Vic Garcia's Blog

The Westar EPK

A helpful tool for artists to have is an EPK (or Electronic Press Kit). In business, EPK’s are internet-accessible, media packages that contain all the information about the artist. They’re your online business card. Keep them up-to-date, looking professional and make sure they represent you accurately.

Any Musician’s Survival Guide, will insist that you have an EPK. Nowadays, it’s much more efficient to e-mail promoters you’re EPK rather than driving to the post office and shipping your materials the old-fashioned way. I’m finding that more and more promoters prefer e-mail submissions rather than sorting through mail packages.

I highly recommend that you avoid submitting your myspace page as your EPK, they take too long to load. The best solution I’ve seen for creating EPKs is through Sonicbids.com, they’re fast to load and don’t have a bunch of banners with links to other things that aren’t related to your band.

Your EPK should contain: at least one professional photo of the artist, biography, press-clippings, contact info, tour schedule (or prior tour schedule) and a demo CD. Now, it’s always a good idea to add a little flair to your EPK, perhaps go with a theme such as, old newspaper or restaurant menu. You want your EPK to stand out to these people who spend hours reviewing band submissions.

I will go into more detail about writing a good artist bio and discuss band photos in the near future, but I really wanted to share with you the value of EPKs. Let’s say that you’ve just started a band and want to get a few gigs around town. Well, I would start with a demo, photo, bio and create an EPK. Forward your EPK link to promoters (often a promoter’s email address can be found on a club’s web-page) and if it’s sharp enough and makes an impression, I guarantee you will get booked. Good luck!