Build a Basic EPK Without Spending Money

An EPK — electronic press kit — is the page you send when somebody asks “who are you and what do you have?” A promoter deciding on a booking, a blog deciding on a feature, a supervisor deciding whether to keep listening. You do not need a designer, a subscription, or a budget. You need the right six things in one place.

1. One strong photo

Not twelve. One image that looks like you and reads at small size. Shoot a horizontal crop and a vertical crop of the same frame, because a website header and a phone story need different shapes. Export it large — at least 2000px on the long edge — and do not send a screenshot of a photo. If a blog has to ask you for a usable image, you have added a step between them and publishing you.

2. A bio in three lengths

Write it once, at three sizes, because different people need different amounts:

• Around 50 words — for a listing, a lineup graphic, a caption
• Around 150 words — the working version, used most often
• Longer — for a feature writer who wants the full picture

Write it in third person so it can be lifted straight into an article. Lead with what is true and specific rather than adjectives: where you are from, what the music is, what you have actually done. “Phoenix producer, three releases, regular on Gemwork Radio” beats “visionary artist pushing boundaries” every time.

3. Current music, one click deep

Link the latest release and one or two things you are proudest of. Not your whole catalogue. Whoever opened this is deciding in about ninety seconds, and a wall of twenty links reads as no recommendation at all. If you have a private or unreleased record you are pitching, host it somewhere that plays without a login.

4. One video

Live footage, a session, a visual — whatever shows you doing the thing. Phone footage that captures a real room beats an expensive video that shows nothing. Bookers in particular want to see you perform before they commit a slot.

5. A contact a human answers

An email address that reaches you, checked regularly. If you have a manager or booking contact, label who handles what. This is the single most common failure in an EPK: everything looks good and there is no obvious way to say yes.

6. Logistics, if you play live

Stage plot, input list, how many people travel with you, how long the set runs. A promoter who can answer their own questions without emailing you is a promoter who books you faster.

Where to put it, for free

A page on your own site is best, because you control the URL and it does not expire. Failing that: a shared folder, a single public document, or one simple page — anything that opens on a phone without a download and without a login. Test the link from a browser you are not signed into. A press kit that asks a stranger to request access is a press kit nobody reads.

Housekeeping that makes you look professional

• Name your files properly: Artist - Photo - Horizontal.jpg, not IMG_4471.jpg
• Put a “last updated” date on the page
• Include the clean versions of your records alongside the explicit ones
• Re-check every link the day you send it

The whole thing can be built in an afternoon. What makes it work is not the design — it is that everything a person needs to say yes is on one screen, current, and reachable without asking you for anything.

G.U.M.M. DIY is practical how-to material from Gemwork Urban Music Magazine — useful enough to do today.