How to Make the Perfect EPK
By: Connor Morgan
How to Make the Perfect EPK - full document with images here!
How to Make the Perfect Electronic Press Kit - Top 10 Tips from Connor Morgan.
USE DROPBOX/GOOGLE DRIVE
Something that has been so commonplace recently is to use Dropbox or Google Drive to upload all your assets to. The benefit of doing this is you avoid all size restrictions on sending emails which you might fill with simply just your audio files, let alone any of your images or documents.
Another benefit of using a tool like Dropbox is that the songs you upload to it display a waveform and when someone listens to many different songs every day having that waveform to jump towards the chorus, or the second verse for example. This really is a great benefit. However, do note, only Dropbox has this feature and Google Drive simply has a conventional playback line. As you’d expect from using a tool like this is that you can simply upload more than you could with a conventional email and it’s all in one simple link that is easy to share.
INCLUDE A MP3 & WAV
Like previously mentioned you should really use the additional storage you get from Dropbox to your advantage. A great example of this is uploading an MP3 and a WAV version of your track. Even though this may seem pointless uploading your song twice. However, depending on who you’re sending your track to they may want the high quality, uncompressed WAV version. For example, at the BBC where they have large server storage it’s common place to download the WAV versions at BBC Radio to ensure the highest quality possible for broadcast. Although, at a community station where the playout system and song storage may only be on your everyday PC with much less total storage. As a result of this it’s common for presenters on smaller stations to download the MP3. Plus, the download time of a WAV file can be quite long so if you have an MP3 the time strapped presenter may simply download your MP3.
It’s such a simple thing to do but it makes a big difference!
DON’T MAKE IT A BASIC EMAIL FORMAT
This tip isn’t as clear cut as the previous tips, but the importance of a creative/unique email format is so important. It’s totally up to you how you want to format your email and how much time and effort you’d like to invest in this tip. However, suggestions that I think you should implement into your email include:
- Centring the text.
- Inline attach your cover art.
- Use a separate row for important track information like Track, Label etc.
- Don’t be afraid to bold, underline or italic important pieces of information as well.
A great example of this is PYST and their EPKs. As you can see, they clearly label the artist, label etc. A brilliant benefit is having it bilingual too. As a Welsh publisher a lot of the people they send their EPKs to are based in Wales and it’s sensible from them to write their information in both in English and Welsh.
INCLUDE COVER ART AND PHOTOS OF YOU/THE BAND
As we can see from the image above it’s a great idea to include the cover art of the record/album. This adds to the email as a whole and makes sure that it’s less generic but it’s also great to stylistically showcase your artwork. A lot of the time the artwork can be a great indicator of the track. I’d include the cover art in the email and the Dropbox folder so the presenter can download it later for social media purposes as well.
However, I wouldn’t stop with just the cover art. I would also include professional photographs of you or the band in the Dropbox. It’s really important to have these visual assets to your Dropbox as nowadays a lot of stations and shows showcase the songs their playing on-air via social media and it can often be a lot of hassle for presenters to navigate Google Images just to find a low-resolution photo of you and your band for example so include them and make the job as easy for the presenter to shout about you!
DON’T FORGET ABOUT IMPORTANT SONG INFORMATION
Don’t forget important release information when publishing your EPK too and make sure to update it if any events change. By this I mean if you know a show is going to be playing the song for the first time and they’re going to be getting the first play of it I’d update any subsequent EPKs you send to just reflect that the song has debuted on X show. This allows the presenter to know quickly they’re not going to be selling the song as a first play.
Additionally, if you have any live performances happening - include them! It’s always a helpful talking point to mention when an artist is performing next and every shout you can get about your live gig goes a long way so definitely include them if you have any upcoming gigs! When sending music particularly to BBC Radio is making sure you include as much information about the track as possible. Due to many stations needing to report the music they play they need to add critical information to the data of the song like label, publisher, and composers. It’s often incredibly difficult to find this information with just Google so definitely make their job easier and ensure you rightfully get your royalties paid by including this information in the EPK.
INCLUDE SOCIAL LINKS
The whole point of an EPK is to shout about yourself and we all know just how impactful social media is so DEFINITELY include your social media links! Again, this just makes it that much easier for presenters who are tagging you in posts to ensure they tag the right account. Accounts with fewer followers often don’t come to the top of the list when simply typing in your artist’s name so include your links so that they can just type in your full handle and make sure they get your correct account. In the interest of looks as well often publishers will use logos and then hyperlink the social media site to the logo. This is always a nice idea and keeps the EPK looking clean.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Where possible tell the presenters about your song. How did it come about? What inspired you? What are your goals? These are just a few examples but providing information like this is so invaluable. Having something to talk about for your song means that the presenter can broadcast valuable information about your new track. You don’t have to write a George R. R. Martin novel, but a few paragraphs can really be incredibly useful for the presenter talking around your songs. If you want your EPK to stand out then make your email is unique and personal, include the person's name and include why you think this song might work for their show. Is there something you listened to recently that you enjoyed? Sometimes a name is enough to show effort to personalise an EPK as they’re inherently generic for various stations etc. But that’s exactly why a little message unique to the presenter may just be enough for them to download your song.
INCLUDE LYRICS
Inside your Google Drive or Dropbox, it’s a brilliant idea to include the lyrics for your song. This is incredibly useful for the presenter as it allows them to quickly scan for any swears or potentially offensive lyrics that may not be suitable for broadcasting. Every song needs to be compiled before being broadcast and as a result it’s great to have a lyric sheet to just ensure that the presenter has the comfort of knowing your song is clean and suitable. Additionally, music tastemakers often love referring to the lyrics and this again could be a great thing to include to provide the presenter with even more to discuss around your single!
MAKE A PDF
Often artists and publishers will attach a PDF to their email. These PDFs can be amazing as you can be considerably more creative in a PDF than you could on an email. Additionally, you can link to a website directly from a PDF so you could highlight and link a certain part of your PDF EPK to your Google Drive, your social media, Spotify profile etc. However, do note, unlike an email a PDF is required to be downloaded and the links simply don’t work on a preview view on your emails. This may be something to be considered as this can often be an inconvenience for many presenters. But it can be really great to get creative and produce a really bold and engaging and if you’d rather get creative outside of an email and create a really beautiful PDF than it may be a great idea.
There are a few ways to export a PDF the most simple way is to use Microsoft Word and then ‘Save As PDF’ or Print and then ‘Print to PDF’. However, if you’d like to add links to the download link, photos etc. then you must open your recently made PDF in Adobe Acrobat and then select ‘Edit’ at the top of the page, ‘Link’, draw where you’d like the link to exist, then for ‘Select Action’, scroll down to ‘Open a web link’ and copy and paste the URL of the page you’d like to send use.
CONSIDER MUSIC SUBMISSION SITES
These websites are something that I’ve only recently discovered. However, if you’re looking to share your tracks to playlists it may be worth considering using sites like Groover or SubmitHub. You can pay a small fee to send your single to a curator who may own a Spotify playlist or may even have a radio show for example, and they can review your song and even add it to a playlist. Of course, this is most certainly not a required step but if you’re looking for extra promotion this may be a great idea to do just that.
Thank you all for reading, I hope you’ve learnt a valuable tip and will implement it into your next EPK.
Please note these tips are subjective to my experiences.