How to make an EPK

Do you need an EPK yet?

Not for your first rooms. A promoter booking a support slot wants a one-line story, a link that plays and the dates you can do, in a short email. Our gigs guide has that email.

You need an EPK when someone asks for one, and when you're pitching people who will want everything in one place: a festival, a bigger promoter, a booking agent, a journalist writing more than a listing. If promoters have started replying "send us your EPK", it's time.

What goes in an EPK?

In this order, top to bottom:

1. Your name and one-line story. Who you are and the one true thing that makes people remember you, in a sentence. It's the first line of your bio. If you don't have it yet, start with the bio guide.
2. One track that plays. Your strongest, as a streaming link that opens and plays in one tap. Add two more underneath if you have them, but the first one does the work.
3. One live video. The single most useful thing for anyone booking a show. A phone video of a full song in a real room beats a polished clip of you miming.
4. A short bio. About 50 words, with the 150-word version underneath for a journalist who wants more. The one-line story, what you sound like, what's out, and what's next.
5. Two photos. One wider than it is tall and one taller than it is wide, both large enough to print, each with your name in the file name and a download link. Your best photo, plus one that looks like you on stage.
6. What's coming up. The next release date and the next shows. A dated thing gives the reader a reason to act now.
7. Contact. One email for bookings and press, and the town you're based in. If someone books for you, their name and email.

Add these only when you have them:

• Two or three facts you can stand behind. A sold-out night, a radio play, a playlist you were added to, a number of people on your list. Put the date on any number, because a number with no date reads as old.
• One or two press quotes, each with the outlet's name and a link to where it ran.
• Tech basics for live: line-up, what you bring, what you need from the venue. A short list is enough until someone asks for a stage plot.

What should you leave out?

• Everything you've ever released. One track and one video. Anyone who wants more will click through.
• Attachments. A link to a page, never a zip file or a heavy PDF in the email. Attachments get emails filtered and look like work to the reader.
• Long bios. Nobody booking a show reads 600 words. Keep the long version for your website.
• Numbers you can't back up. If you can't say where a number came from, leave it off. Promoters check, and one wrong number makes them doubt the rest.
• Adjectives doing a fact's job. "Unique", "genre-defying", "rising star". Say the specific thing instead.
• Social links to empty profiles. List the two places people actually find you.

How do you make one, step by step?

1. Write the bio first. The one-line story, the 50-word and the 150-word versions. Our free bio generator builds all three from your own words.
2. Pick the one track and the one video. The ones you'd want heard if they only hear one.
3. Choose two photos and check the size. A cropped profile picture won't print. When we check artists' press material, the photo is one of the things that most often isn't ready.
4. Put it on one page. Your own website page, a link-in-bio page or a one-page PDF hosted online all work. Use your own look: your colours, your type, your photo at the top. It should look like you.
5. Read it on your phone. That's where it'll be opened. If the track doesn't play in one tap, fix it.
6. Send the link in the body of a short email, after the one-line ask. Never the EPK on its own with no message.

When we build an EPK with an artist, it's one page in their own look, and when we send a venue enquiry on an artist's behalf, the EPK link goes with it once the promoter is interested. It's a supporting document. The email does the asking.

How often should you update it?

Every release, and after any show or press piece worth adding. Change the track, the dates and the bio's "what's next" line. The one-line story should stay the same for a long time; if it changes every month, the brand work isn't finished yet.

Is an EPK the same as a press release?

No. An EPK is about you and stays up for months. A press release is about one dated thing, a single or a launch night, and is sent once to the people who'd write about it. When you send a press release, link your EPK at the bottom. Our press release guide has the one-page release.

Where this fits

The EPK sits in the support stage of artist development, once the songs are finished and the brand is clear. The pillar guide has all five stages, the bio guide gives you the words it's built from, and the gigs guide has the email it goes out with.

• Artist development: what it is, what it costs, and how to tell it's working
• How to write a musician bio: start with your fans' words
• How to write a press release for a single: the UK version
• How to get gigs as an independent artist: the first rooms
• How to get your music heard as an independent artist
• How to get your music on UK radio: BBC Introducing and after
• Artist bio generatorfree tool
• Booking email builderfree tool

Questions artists ask