The 8 things that should be in every band's electronic press kit

People with many different roles will visit your music website. Your fans might go to your website to read your latest news, or to buy your new music, but event bookers might go to your website to see your performance history and watch videos of you playing. Media might use your website to compile promotional material about your career, and your music. They’ll want to find that information easily.

Creating a digital press kit, or EPK, as a page on your website is a surefire way to make sure your audience finds what they are looking for. 

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.

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 to date at its best. An effective band EPK will include everything the press needs to easily access all of the assets they might need to highlight your new music or project. These assets 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 that you have an idea of what a band EPK is and what it’s used for, let’s see how to create 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 upfront is a nice 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, plus a recent accomplishment. This is your elevator pitch; it’s the way you might 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 different versions in your EPK. 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 parts of it.

Artist EPK: Kim Yang

2. Promotional photos

The next thing an artist should put into 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. A horizontal image with some space around the edges of the subject (you!) to account for cropping will help your imagery appear professional on social media or music review websites. Including a square image, or a portrait image that can easily be cropped, will be useful for stories and social feeds.

This should cover the needs of most industry folks, whether they’re looking to learn about you, promote your music, or advertise your upcoming show.

Design a professional press kit for your music in minutes. Try Bandzoogle today!

Artist EPK: Haviah Mighty

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.

Artist EPK: 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 venues or bookers can see and hear you in action. Try to choose a video that’s as close to the venues you’re pitching to as possible. 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 good tool to engage further interest in your songs.

Artist EPK: Drank the Gold

5. Press and reviews

Don’t rely on your social media profiles to tell your story. Set up a dedicated section on your press kit for press and reviews you’ve received. These are useful for a number of reasons. If you’ve already received some press coverage, it shows that there is a story to be told. 

Reviews also add a sense of authenticity and an incentive that the music is worth listening to. Articles that talk about your killer live show can also help you book even bigger and better shows.

Keep these reviews short and sweet. The goal of your EPK is not to overwhelm a reader with content, but to convey a sense of who you are. Pull the best quote from each review and include a link to the full article, plus its source, underneath. 

Artist EPK: 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 industry visiting your EPK get to know you better through what you’ve done so far.

A few examples of musical achievements might include awards you’ve won, radio play you’ve built up, or success on streaming platforms or YouTube. 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 around your music, and yourself as a performer. List these out by picking and choosing the biggest and best accomplishments only. You’ll want to update this section regularly as your career moves forward. This ensures that when you send out your EPK, it contains the most recent information.

Catch the attention of industry & media with a professional electronic press kit integrated onto your own website in minutes. Build your EPK and website with Bandzoogle today!

7. Social and streaming links

Next to include in your press kit is links to your other online platforms. Choose the ones that you are active on, and that show you and your music in the 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 your social media 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, keeping in mind many people checking these out might not know a lot about you yet.

8. Contact information

Detailed contact information is an important element to include on your band EPK page. 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 it’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.

Artist EPK: Echo Elysium

As a professional artist, it's important to create a website that contains all of your music, 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, and it will pay off for 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. 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

Good luck!

Catch the attention of industry & media with a professional electronic press kit integrated onto your own website. Build your EPK and website with Bandzoogle today!