Creating great music is only one aspect of getting people excited about your art. To back your releases and catch the attention of record labels, music journalists, radio stations, and managers, you must craft a digital package that tells your story.
An electronic press kit (EPK) helps you do just that. It is an excellent way to demonstrate to music industry managers that you are a unique, talented, and sellable artist.
Let’s look at how you can make a free EPK that will get you noticed and help you take your career to the next level.
What is an EPK?
An Electronic Press Kit is an electronic resume or curriculum vitae (CV) for musicians, bands, singers, and other artists. An EPK is a consolidated place where music industry professionals can find your recordings, photos, biography, lyrics, and more.
These professionals are constantly on the lookout for new artists. They may be looking online to fill out a festival lineup, find someone for a film, or sign new acts to a new label. A well-designed EPK helps you get noticed by such professionals.
Here’s an example from Rachel Beck.
Like a paper resume, an EPK is designed to introduce you to agents, clients, labels, and venue owners, increasing your chances of being discovered, selling digital products, landing gigs, or creating new connections.
What to include in an EPK?
Your EPK should include everything you want journalists, record labels, music producers, and bloggers to know about your music. But here are five essential elements every good EPK should have:
- Your biography
- Social media and streaming or download links
- Album artwork
- Achievements
- Contact details
Biography
Your EPK should showcase your music and tell the world who you are. In a biography section, you set the tone for your EPK, telling your story, what drives you, and how your art came to be.
Your bio can include:
- Where you’re currently based
- Where you’re from
- What your musical genre/sound is
- Who your musical inspirations are
- Which artists/groups you’ve worked with
- Previous musical projects
- Your journey—how you got into music
- What inspires you to create music
Here is an interesting way to include your biography in your EPK.
Many artists write their own biographies, but if you feel too close to your project to do your bio justice, you can always outsource it to a publicist, commission a music promoter, or hire a freelance writer.
Social Media and Streaming Links
People can’t follow your social media accounts or stream your music if they don’t know where to reach you. Make sure your EPK contains links to your social accounts, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube channel, TikTok, and more.
Also, add links where industry professionals and potential fans can stream your music, such as your Spotify page or any artist playlists you have curated.
Here is an example:
You can also use this opportunity to link your website’s landing page or encourage interested viewers to join your promotion mailing list if you have one.
Album Artwork
Album artwork is a great way to promote your latest releases. It also makes for a visually stunning EPK.
Album artwork is a visual representation of your music’s sound, so why not promote it prominently?
Include high-resolution images of your album art, including the front and back cover art and other images from the album design you want your viewers to remember.
The more places you put your album artwork on, the more recognizable your music is on streaming platforms like Spotify.
Achievements
At the end of the day, your EPK is promotional—so sell yourself as an artist. Highlight your top achievements, such as awards you’ve won, labels you’ve worked with, number of sold-out shows and audiences, and streaming record history.
Don’t feel that “modest” numbers aren’t worth sharing. Talent buyers are on the lookout for the next best thing—and even if you’ve sold only 400 copies of a record or have 2000 Instagram followers, that’s the beginning of a long-term, loyal audience.
You can also include existing press coverage in this section, where you highlight three to five of the best pieces of coverage you’ve gathered to show viewers you’re an exciting, sellable artist. Keep updating your achievements page as new press releases, audiences, and shows come in.
Contact Details
Finally, include your phone number, email address, representation information, location, and studio address (if you have one). If you have other team members (such as band members), list their positions and contact information.
Consolidate the contact information in one spot in your EPK, and if there are special options, let your visitors know. For instance, if a visitor requests a full version of your album, let them know which member to contact with their request.
How to create a free EPK?
While many musicians outsource their EPK creation to EPK experts, this can cost anywhere from $195 to $795. For small artists looking to promote themselves, this is unaffordable.
Fortunately, there are free and affordable press kit templates you can use. Here are the four basic steps to creating a professional EPK using an EPK template.
1. Choose an EPK template
You can find many EPK templates online priced at around $3 to $50. GetResponse also has a library of over 200+ pre-designed landing page templates that you can customize and use as EPK templates.
Browse these templates and choose one that fits your overall aesthetic and style. If you’re unsure where to begin, look at EPKs from other artists of similar genres and styles (we’ve shared three examples below). Find out what you like about their design and how to include those elements in your EPK.
While you can always make your EPK from scratch, these templates are great starting points to help speed up the design process. They provide a good outline and theme you can follow and can be customized to highlight your distinctive artist persona.
2. Add your content
Once you’ve chosen a template, start adding content. Here are the sections you’ll want to add to your EPK template:
- A bio
- A quote or a piece of art that describes your sound
- Music—Select your newest or most popular tracks, and feature tracks from albums you’re promoting
- Photos—Add plenty of appealing, high-resolution images. Be sure to add a variety, such as studio shots, behind-the-scenes from music videos, live shots, and posed band pictures. Also, include a few different sizes (landscape, portrait, and square) to keep it interesting
- Videos—Choose some of your best performance moments or teasers from your shows and music videos. These videos will be a visitor’s first glance at what you, as an artist, look and sound like
- Contact information—Format contact details so they are clear and easy to find
- Networking links—Add social media and streaming links into your design in a fun way, such as pop-up links or platform icons
These are just the basic sections you should incorporate into your EPK. Depending on your position as an artist and what you’re trying to promote, you can include a stage plot, posters, album artwork, tech riders, tour dates, and press clippings.
3. Customize the EPK layout
Once you’ve got your bio, photos, music, and more in place on the page, you should now adjust the template elements to create a customized template that represents you best.
While pre-designed EPK templates can help you get all your content in place, it’s always a good idea to tailor the look and feel of your kit to reflect your uniqueness.
For example, you might want to add different background colors or imagery to make your music and text pop. Select crisp, blocky fonts for section titles and choose colors consistent with your album artwork and overall artist aesthetic.
That is vital because chances are many people would be using templates, so you don’t want to end up with a generic EPK that looks like everyone else’s.
4. Promote your EPK
Once your electronic press kit is ready, you must get it out to the media and the industry. You can start by creating a website and embedding a link to your EPK on your landing page.
For instance, if you’re promoting a new release on your website, you can add a call-to-action on your landing page to direct traffic to learn more about you and listen to the track on your EPK page.
Another important promotion medium is the direct URL. Having a direct URL of your EPK to share with people upon request is a great way to get the word out there. Any time a blogger, record label, manager, or producer requests a photo, song, sample, or video, you can send them the direct link to your EPK with all the necessary information. You could also add the URL to a QR code and share the code with others.
This makes it easy for managers to read your bio, download an image to feature, or send your EPK to others.
Yet another way to promote your EPK is by creating a downloadable press kit you can easily send to bookers and reviewers or print out and use for networking at conferences. You can use a graphic designing tool like Canva or hire a professional graphic designer to create a downloadable version of your online EPK.
An important thing to remember: Since your EPK may contain free music, don’t send it to fans or the general public. If you’re concerned that your EPK may be found and shared, make it password-protected and share it directly through a personalized email to specific recipients.
3 EPK examples for inspiration
If you don’t know where to start with your EPK, here are three fantastic EPK examples to inspire you.
1. YUR MUM
Visually stunning, information-packed, and well-formatted, this EPK by powerhouse rock duo YurMum is as electric as the band’s music. From press reviews to bio, merch, music, videos, and contact information, it includes all the necessary details without appearing too messy.
2. MARCH ANGEL
This press kit’s design and color scheme are gorgeous and give visitors a good idea of March Angel’s sound. Complete with her bio, social media links, contact information, and a quick link to her new song, this EPK is as comprehensive as a one-page website gets.
3. RACHEL BECK
This EPK by electronic pop musician Rachel Beck is a good example of the effective use of color and design. The formatting is visually appealing, giving viewers an idea of Beck’s sound. It also includes plenty of press reviews and quotations to highlight her artistry.
4 Tips to create a compelling EPK
Now that you’re almost ready to create an EPK, here are four tips to keep in mind.
1. Keep your target audience in mind
Before designing your press kit, it’s important to remember that your target audience (music producers, labels, venues, and fans) will want to have a comprehensive understanding of who you are as a musician after looking at your EPK. Make sure to include all the information they will need to achieve this.
2. Add social proof
Ensure your EPK has an updated record of your achievements and talents. Include a list of recent awards you’ve won, streaming records and sales you’ve achieved, and positive media coverage your music has driven.
3. Update your EPK regularly
Electronic Press Kits are not a set-and-done project. Your kit should be a living document that you regularly update with new videos, photos, updates, music, and news.
This will help keep it fresh and engaging and let industry professionals and fans know you’re active.
4. Optimize your EPK for mobile devices
A significant proportion of viewers will access your EPK on mobile devices. Make sure it is optimized for mobile so it can be easily viewed on smartphones, tablets, and other small screens on the go. You can do that by choosing a responsive template when designing your EPK.
In closing
Building an informative, well-rounded EPK is a small but important part of your promotional journey as a musician.
If you don’t know where to begin, designing your EPK with a ready-made template is a surefire way to create an engaging, relevant, and professional kit.
Sign up for GetResponse’s landing page creator today and find professional themes to make EPK creation a breeze.