How to Write an Electronic Press Kit (EPK): Complete Template and Guide

How to Write an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

An electronic press kit (EPK) is a one-page digital document or website containing your bio, music links, photos, press quotes, and contact info—used to pitch to venues, media, labels, and playlists. A strong EPK is concise, professional, and easy to scan in under 60 seconds.

Key Takeaways

  • EPK = One-page press kit with bio, music, photos, stats, and contact info
  • Purpose: Booking shows, pitching press, submitting to playlists/labels
  • Format: PDF (1-2 pages) or website (Bandzoogle, Google Sites, Squarespace)
  • Include: 100-word bio, 3-5 high-res photos, music/video links, streaming stats, press quotes
  • Keep it scannable—bookers/journalists skim, they don't read every word
  • Update quarterly with new releases, stats, and press mentions

What is an EPK and why do you need one?

An EPK (Electronic Press Kit) is a digital resume for musicians. It's the first thing venues, journalists, playlist curators, and labels ask for when considering working with you.

What an EPK does:

  • Introduces your music and brand in 60 seconds or less
  • Provides booking agents, journalists, and curators with everything they need in one place
  • Proves you're professional and serious about your career

What an EPK is NOT:

  • A full autobiography or manifesto
  • A place to explain every song's meaning
  • A multi-page document with your life story

Who needs an EPK:

  • Artists booking shows or tours
  • Musicians pitching to blogs, magazines, and podcasts
  • Bands submitting to record labels or management
  • Artists reaching out to playlist curators

EPK Format: PDF vs. Website

You can create an EPK as a PDF or a dedicated website. Each has pros and cons.

Format Pros Cons Best For
PDF (1-2 pages) Easy to attach to emails, no hosting costs, works offline Harder to update, links aren't clickable Booking small venues, basic press outreach
Website (Bandzoogle, Squarespace, Google Sites) Always up-to-date, clickable links, embeddable music/video, looks more professional Requires monthly hosting ($10-20), harder to attach to emails Serious touring artists, label/management pitches

Most professional artists use both:

  • Website EPK for main press/booking page
  • PDF version to attach to cold emails

Essential EPK Components

Every EPK must include these 7 elements:

1. Artist/Band Name and Genre

At the top, bold and clear.

Example:

ANARXHY
Alternative / Electronic / Dark Pop

Make it instantly obvious who you are and what you sound like.

2. Bio (100-200 words max)

Your bio should be concise, engaging, and focused on your sound and story—not your childhood.

Structure:

  • First sentence: Who you are + your sound
  • Middle: Notable achievements, releases, milestones
  • End: Current status (upcoming release, tour, project)

Example:

Anarxhy is an alternative artist from Los Angeles blending dark electronic production with anthemic pop melodies. Since debuting in 2024, Anarxhy has released 5 albums and built a catalog of over 30 singles, including the cinematic "Eternal Eclipse Soundtrack" series.

With features on Spotify's New Music Friday and over 50,000 monthly listeners, Anarxhy has established a dedicated fanbase drawn to the project's introspective lyrics and genre-blending production. The upcoming album Ghosts I Outlived arrives in July 2026, accompanied by a regional tour.

What NOT to include in your bio:

  • Childhood dreams of being a musician
  • Your musical influences (unless highly relevant)
  • Lengthy personal backstory
  • Self-aggrandizing claims ("the next big thing," "revolutionary sound")

3. Music and Video Links

Include 2-3 streaming links and 1-2 videos.

Music:

  • Spotify (artist page or top song)
  • Apple Music (artist page)
  • Bandcamp (if you have one)

Video:

  • Music video (YouTube, Vimeo)
  • Live performance clip (1-2 minutes, good audio quality)

Format:

MUSIC
→ Spotify: [link]
→ Apple Music: [link]
→ Bandcamp: [link]

VIDEO
→ "Song Title" Official Music Video: [YouTube link]
→ Live at [Venue Name]: [link]

Pro tip: Use Linkfire or Feature.fm to create a single "smart link" that routes listeners to their preferred platform.

4. High-Resolution Photos (3-5 images)

Venues, press, and promoters need professional photos for posters, social media, and press coverage.

Requirements:

  • Resolution: At least 2000px wide, 300 DPI
  • Format: JPG preferred (avoid PNG for photos—too large)
  • Variety: Include different looks (live shot, promo shot, candid, band together)
  • Rights: Ensure you have permission to use (or own the rights to) all photos

How to provide photos:

  • PDF EPK: Include 2-3 thumbnail images with download links
  • Website EPK: Create a "Photos" section with downloadable high-res files

Where to get professional photos:

  • Hire a local photographer ($200-500 for a 1-hour shoot)
  • Trade services with photographer friends
  • DIY with good lighting and a smartphone

5. Streaming Stats and Achievements

Quantify your reach to prove you're worth booking/covering.

Include if impressive:

  • Monthly Spotify listeners (10k+)
  • Instagram/TikTok followers (5k+)
  • YouTube subscribers/views
  • Playlist placements (Spotify editorial, major indie playlists)
  • Radio play (college radio, local stations)
  • Notable shows played (venue names, capacity)

Example:

STATS & ACHIEVEMENTS
→ 50,000+ monthly Spotify listeners
→ Featured on Spotify's "New Music Friday"
→ 200k+ streams on "Song Title"
→ 15k Instagram followers
→ Toured with [Similar Artist], sold out [Venue Name] (300 cap)

If you don't have impressive stats yet:

  • Skip this section—don't draw attention to low numbers
  • Focus on qualitative achievements (press quotes, notable shows)

6. Press Quotes and Features

Social proof from blogs, magazines, playlists, or local press validates your work.

Format:

PRESS
"Anarxhy delivers haunting, cinematic alternative music." — Music Blog Name

"A rising force in dark electronic pop." — Magazine Name

Featured: Spotify's New Music Friday, Apple Music's Breaking Alternative

Where to find press quotes:

  • Blog reviews
  • Playlist curator comments
  • Social media mentions from influencers
  • Radio DJ shoutouts

What if you have no press yet?

  • Skip this section
  • Focus on getting 2-3 blog features before creating your EPK (use SubmitHub)

7. Contact Information

Make it easy to reach you.

Include:

  • Booking email (e.g., booking@yourband.com)
  • General inquiries email
  • Phone number (optional but helpful for venues)
  • Management contact (if applicable)
  • Social media links (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook)
  • Website

Example:

CONTACT
Booking: booking@anarxhy.com
Press: press@anarxhy.com
Management: [name@management.com]

Instagram: @a.narxhy
TikTok: @a.narxhy
Website: anarxhy.com

EPK Template (PDF Version)

Here's a simple one-page EPK template you can adapt:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

                 YOUR BAND NAME
           Genre / Subgenre / Location

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

BIO

[100-200 word bio: who you are, your sound, notable achievements, current status]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

MUSIC & VIDEO

→ Spotify: [link]
→ Apple Music: [link]
→ Music Video: [YouTube link]
→ Live Performance: [link]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

STATS & ACHIEVEMENTS

→ 50k monthly Spotify listeners
→ Featured on Spotify's "New Music Friday"
→ 15k Instagram followers
→ Sold out [Venue Name] (300 cap)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

PRESS

"Quote from blog/magazine." — Publication Name

Featured: [Playlist names, blog names]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONTACT

Booking: booking@yourband.com
Press: press@yourband.com
Phone: (555) 123-4567

Instagram: @yourband
Website: yourband.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

PHOTOS

[Insert 2-3 thumbnail images]

Download high-res photos: [link to Google Drive or Dropbox]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Best Tools for Creating an EPK

PDF EPKs:

  • Canva — Canva.com (free tier works fine)
  • Adobe InDesign — Professional design tool ($22.99/month)
  • Google Docs — Simple and free

Website EPKs:

  • Bandzoogle — $10-20/month; built for musicians; includes EPK templates
  • Squarespace — $16-49/month; beautiful templates
  • Wix — Free tier available
  • Google Sites — Free; basic but functional

Recommendation: Use Bandzoogle for a professional, music-focused EPK website, or Canva for a quick PDF version.

Common EPK Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Too long — Keep it to 1 page (PDF) or 1 scrolling page (website) ❌ No contact info — Always include booking email and phone number ❌ Broken links — Test every link before sending ❌ Low-res photos — Venues/press need 2000px+ images ❌ Overly personal bio — Focus on music, not childhood stories ❌ No music samples — Embed Spotify player or provide direct links ❌ Outdated info — Update your EPK quarterly ❌ Generic template — Customize to reflect your brand/aesthetic

When and How to Send Your EPK

Attach or link your EPK when:

  • Pitching to venues for shows
  • Submitting to blogs, magazines, podcasts
  • Reaching out to labels or management
  • Applying for festivals or showcases
  • Contacting playlist curators

Email best practices:

  • Attach PDF EPK for cold emails (under 2 MB)
  • Link to website EPK in follow-up emails or when requested
  • Keep email body short—EPK has all the details

Example pitch email:

Subject: Booking Inquiry: [Your Band] - [Date Options]

Hi [Venue Booker],

I'm [Your Name] from [Your Band], a [genre] band from [City]. We're looking to play [Venue Name] on [Date 1, Date 2, or Date 3].

We've been [achievement: touring regionally, building momentum with 20k Spotify listeners, featured on X playlist]. Our live show is [describe: high-energy, intimate, engaging].

EPK attached. Let me know what works!

Best,
[Your Name]
[Email]
[Phone]

FAQ

How often should I update my EPK?

Every 3-6 months, or whenever you have a major update (new release, significant press feature, big show).

Should I include my full discography?

No. Include your latest/best release and maybe one notable older release. Link to your Spotify/Bandcamp for the full catalog.

Can I use the same EPK for booking and press?

Yes, but tweak the email copy. Venues care about draw and live show; press cares about story and sound.

What if I don't have professional photos?

Invest $200-500 in a local photographer for a 1-hour shoot. It's one of the best investments you can make.

Do I need a separate EPK for each project/album?

Only if you're launching a new project with a different sound/brand. Otherwise, update your existing EPK with new info.

Should I include my setlist?

Only for booking emails. Most venues want to see your setlist length (e.g., "45-minute set, 10-12 songs"). Don't include specific song titles unless asked.

Related Guides

Made by an independent artist. This guide is created by Anarxhy, an alternative artist using EPKs for touring and press. Stream Anarxhy's music on Spotify, Apple Music, and all platforms.