How to make an EPK (electronic press kit) for your music

An EPK, or electronic press kit, is a single, easy-to-share hub that gives a curator, journalist, or booker everything they need to say yes to you in under two minutes. It is not a portfolio and it is not your life story. It is a fast-reference page: who you are in one paragraph, your best music, photos they can actually print, any credible press, and how to reach you. The best EPKs are short, current, and frictionless. The worst are cluttered, out of date, or hidden behind a login. Here is exactly what to include and how to build one people will actually use.

What an EPK is for

Think about the moment your EPK gets opened. A blog editor is deciding whether to cover you. A booker is deciding whether to offer a slot. A curator is deciding whether your track fits. In every case, someone busy is scanning for a few specific things and will bounce the second they have to hunt. Your job is to put those things in front of them in a logical order, all working, all current. If your EPK does that, it does its job. Anything beyond that is decoration.

The essential sections

The bio

Write it in the third person and keep it tight. Have a one-line version (genre, location, and a hook) and a short paragraph of roughly 80 to 120 words. Lead with what makes you worth covering right now: a new release, a notable collaborator, a placement, a number that means something. Cut the origin story. Editors often paste your bio straight into their piece, so write the version you would want to see printed.

Music links

Feature two or three of your strongest tracks, not your entire catalog. Use links that stream in one click with no login: a Spotify or Bandcamp embed, a SoundCloud link, or an unlisted YouTube. If the EPK is for an upcoming release, include a private stream of the new song. Put your single best track first.

Photos

Include two or three high-resolution press photos, at least one horizontal and one vertical, so an outlet can use them in any layout. Make them downloadable directly, not buried in a login-walled gallery. Blurry phone selfies read as amateur; one clean, well-lit shot is enough.

Press and credibility

If you have quotes, features, notable placements, or real streaming numbers, add a short, scannable list. Two or three genuine highlights beat a long padded list. If you have none yet, leave this out entirely rather than stretching. An honest, sparse EPK reads better than an inflated one.

Contact and links

Name, email, and the socials that matter, plus a link to your one-sheet if you have one. Make the email a real address you check, not a form. If a manager or agent handles you, list them clearly.

A worked example, annotated

Advice like "keep the bio tight" is easier to follow with a picture, so here is the full content outline of an EPK for a fictional artist, June Okafor, a synth-pop songwriter in Portland.

One-line bio: "Portland synth-pop artist June Okafor writes bright, melancholy songs about screens and distance; her new single 'Blue Hour' arrives March 20." Genre, city, a hook, and the news, in one sentence.

Short bio (about 90 words): two sentences on the sound ("analog synths over drum machines, sung like a secret"), one on the story (self-produced in a basement studio after a decade playing in touring bands), one carrying the credibility (a support slot, a college-radio spin, a playlist add), and a closing line about the new single. No childhood, no influences list longer than two names.

Music: the private stream of "Blue Hour" first, then her two strongest released tracks as one-click embeds. Three links total, best first.

Photos: three downloadable shots: one horizontal, one vertical, one live. Filenames like JuneOkafor_2026_horizontal.jpg, never IMG_4032.

Press: two lines, a quote from a local weekly and the playlist add. Nothing padded.

Contact: the email she actually checks, her one active social, her site, and nothing else.

The shape is the lesson: every section is the short version, the strongest material sits first, and a busy reader never has to skip anything. It all fits on one screen, and it took an afternoon.

How to actually build it

You do not need a paid service. A single clean web page (a simple site, a Linktree-style landing page, or even a well-structured shared doc) works, as does one organized cloud folder with clearly named files. The only hard requirements: everything opens in one click, photos are high resolution and downloadable, music streams without a login, and it works on a phone. Keep the whole thing on one page or one screen if you can.

Order it the way people read

Put the most important things at the top, because most people never scroll to the bottom. Lead with your one-line bio and your single best track, then photos, then press, then contact. A reader who bounces after ten seconds should still have seen your name, your sound, and how to reach you. Order is a design decision, and getting it wrong hides your strongest material below the fold where nobody looks.

What to leave out

An EPK gets weaker with everything you add past the essentials. Leave out your full discography, every social link you own, long paragraphs of backstory, low-resolution photos, and anything out of date. If a section does not help someone decide to work with you in the next two minutes, it is costing you attention rather than earning it. The discipline to cut is what separates an EPK that gets used from a folder that gets closed.

Keep it current

An out-of-date EPK is worse than none, because it signals you are not active. Whenever you have a new release, a better photo, or a new press mention, update it that week. Treat the EPK as a living page you revise, not a document you finish once. Before every pitch campaign, open it and check every link yourself.

Point it at the right people

A polished EPK only matters if it reaches outlets that cover your kind of music. Before you send, build a short list of blogs and press contacts that actually review your genre and career stage. My directory tracks that detail for verified outlets; V13, Buffablog, and The Indie Scene are among the blogs listed with genre and submission method.

Pair your EPK with a tight pitch email (see how to write a music pitch email) and a one-page summary (see how to write a one-sheet), and you have a complete, professional package.

Build the June Okafor version of your own EPK this week: one screen, best material first, every link tested on your phone. Then put it in front of blogs that already cover your lane, because a press kit only earns its keep while someone is looking at it.