Creating a Press Kit

One of the most important steps in marketing your band or act is developing a strong press kit. Press kits can introduce your band to media contacts, talent buyers, booking agents and record labels. Your press kit should be creative, succinct and should accurately represent the image of your band. A Press Kit typically consists of the following elements:

Band Biography

The bio should include a brief history of the band and its accomplishments. If you're a new band don't make things up, just list your influences and a brief musical history of key members. Avoid over-selling your band. Never use statements like "the greatest band since..." You can always list influences but keep the list short. Include anything unique that sets your band or act apart from others. Hopefully music journalists will use this as a foundation for any articles or reviews on your band, so help them make it interesting.

Press clippings

Include any favorable reviews of recordings or live performances. Make sure press clippings are presented in a visually appealing format. If necessary, re-type them with correct attribution in the same font.

Band Photo

The photo should be black and white so it can be easily duplicated in weekly entertainment newspapers. Make sure to include booking information at the bottom of the photo as well as a logo if you have one. Venues can use this to create ads for upcoming shows featuring your band, so it is important that the picture represents the band. Creativity is important even in your promo photo. There are several promo photo cliches to avoid: band against - brick wall, chain link fence, train track, in an alley, on railroad tracks, etc.

Quote Sheet from music professionals (including club talent buyers, radio, press, music professionals). The quotes you include should hopefully highlight the quality of your music, skill at marketing concerts and your level of professionalism.

A CD with your two best songs...is pretty 20th century.

Since most press kits are electronic these days, your best bet is a link to some of your songs on a trusted website: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, YouTube, etc. Most talent buyers would rather click-thru to a linked song than be required to download an attached .mp3, or have another CD piled up on their desk. Also, keep in mind that most talent buyers will Google your name and go straight to YouTube to see what your live show looks and sounds like, so make sure to have a few professional-looking live performance videos that are easily accessible on sites like YouTube.

Additional Considerations

Overall Design

Consider hiring a designer. A press kit says a lot about an artist and if you send your press kit in a plain folder with basic xeroxed information you may miss the opportunity to even have your music heard. Remember clubs and record labels receive a high volume of press kits each year (which is why many talent buyers prefer electronic press kits).

Electronic Press Kits

Electronic Press Kits are a web-based alternative to traditional printed press kits.

Uvumi Press Kits

Uvumi Press Kits are unlike many other press kits: Your UPK can be linked from your Uvumi profile so reporters, bloggers, and booking agents can easily find it, or you can send a direct link to your contacts via email so they can download it instantly. Post it on your band's website or your MySpace page...whatever you want. Uvumi Press Kits are saved in .PDF format, giving you the option to download and print it yourself, or even take it to a professional print shop for high quality printouts to deliver to your press contacts. Furthermore, when you include CD-quality MP3s and high resolution images in your UPK, those files will be bundled together in a ZIP archive with your .PDF press kit so they can be downloaded easily with a single click.

Airplay Direct

Airplay Direct is a new, revolutionary, efficient and cost effective way to securely deliver your “broadcast-quality” music and artist press kits to music industry professionals around the world. AirPlay Direct is an easy to use digital file transfer system that was developed to streamline radio / artist promotion activities for today's music industry. AirPlay Direct’s FREE services replace the unnecessary time and expense of putting together and sending out costly traditional artist packages and press kits via snail mail.

Sonicbids

Sonicbids is a simple alternative to the endless clutter of physical press kits that is exchanged daily between musicians and the people who promote music. Our main product is the Sonicbids Electronic Press Kit (EPK™). It's an easy-to-use, web-based graphic interface that contains all the basic information of a musical act such as music, photos or date calendar. The EPK™ can either be emailed to anyone with a click of the mouse or submitted in online promoter accounts through a virtual "Drop Box."