Create A Killer Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

The name of the game these days is to stand out from the huge number of online artists. A high quality EPK is one of the essentials artists now need.

Your EPK is your showcase to the industry. Don't cut corners and don't settle for second best. Below I have included 5 Top Tips for creating your killer EPK.

1. Invest In A Quality Main Photo

It's amazing just how much your photo will convey about you as an artist. It's worth getting it right. It takes time and effort to convey the right message in the briefest of glances. Your music does not exist in isolation and the first thing someone viewing your EPK will see is your main photo. It sets an expectation of the music to come (or not if they decide to click away). So make sure your photo compliments your sound, is eye catching but appropriate.

2. Only Use High Quality Audio

This is your showcase! Do not include sub-standard, poor quality audio. No longer can artists expect to provide demo standard recordings to industry professionals. Why? Simple, the music world is a competition of sorts where you compete with other artists to be noticed. With low cost professional recording gear available more and more bands are providing high standard, professional recordings. If all you do is provide a rough demo what it says is "I don't care enough about my music, or believe in it enough, to create a decent recording" but it also says to the listener "I don't respect you enough as a listener to give you something decent to listen to". Not exactly the message you want to be giving out, especially to an industry professional.

3. Write A Descriptive 30 Second Pitch

If you only have 30 seconds to talk about your music, what would you say? True, this is your chance to grab attention, but you also have to give the reader what they are looking for, and that is information about your music!

Whatever you do avoid vagueness. Avoid arrogance or repeating common cheesy phrases, or making huge claims. Nothing turns off more than "This is the best music you will ever hear!" or "You have never heard anything like this before!" etc.

What can work is to include a quote, award or similar to help give credence to your music and your decription of your music.

4. Include A Full Up To Date Gig Calendar

This is one of the most important parts of your EPK. It's valuable particularly to promoters to get a handle on where a band is in their career by seeing what sort of venues they play, on what nights they play, and how often they play.

Include both past gigs and upcoming gigs. Past gigs provide some track record, and future gigs offer the opportunity of seeing a band before they are booked. Don't rely on anyone clicking through to your site, myspace or other page in order to find out more about your band.

5. Select Your Best Press Reviews

Cherry pick the best quotes from the best articles and include them in your EPK. This gives vital credibility as this is someone else's perspective on your music which instantly gets more credibility than you making claims about your own music. This doesn't need to be quotes from the top newspapers, but any press coverage is useful including any comments from bloggers.