What goes in an EPK
A complete electronic press kit contains eight things. In order of how much bookers actually look at them:
- Live videoThe most-clicked item in any kit. One good clip answers "can they play?" faster than everything else combined.
- MusicYour 3–5 best tracks as streaming links — not attachments, not your whole catalog.
- NumbersMonthly listeners, socials, email list, typical draw. Honest small numbers beat vague claims every time.
- BioThree sentences: genre and city, trajectory or credibility, what the live show delivers.
- Press photos2–3 high-resolution images (one landscape, one portrait) that a designer can drop into a poster.
- Press quotes & showsTwo short quotes and a handful of notable rooms, playlists or supports. Proof, not padding.
- Booking contactOne email address, impossible to miss. The whole kit exists to make this line get used.
- Tech info (when relevant)Stage plot and input list for bands; deck/mixer requirements for DJs. Saves an email round-trip.
See all eight in action in our annotated EPK examples.
Who asks for an EPK — and what each reader looks for
Venue bookers and promoters skim for genre fit, a live clip and your draw. They spend under a minute. Festival programmers want the same plus proof you can hold a bigger stage. Labels and managers read the numbers trendline more than the totals. Radio, blogs and playlist editors want the one-sheet PDF with a story hook they can quote. Sync and licensing people care about instrumentals and ownership — worth a line if you pitch to them.
The same kit serves all five if it's built in layers: link first, one-sheet PDF for email threads, full assets (photos, stage plot) one click deeper.
EPK vs press kit vs media kit
Press kit is the umbrella term — it used to mean a physical folder of glossy photos and clippings mailed to journalists. EPK is just its electronic form, and in music the two now mean the same thing. Media kit is the adjacent term used by influencers and podcasters — same structure (bio, audience numbers, contact), different industry. If a form asks for any of the three, they want the same document.
Web page or PDF?
Both, from the same content. A link opens instantly on a booker's phone and can embed playable music. A one-sheet PDF survives email forwarding chains where links get lost, and press people still expect it. The free EPKCraft maker exports both so you never have to choose.
Do you need one yet?
If you've ever written a "hey, any chance we could play your room?" email, you needed one already. New acts overestimate the numbers a local booker expects and underestimate how much a clean kit signals "this act will show up on time with working gear." An honest one-pager with a rehearsal video beats two paragraphs of unformatted email text — which is what you're competing against.