What goes in an electronic press kit (EPK), and how press and bookers actually use it

An electronic press kit, or EPK, is the page you send when someone in the industry asks "who are you?" A music writer, a venue promoter, a booking agent and a festival programmer all open it, and none of them wants to email you back for a photo. Its job is to let them judge your act quickly and then take what they need.

There is no official EPK standard. What follows comes from published advice by people on the receiving end, chiefly the SXSW Music Festival programming team, plus two widely read artist guides from Ditto Music and Pirate. Where they agree, we treat it as the baseline. Where we add our own view, we say so.

Who reads it, and what they are looking for

The same page serves different readers, and they scan for different things.

• Promoters and bookers want to know whether you will sell tickets and sound good on their stage. Ditto Music's guide, republished by Hypebot, says they "are going to want to hear what you sound like" first, and that a live video "will be of much more use to any promoter or potential manager" than a storyboarded music video. It also says promoters and agents check your social profiles to see how active you are.
• Promoters doing marketing need assets. The same guide notes that "Promoters will use the images for posters" and suggests including a PNG of your logo that venues can use.
• Festival programmers read applications in bulk. In tips republished from SXSW Music, programmer Rory Burbeck said a bio serves two purposes, helping the team get familiar with your music and possibly describing you if you are invited, so "it's very important your biography reflect how you want your band and music to be described."
• Writers and editors want a hook, the facts and a quote-ready bio, and they want to check claims. That is why press quotes on an EPK should link back to where they ran.

What goes in it, in order

Put things in the order readers need them. Music sits at the top because that is the first question every reader asks.

1. Music. Two or three tracks that represent you now, embedded or linked, with your latest release first. Pirate's guide says "Curation is key!" and suggests choosing tracks that get to the point early, because people skip. SXSW programmer Stacey Wilhelm said a link to your YouTube channel "can be invaluable for us when we are evaluating", and Casper Mills said music that is only on Spotify and Apple Music "won't rule you out of contention."
2. A live video. One clip of you actually playing, ideally recent, with decent audio. For a booker this answers the question a studio track cannot.
3. The bio. A short version of two or three sentences, and a longer one of a few paragraphs. Pirate recommends the third person and covering background, influences, style and current projects. Write it so an editor or programmer could paste it as-is, because they might.
4. Press photos. Several high-resolution, downloadable shots. Pirate suggests landscape, portrait and square crops, and a mix of press, studio and live images. Add a photographer credit to each file name or caption.
5. Logo and artwork. A transparent PNG logo for posters, and high-resolution cover art for current releases.
6. News. One or two lines on what is happening now: the new single, the tour, the release date. SXSW's James Minor advised including "a few current and relevant press links", and the same post said a playlist feature can be "just as valuable as a feature in a major publication."
7. Press quotes. Short, positive and linked to the source. Ditto says to "always back them up with links too". Pirate advises against leaning on comparisons to other bands.
8. Live history and dates. Upcoming shows with ticket links, plus notable past shows and support slots.
9. Numbers, honestly. Pirate suggests followers, streams and sales and says modest figures are fine because a small loyal audience still counts. Ditto warns against buying followers or likes, since a promoter cares whether people turn up.
10. Tech rider. Line-up, inputs and backline needs. This mostly matters to promoters and venues.
11. Contacts. A dedicated artist email, plus management and booking contacts. Ditto suggests naming at least two preferred points of contact so nobody guesses.

Format: a web page beats a PDF

Pirate recommends hosting the EPK as a web page rather than a PDF: it reads better on a phone and is easier to keep current. Ditto suggests a shareable cloud link or a downloadable file on your website. In practice the strongest setup is both: a single page on your own site that shows everything, and one link to a folder holding the full-resolution photos, logo and rider.

Keep it current. An EPK with last year's tour dates tells a booker you are not paying attention. Update it at the same points in your release timeline where you update your pitch and artwork, and keep the bio in step with what you send to editorial teams through Spotify for Artists pitching.

The rights detail on photos

Your press photos are probably not yours. Under US law, 17 U.S.C. § 201(a) says copyright "vests initially in the author or authors of the work", and for a photo the author is normally the photographer. The work-made-for-hire rule in § 201(b) can make the hiring party the author, but for a freelancer that generally needs the right kind of written agreement.

That matters because an EPK exists to be reused by other people: posters, festival programmes, blog headers. Before you shoot, agree in writing that you, and the press and promoters you send the photos to, may use them for promotion, and how the photographer wants to be credited. The same logic applies to cover art and logos made by a designer. This is general information, not legal advice, and the rules differ outside the US.

Common mistakes

• Burying the music. If the first screen is a long bio, a busy promoter may never reach the player.
• Only a music video. Ditto says live footage is more useful to a promoter or potential manager.
• Low-resolution or watermarked photos. If they cannot go on a poster, they will not.
• Unlinked quotes. A quote with no source is hard for a writer to trust.
• Stale dates and numbers. Pirate's guide says to refresh the page for each release, tour or rider change.
• No clear contact. If a booker has to hunt for an email address, the offer may go to someone else.

What we think

The EPK is often sold to artists as a branding exercise. We think it is better understood as a piece of courtesy towards overworked people. The readers above are deciding fast, often between many acts, and the best kit removes every reason to say "maybe later": the song is one tap away, the photo is the right size, the bio is pasteable, the contact is obvious. That favours honest, current material over polish.

It also means artists should not pay much for one. Every element on the list above can live on a page you already control, and the expensive parts, good photos and a good live clip, are worth paying for because you will use them everywhere, not because a template requires them. Paid EPK builders can be convenient, but if one holds your only copy of your kit behind a subscription, you have rented your own front door. Keep the masters of every file yourself.

Finally, sort out the photo rights before the shoot, not after a promoter has printed the poster. It is the one EPK mistake that costs money rather than just a booking, and it is the one most guides skip.