An EPK, or electronic press kit, is a single page or document that gives promoters, venues, festivals, and journalists everything they need to say yes to you. Bio, music, photos, videos, numbers, and contact details, in one place, ready to forward.
That last part is the point people miss. An EPK is not really for the person you send it to. It is for the person they forward it to, the booker's boss, the editor, the festival committee. It has to make your case when you are not in the room.
Who actually asks for an EPK#
More people than you would think, and usually with a deadline attached.
Venue bookers and promoters use it to judge whether you fit the room and can pull a crowd. Festival programmers sift hundreds of applications and spend about a minute on each. Journalists and bloggers need your bio and photos to write anything at all. Radio and playlist curators want context before they listen. Labels, managers, and agents check it to see whether you take your own career seriously.
When any of them hit a broken link or a folder of mislabeled files, they move to the next artist. Not out of spite. Out of time.
What goes in a music press kit#
A bio in three lengths#
One line, one paragraph, and a full version. The full version leads with who you are and what you sound like, proves it with things a stranger can verify, and closes with what is next. Written in third person so a journalist can lift it word for word. If you have not written yours yet, the bio section of our musician website guide has a structure that takes twenty minutes.
Your best music, not all of it#
Two or three tracks, best first. The reader will listen to thirty seconds of one. Make that thirty seconds count and make the play button impossible to miss.
Photos someone else can actually use#
Three to five high-resolution images. At least one landscape and one portrait, a clear main press shot, and a live photo if you play out. Name the files with your artist name and credit the photographer. Editors skip photos they would have to chase rights for.
One good video#
A live clip beats a lyric video for bookers, because it answers their real question, which is what you are like in a room. One strong, recent, well-lit clip. Not six.
Numbers, honestly#
Monthly listeners, real follower counts, notable rooms you have filled. Only the true ones. Bookers cross-check, and one inflated number poisons every honest one on the page.
Press quotes, if you have them#
One or two lines with the outlet named. No quotes yet is fine, a strong bio carries the page. Filler quotes from a friend's blog hurt more than an empty section.
Contact details that reach a human#
A name, an email address that gets checked, and your website. If someone else handles booking, say who and where. This block fails more EPKs than any other, which is absurd, because it is the easiest to get right.
If I cannot find your email address in ten seconds, I book the artist whose email I can find.
What to leave out#
Your life story before the first release. Every track you have ever made. Screenshots of Spotify Wrapped. Group photos where the reader cannot tell which one is you. Anything from more than two or three years ago that no longer represents what you sound like now.
The test for every element is simple. Does this help a stranger say yes faster? If not, it is clutter.
EPK vs website: which one do you need?#
Both, and they should share an address. The website is for fans, it converts interest into email signups and ticket sales. The EPK is for industry, it converts consideration into bookings and coverage. The classic setup is a press page on your own site plus a PDF version you can attach, since some festivals and venues still ask for a file.
The old advice was to build and maintain these separately, which is exactly why most EPKs are stale. The better answer is to have one source feed both. Artistplus generates a designed press kit from what is already on your website, your top tracks, your latest photos, your bio, styled to match your site, and refreshes it as your site changes. A shareable link, with a PDF behind it, that stays current without a maintenance ritual.
The one habit that separates good EPKs#
Keep it current. An EPK quoting numbers from two years ago or leading with a release you no longer open with tells the reader you stopped paying attention. A quarterly review is the manual fix. A press kit that rebuilds itself from your live site is the structural one.
Common questions#
What does EPK stand for?#
Electronic press kit. The name is a holdover from when press kits were physical folders mailed to venues and radio stations. Today it means a web page, a PDF, or both.
How long should an EPK be?#
Readable in about a minute. For a PDF that means one to two pages. For a web page, one screen of essentials with music, photos, and video immediately below. If the reader wants more, that is what your website is for.
Do I need an EPK if I only have one release out?#
You need one the day you start asking strangers for something, a support slot, a review, a festival application. With one release it is short, a bio, that release, two photos, and contact details. Short and current beats long and padded.
Should my EPK be a PDF or a web page?#
Lead with a link. It is lighter to send, always up to date, and lets you use embedded players. Keep a PDF ready because some application forms still demand a file upload. The best setup is a link where the current PDF lives one click away, so both stay in sync.
