Your EPK Could Kill Your Career
Get Professional
Increasingly, Electronic Press Kits (EPKs) are preferred for exploring or shortlisting artists for programming. Most programmers or media – typically very busy people who receive volumes of material from artists, constantly – are most likely to connect to artists who give them the relevant information in a clear, concise and professional way. Never send a programmer a 35 mb email attaching your track or pictures – it will most likely be deleted immediately without a listen.
Your EPK reflects who you are and how you are to work with. Don’t expect a response if your EPK has incomplete information, has poor quality photographs, or no credits – things that make you seem like an amateur, not quite ready for a professional world.
For programming professionals – media outlets, venues, A & R representatives, music agents, labels and other potential business avenues – the initial quick scan of a professional EPK gives them an indication about the artist’s professionalism.
EPK vs. Website
While websites work best for fans or general information about the artist, the EPK addresses the specifics for programming gigs or media coverage. Customise your covering communication depending on whom you are sending it to – a music journalist, a bar, a festival, and keep it short. It’s important to include a download link to your EPK on your band’s website.
EPK Essentials
– Band Name and Genre
– Biography: A brief about your band, musical influences and major achievements, performances, festival appearances, awards. Keep to the facts, and avoid self-adulatory words like ‘unique’, ‘greatest’, ‘nothing-like-this-in-the-world’ – others need to say that about your music, not you.
– Credits: Your EPK should give the full names of all the band members, their respective roles in the band, with songwriting, production and photograph credits where relevant.
– Audio Sample: Must include a high quality track or audio sample of the band’s sound. Ensure that the music can be streamed – so that whoever is viewing it does not have to download the music.
– Video Sample: A reasonable quality video sample of a live performance is essential. Avoid grainy samples with bad quality audio or video. A programmer wants to see how you are on stage for a live performance – so music videos may be nice too, but not that effective for live programming.
– Hi-resolution images: It’s critical to have 3 – 5 good quality, professionally taken, high resolution photographs of the band. Low quality cell phone images or amateur looking photographs are not professional. There needs to be at least one photograph of the entire band together.
– Press/Testimonials: Mention any past media coverage preferably with links to gig and album reviews, or streams to radio interviews, and noteworthy testimonials about the band.
– Contact Information/ External Links: Must include contact information of the band’s manager, and links to any band pages – website, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter etc.
The truth is, professionals prefer to work with people who come across as professional – in attitude, communication, presentation, and performance. It saves everyone time – and sooner or later, money.
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