Website design inspiration: best electronic press kits

One of the most important pages on your music website is your electronic press kit. The best EPK’s make it easy for industry professionals, media outlets, and venues to get the information to learn about your project, review new releases, and see if your band is ready to play live.

If you’re creating an EPK for the first time, or thinking of giving your current electronic press kit a revamp, it can be difficult to find balance between adding content and creating a page that is visually impactful. So, how do you create an EPK that will help get your music heard?

Here are a few stunning electronic press kits that balance an aesthetically pleasing design, imagery, and videos alongside text, accolades, contact information, and more.

1. Include bio options

Don’t underestimate the power of a good bio. Your musician bio should be impactful, informative, and share the story of your project. You’ll want to place the bio near the top of your page so that venues, festivals, and press will get the info they need to share your story.

Be sure to select a font that is easy to read and make sure your color selection brings focus to your text. Many festivals, venues, and promoters ask for different versions of your bio, usually a short bio to include in social media posts, and a long bio to include on their website. Making both available on your EPK can save you time in the future, and also ensure that you’re giving programmers, promoters, and press everything they need.

Canadian indie pop artist Rachel Beck has both a short and long bio available on her EPK. Both are unique and showcase Rachel’s sound, genre, and the impressive accolades she’s acquired throughout her career. Complemented with a press shot, it’s the perfect introduction to who Rachel Beck is as an artist.

Artist EPK: Rachel Beck

2. Use high quality press photos

Industry professionals visiting your EPK will want to see professional press shots. They’ll be included in any write-ups or reviews, and will likely be shared across their social media accounts. Venues who are interested in booking your acts will also be including a photo to help promote the event, so you’ll want to make sure you have a few different options to choose from.

It’s important to have a few professional photos that convey you as an artist, but you can also include live shots that capture the magic of your live performances. Bandzoogle’s image features allow you to make your images downloadable, so there is a seamless journey from someone viewing your EPK photos, and downloading them directly to their device.

Canadian rapper Haviah Mighty includes three powerful press shots that convey her as an artist. Known for her “style of profound introspection and incisive socio-political critique,” her powerful images display an artist that has a message to share, and compliments her EPK brilliantly.

Create an EPK for your music that will grab the attention of industry & media. Build your electronic press kit with Bandzoogle today!

Artist EPK: Haviah Mighty

3. Add your best music

Your EPK is the place to highlight your best music. Professionals visiting your EPK will want to listen to your project to help them decide if your music is a good fit for their venue, blog, or festival. 

Using one of Bandzoogle’s music players, you can easily add your best track to be streamed directly on your EPK. The Canadian based trio James Blonde do a great job of this, drawing focus to their recent release FOMO which has been climbing the alt-charts on Canadian radio.

Band EPK example: James Blonde

The energetic folk duo Fox & Bones take a different approach, embedding a Spotify music player onto their EPK to direct traffic to their Spotify profile. They highlight their most played tracks allowing visitors to take a deeper dive into their catalog.

Band EPK: Fox & Bones

4. Embed videos into your EPK

Whether promoters, managers, booking agents, or media members are checking out your EPK, you’ll want to make sure you share your best videos. Embedding videos allow visitors to press play directly on your EPK, so they don’t need to be directed to any third party sites. They can also let your video play as they scroll through the rest of your EPK.

Your videos thumbnail can also help your EPK pop. If you have nice eye-catching thumbnails, it can entice your visitors to stick around a little bit longer and really give your EPK the attention it deserves.

The London based indie-folk trio Hazey Jane have added three videos directly on their EPK, that look great and provide three separate insights into the band. 

They have a live acoustic video, a live performance compilation video, and a music video for their latest single. This is perfect for venues and festivals, as they’ll get insight into how the band looks and sounds live, and can also enjoy an official music video to discover where the band is heading sonically.

Band EPK: Hazey Jane

5. Highlight Your Strengths

Collecting the best press quotes and reviews to add to your EPK is a great way to reinforce your project and music. You can also include any accolades you may have such as award nominations and wins, charting history, past tour dates, and more. 

Bandzoogle has a great quote feature that allows you to bring emphasis to a glowing review that compliments the music. You can place your quotes at the top of your page to start off strong, or you can place them in a dedicated section on your page.

Superknova’s EPK is a nice example with accolades in a dedicated section. She has a section for press and reviews that also highlights accolades such as her social media following, sold out releases, sync placements, and streaming stats.

Artist EPK: Superknova

6. Add the ability to connect

You’ll want to ensure that anyone visiting your site has a way to stay in touch. You can do this with a custom form which allows visitors to contact you directly from your EPK page. Alternatively, you can add the email addresses for you and your team directly on to your page.

Linking to your social media gives press and talent buyers easy access to see your online profiles. Customize icons for your social media platforms to make sure they match well with your template and layout. Be sure to include links to platforms where you are active. Linking to your most active platforms will showcase your most active audience, and avoid cluttering the features with icons that are no longer as engaging.

The contact section of Superknova’s EPK does exactly that. She provides links to only her most active and supported social platforms, and has a custom form included directly on her page. Anyone who is looking to get in touch can do so easily. Using a template which includes a pink overlay adds some flair to her imagery as well.

7. Finalize the layout and design

Once you’ve added all of the elements that should be in your band's electronic press kit, take a close look at the layout. Does the page appear too cluttered? Is everything easy to locate and read? Since your EPK will contain a fair amount of content, you’ll want to make sure you organize it so that every item is distinct and easy to find.

To accomplish this, you’ll want to use a website template that allows breathing room for lots of content. Then, break up your text, images, and media into sections, giving each its own title and background color or image.

Using sections also allows for more creative expression in your EPK design. You can put as much imagery as you want, and tell your story through your EPK as it flows down the page.

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The best electronic press kits make it easy for industry professionals and media to learn about your project and get access to press shots and marketing materials to promote and share your music.

These Bandzoogle members have created stylish and organized electronic press kit pages that are sure to help their music careers move forward. We hope these EPK examples will inspire you to build a press kit page on your own band website, and get your music heard far and wide.