What is an EPK?

01 The definition

An EPK is your press kit, built for a link.

Musicians have always had press kits. The old version was a physical folder: a photo, a bio, a CD, a printed sheet of reviews. The electronic press kit is the same idea moved onto the web, where the people you're pitching actually work.

Instead of attaching files and hoping they open, you send a link. The booking agent clicks once and sees who you are, hears your music, watches a clip, reads a quote or two, and finds your email, all on one page that looks like you put care into it. That's the whole job: one link that says "here's me" instead of a folder someone has to dig through.

02 What it looks like

What an EPK actually looks like.

The easiest way to understand an EPK is to open one. These are three sample kits, each built on a different LiveEPK template. The acts are made up; the pages are real LiveEPK kits. Same kind of content, three different looks. Click any one to see the full page the way a booking agent would.

View full example

Dez Holloway

The Stage · hip hop

View full example

Tamsin Ackerly

The Studio · songwriter / folk

View full example

Vera Lumbre

The Spotlight · DJ / house

03 What goes in one

What's inside a good EPK.

You don't need everything. You need the things that answer a booking agent's or journalist's questions before they have to ask. The essentials:

• BioTwo or three tight paragraphs. Who you are, what you sound like, why now.
• MusicYour best two or three tracks, embedded so they play right there: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube.
• VideoA live clip or one good music video. Proof you can do it in a room, not just on a record.
• PhotosA few hi-res press shots a venue or magazine can actually use, ready to download.
• Press & quotesA line from a review, a radio spin, a notable support slot. Borrowed credibility.
• Tour datesWhere you've played and where you're headed. Optional, but it signals momentum.
• ContactA working email, and your socials. The easiest thing to forget and the easiest way to lose a gig.
• ExtrasTech rider and stage plot for the booking agents who ask. Nice to have on hand, easy to attach.

Want each of these as a fillable section with example copy you can adapt? See the music press kit template.

04 Why it matters

Why working musicians need an EPK.

Booking agents and journalists open dozens of submissions a week. Most arrive the same way: an email with a streaming link pasted in, a folder of attachments, three press quotes typed inline, and a subject line like EPK_Final_v3_FINAL.pdf. They blur together. They get skimmed and closed.

The submissions that get a reply look like they were made by someone who cares about their craft, not someone who filled out a 14-field form.

An EPK puts everything on one link that opens fine on a phone in the back of a venue. That makes you easier to book. If you've ever pasted a Spotify link, a Google Drive folder, and a couple of quotes into the same email, this is what replaces that email for good.

05 The terminology

EPK vs. press kit vs. one-sheet.

People use these words interchangeably, but they're not quite the same thing. Same idea, different rooms (the one-sheet template shows the single-page version filled in):

If someone asks for your "press kit," sending an EPK link is almost always the right answer. The one-sheet is a handy companion for the few people who specifically want a PDF, but the web link is what people open first.

06 Formats

EPK as a PDF, or a web link?

For years the default was a PDF. It still has a place: it's printable, it's a single file, and label desks sometimes ask for one. But as the thing you lead with, a PDF works against you.

Where PDFs fall short

• The music doesn't play. You're sending an image of a player and a link they have to copy.
• It's heavy. An 8.4 MB attachment is the fastest way to look like spam.
• It goes stale. New single, new date, new photo, and you're re-exporting and re-sending v4.
• It can't be tracked, embedded, or opened cleanly on a phone.

Where a web EPK wins

• Music and video play inline. One click, no download.
• It's one link, light enough to drop into any email or DM.
• You edit it once and the link is always current.
• It opens cleanly on a phone, which is where it'll actually get read.

So: keep a one-sheet PDF for the desks that ask. Lead with the link.

07 How to make one

How to make your EPK.

You don't need a designer or a developer. If you have your bio, a couple of photos, and your music links handy, you can have something worth sending in about twenty minutes.

1. Gather your assets. A short bio, two or three hi-res photos, links to your best tracks, one video, and any press quotes you can stand behind.
2. Pick a template. Choose a layout that fits your sound rather than building from a blank page. The content is the work; the design shouldn't be.
3. Drop everything in. Bio, embedded music and video, photos, press, tour dates, and a contact email. Lead with your strongest material.
4. Publish it to a link. Put it on a real URL, ideally your own subdomain, so it looks like yours and is easy to remember.
5. Send it. Paste the one link into your booking and press emails. Update it whenever something changes; the link stays the same.

For the full step-by-step with timing, a bio template, and the most common mistakes, see how to make an EPK.

08 Where LiveEPK fits

One tool, built to do this.

LiveEPK is an EPK builder for working musicians: solo artists, bands, DJs, rappers, anyone whose next email needs to look like they mean it. (Some people call it an EPK maker or EPK creator. Same thing.) You build the full kit for free, pick from three templates, and your music auto-embeds from Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube.

Publishing is free too: your kit goes live at a generated link with a small LiveEPK badge. $5/month puts it at your own subdomain (yourname.liveepk.com, no badge) and adds an email composer that drafts your booking pitches with assets pulled right into the message, and an asset library so you're not re-uploading the same photo for the fortieth time. See full pricing for the details.

Want to see finished ones? Open six EPK examples by music genre: a rock band, a DJ, a hip hop artist, a jazz trio, a wedding band and a singer-songwriter, with notes on why each one works.

Still choosing a tool? We put LiveEPK next to six others in the best EPK builders compared, with every price read from that company's own site. If you DJ, the DJ press kit guide covers what a promoter looks for first.

Ready to make yours?

Start with the free editor and see what you've got in twenty minutes.