By Wade Sutton - Rocket to the Stars, March 5th, 2014

I have had an unusually high number of singers and bands asking questions lately about whether they really need an electronic press kit if they already have a website. The answer is simple: Yes, you should have both.

I know some people familiar with the services offered by Rocket to the Stars will immediately say something like, "Of course you are going to say bands need both because you create electronic press kits". The truth is actually the complete opposite. Rocket offers the EPK service because it IS such an important part of an artist's music business. Want to know why?

Because the manner in which you communicate with the media is not the same as the manner in which you communicate with your fans. Your fans' needs are much different than the media's needs when it comes to anything involving you, your music, and your music business. So if their needs are so different from each other, the method of communicating with them has to be different.

...The TRUE Purpose of Websites and EPKs...

To understand exactly why the electronic press kit (EPK) is so important from a public and media relations perspective, you have to take a hard look at why both websites and EPKs even exist. The short answer is because websites are visited by fans and EPKs are visited by media and, at times, owners of venues at which you are hoping to do shows.

The entire purpose of your band's website is (or should be) to collect e-mails from fans so that you may communicate with and market to them directly. It is the only presence on the Internet that you have complete control over and is one of the many standards by which people in the music industry judge you on how seriously you are taking your music business. So, again, your website is designed to fill the needs of your fans. Their needs are very basic. Most fans want the following...

1. They want to know what your music sounds like.

2. They want to know how they can obtain your music.

3. They want to know when and where you are playing.

4. Some will want to know a little bit about the band.

5. A way to send you fan e-mails.

Hipsters and their new offices...sheesh!

That is it. Nothing else. That is why the best band website is only one page, teases fans with a few tracks, and then coaxes them to subscribe to your e-mail list to get downloads of those songs in addition to a few other tracks not available to stream. Any information about the band beyond those basic things should be communicated through the direct e-mails. That is part of the vital "Bribe to Subscribe" we talked about HERE.

Now let's talk about the purpose of the EPK. If your website is your center of operations for your fans, your EPK is the center of operations for the media, which has entirely different needs. Media people coming to your EPK want to know why you are "newsworthy", which means there is a much greater emphasis on two things: the information contained within the biography (which shows the media member that you are worthy of coverage) and the delivery of everything a member of the media would want or need should they decide to cover you. In other words, you do their job for them and hand them the finished product with a nice bow on top. Nothing will get you further with the media than making them work as little as possible.

The hipster's hipster brother's office will not be outdone.

So what should your EPK include?

1. Make sure they can stream as much of your music as possible. Do not make somebody visiting your EPK have to download the music to hear it. It isn't a bad idea to offer the tracks for downloading as well (you never know when a radio station program director will visit the EPK and consider playing the music) but the ability to stream the tracks is a must.

2. Pictures. Professionally taken pictures. Not something taken with the camera on your phone. Go to a real photographer and have photographs taken. The EPK should include at least three to five shots and the EPK must allow visitors to be able to download and save all of those pictures. You never know when a reporter writing about you will want to include a photograph. You also never know when the program director at a radio station will want to put your band's picture up on the station's website. Don't make them have to jump through a hoop and ask you for a picture. Be sure those photographs are downloadable via the EPK. To avoid common mistakes bands make when getting photographs done, read our previous article called "Don't Forget the Pictures".

3. Links to all relevant media, including your band's official website, social media, Reverbation, and music distribution pages (iTunes, Amazon, etc).

4. A longer, more in-depth biography than what appears on your official website. I will explain more about that in a moment.

5. Any noteworthy testimonials, quotes from and links to professional concert or album reviews, and streams of some past radio interviews (so program directors know you won't sound like a tool on the air).

6. Contact information for the band's manager (phone, e-mail, snail mail). If you don't have a manager, contact information for the member of the band elected to be your mouthpiece. Don't make the media or program directors have to track you down like a missing child.

...The Differences in the Biographies...

I see a number of artists with official websites and electronic press kits using the same biography on both pages. That is a HUGE mistake.

The biographies on your official website should be short and sweet. The best ones are not longer than three brief paragraphs and jam in as much information as possible. In fact, we recently did an entire article on writing better biographies for your websiteHERE. You need to remember that a large number of fans visiting your website will be using mobile devices, many of which are phones. Most people don't read a lot of text on their phone. So, in the case of the bios on your official website, you want to lead with your best foot forward, keep it short and sweet, and make it easy for the reader to retain as much of that information possible.

The biographies on your electronic press kits are a whole different beast. You aren't trying to communicate easy-to-remember facts on this one; you are trying to convince members of the media that you are interesting enough for them to write about you and trying to persuade radio programming directors that their listeners will want to hear and know about you. In other words, why should anybody care about you?

Not only are you trying to show them how and why you are different from every other band, this longer biography also needs to include enough relevant information to allow a print journalist to start writing a story about you. It should include some basic history on not just how the band was formed, but also some background information on each individual member. Some of these biographies can also include short direct quotes from each member. Doing so gives it a more personal feel and journalists love using direct quotes when they write. As I said earlier, it makes their jobs much easier.

So, again, your official website and your electronic press kit are two very different entities. They both exist for the sake of communicating information but they do so in very different ways because they are communicating with different types of people. We always talk about how artists need to "know their audiences". That applies to websites and EPKs just as much as it applies to people listening to your music and attending your shows.

REMEMBER, THIS IS INCLUDED WITH A POZE PACKAGE FROM FM ENTERTAINMENT AND IF YOU SEND OFF TO RECORD LABEL OFFERS VIA: POZE......DON'T JUST GO TO ANYONE, IT MUST BE TIGHT!!