ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2014, Volume 6 | Page 86
2015 is nearly upon us, and soon I, as well as many other artists, will be putting an electronic press kit
together. Google Search is filled with helpful pages to get you started, and I must admit, I will be getting
some help from industry friends constructing it. Not being the most technical guy, I am fortunate to have a
great team to sit down with me and put one together. Without mentioning specific trade names (which will
ring familiar once you get started) here are some basics that will be common to all EPKs one you get started:
Links to all your pertinent websites, making sure that they work and are current.
All contact information, email, mailing addresses and phone numbers.
A short, snappy bio with facts and not embellishments.
Professionally-taken band or musician photos to portray your act in the most flattering manner.
These will help you get going, and you will find at least a dozen EPK template websites on your first try--some
at no charge. EPKs will prove far more effective and less expensive than mailing out scores of CDs; which
will in all likelihood end up in a waste basket un-listened to. An EPK can be uploaded in around two minutes.
A great example is one uploaded to YouTube by singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb, which is fantastic and superbly
well done.
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One message I would like to share with fellow musicians that can save you loads of grief and heartache later
on is this--please be sure you and your bandmates have common goals for the fruition of your career. Not
discussing exactly what your objectives are can destroy your band later on. If you aspire to be a weekend
VFW pig roast band, there is nothing wrong with that--as long as that is the consensus of your entire group.
If you wish to travel to exotic locales and tour extensively year round, make sure everyone else does too. Be
sure to discuss everything openly, or else things will unravel when the band takes a $50 a man dive-bar job
one week after you just played for 10,000 people. Moves like this engender resentments, which will break
bands apart. If you are all committed to go to the top, wonderful. If you want to play little clubs around town
on Friday night and that's it, fine. Agree on a flat fee you will all play for and don't deviate from it. As harsh