side by side, or stacked in a half-width page column is about right.

5. Recent achievements and reviews

The purpose of this section is to demonstrate how your music is being circulated and received. If you start getting radio play, rack up an impressive number of streams, or climb any charts, list those details here.

Include music reviews in this section as well. Use a short snippet or quote about your album or single, and attribute the source to show that your music is being talked about.

You may end up with quite a bit of content here, so keep in mind that you can update and adjust your EPK as momentum for your music grows. Try using a dedicated block or two for this section to keep the page tidy. It could be side by side in columns, with a background color separate from the content around it. Put the details in a list or into short paragraphs, with a few easy-to-read stats. 

6. Social media and streaming links

Add the social networks where you are active to your music EPK. This makes it easy and quick for an industry professional to click through and see what your vibe is like. It also helps someone get a handle on how you share content about your music.

An engaged social media presence that shows good judgement may help an industry professional decide to work with you. This can also work in your favor if an up-and-coming blogger or podcast host plans to interview you - it’ll show them how far the news will go from your end, and how many people are already invested in your success. 

Then, add any streaming services you’re active on, such as Spotify or Apple Music. Some people will want to not only listen to your music this way, but also see that you’re active on these platforms. 

Put these services into place on your music EPK with icons that can sit under your other features. Choose a color that will stand out if you decide to display them this way. Or, use a Smart Links feature to display your social and streaming links in a tidy vertical list on your EPK.

7. Include contact information

Make it easy to contact you, either with a contact form or an email address. If you are self-managed, note your own email address. If you have other members of your team, list out their positions and contact information as well.

Keep the contact information together in one spot in your EPK, and if there are special options, let your visitors know. For example, if someone wants a full version of your album, let them know who to contact. 

The goal of including this information is to reduce the steps as much as possible for any industry, bloggers, or reviewers to be able to access your music and learn more about you.

What should an EPK for your music look like?

Once you’ve gathered up your content, you’ll want to place it on the page in a way that is organized, easy to read, but doesn't leave anything out. The best way to create an EPK is to think about the presentation from the perspective of someone who has not heard your music before. 

Ask yourself a few questions about your press kit design: Does the page scroll too long? If so, tighten up some content into columns. Is the music itself easy to find quickly? Make sure the play button on your music player stands out on the page. Is it easy to read? Is the text divided up into bite-sized chunks? Double-check the fonts and colors to be sure everything works. 

If you’re unsure on how to start, use an EPK for media page template to take the guesswork out of it, then add your content.

Music EPK examples

Now that you know what a music EPK should include, these examples will demonstrate how you can bring everything together. Every musician’s EPK will look a bit different, and updating your content regularly will make sure your EPK is always fresh and matches your new music.

EPK example with whitespace:

One challenge to creating an EPK for your music is that you likely want to include a lot of content that highlights your work. One of the best ways to be sure that everything is readable is to use a lot of whitespace in your design. Using plenty of space around your text, images, and songs is a good way to give your visitors’ eyes a place to rest while taking in everything.

Award-winning folk pop duo Big Little Lions makes excellent use of space on their music EPK. They’ve included all of the essential elements to promote their music, from a short bio to loads of professional, ready-to-use photos. Using space to define their layout gives their press kit an organized look, showing them as a musical group that takes their career seriously.

EPK example: Big Little Lions

EPK example highlighting a single:

If you haven't built an EPK for your music before, but are planning to promote new music soon, try it out: centering your content around an upcoming single is a great way to get started with something you feel excited to talk about.

Inspirational Afrobeat singer and instrumentalist Benji Cavalli puts the spotlight on his new single, Ball, with a sleek, well-designed EPK. His track stands out, featuring a bright blue play button on his EPK page as well as a pop-up site wide player. 

EPK example: Benji Cavalli

EPK example with bold color:

Need a press kit example to inspire you to get creating? Pull colors from your latest promotional photos to make an EPK that stands out.

Electronic pop-songstress Rachel Beck created an EPK that’s focused on her recent album, Stronger Than You Know. In every aspect of her page, she’s used elements that tie back to the music. From press quotes and photos that match her album art, she’s allowing her album to breathe life into the EPK page, letting fans and industry alike take a look and listen.

EPK example: Rachel Beck

EPK example with titles: 

One way to bring organization and professionalism to your EPK is with titles. These create sections within the page, making the content easy to scan and your music easy to locate.  

Rapper Raven Nicole has created an EPK just for her new single. Using her EPK to promote one song allows her to create content that’s to the point and focused. The titles stand out in a shade that goes with her colorful images, and the font she has chosen is easy to see against her page background. It’s a great example of boiling the content down into easily managed pieces, perfect for promotion.

EPK example: Raven Nicole

EPK example with background imagery:

Using a background image will create a unique design for any band’s online press kit. Choose a high-quality image that suits your style and brings across your personality for maximum impact.

As a great example, singer-songwriter duo Oceanique have layered their EPK elements beautifully over a photo that expresses their sound. They’re using a fixed image so that their bio, social media icons, press photos, music, and video float seamlessly as the page scrolls. This effect gives their EPK a distinctive design that sets up their music to be memorable.

EPK example: Oceanique

Creating your own music EPK means that you can change the design and content at any time as your career evolves. If your new album sales send you to the top of the charts, or you get a great review from a music blogger, add that to your EPK. The more you can highlight your music, the better it will serve your career.

Catch the attention of industry & media with a professional electronic press kit that showcases your music. Build your EPK with Bandzoogle today!