Artist Guide

How to Write an EPK That Gets Responses

A booker at a mid-sized venue can get 40–50 EPK submissions in a week.

They’re not reading all of them. They’re scanning, skimming for anything that makes them want to stop and look closer. If your EPK doesn’t make that easy, it often doesn’t get read at all.

That’s not a criticism of bookers. It’s just the reality of the inbox they’re dealing with.

So the question isn’t really “what should I put in my EPK?” The question is: what does someone see in the first 30 seconds, and does it make them want to keep going?

This guide is built around that idea. We’ll walk through every section of an EPK, not just what to include, but how to structure it so it works for the person reading it, not just the band that wrote it.

If you’re not sure what an EPK is or whether you need one yet, start with our guide on what an EPK actually is and come back here when you’re ready to build one.

Make It Scannable First, Readable Second

Before you write a single word, understand how your EPK is going to be read.

Most of the time, someone will land on it, glance at the top, maybe jump to the music or the video, check the bio quickly, and decide, usually within a minute, whether they want to know more.
That’s your window.

The structure of your EPK needs to account for this. Lead with the essentials. Put your best photo, your genre and location, and your music right at the top. Don’t make anyone scroll three paragraphs of background before they get to what you actually sound like.
A good rule of thumb: if the key information isn’t visible before someone has to scroll, it needs to move up.

Headers help. Clear sections help. Short paragraphs help. Your EPK isn’t a CV that someone will read top to bottom. It’s a document that people are hunting through for specific things and the easier you make that, the more likely they are to find what they need and follow up.

 

Before you publish your EPK, check:

• Can someone hear your music easily?
• Is your genre, location and best photo visible without scrolling?
• Is your short bio near the top, not buried under a long story?
• Is your contact email obvious in under three seconds?

The Bio: Write Two, Not One

The bio is the section most bands get wrong, not because they write badly, but because they write one bio and try to use it for everything.

A booker wants a quick read. A festival programmer wants something they can paste into the event listing. A journalist wants enough to write a paragraph about you without having to ask follow-up questions. These are different needs, and one bio doesn’t serve all of them.

Write two bios. Keep them both in your EPK.

 

• The short bio (50–75 words) is for quick reference. It should tell someone your genre, your sound, your location, and one or two things that make you interesting, in the time it takes to read a text message. This is the one a booker skims. It’s also the one that ends up on event posters, social media copy, and booking emails. Make it punchy.
• The longer bio (200–300 words) is for press and festivals. This is where you can go deeper, how the band formed, what drives the music, any notable moments or releases that are worth mentioning. Journalists and festival programmers often lift text directly from press materials, so write this one like you’d be happy to see it published as-is.

 

In practice:

• Use the short bio on your EPK homepage, booking emails and social bios.
• Use the longer bio on a separate “About” or “Press” section of your EPK, and in festival applications that ask for a full biography.

 

One rule that applies to both: keep them current. If your long bio is still leading with an album that came out 18 months ago, it’s already doing you a disservice. Relevant means recent. Update your bios whenever something significant changes, a new release, a new member, a shift in sound or direction.

Here’s what the difference looks like in practice

Nobody is finishing that.

That’s the difference. The first version tells you everything. The second version makes you interested. Aim for the second.

Music: Get It In Front of Them Immediately

Your music should be the easiest thing to find in your EPK.

Embed it. Don’t link out to a Spotify profile and hope they click through. Put a player directly on the page, Spotify, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, or whatever platform you’re using, so someone can press play without leaving.

Lead with your strongest track, not your newest one. If your best work is from two years ago, use it. You can note your most recent release separately if it needs context.

If you have multiple tracks, three is usually enough. More than five and you’re asking someone to do work they’re not going to do. Pick the three that best represent what you sound like live, because that’s ultimately what a booker is imagining when they’re deciding whether to book you.

 

Avoid:

• Linking only to your Spotify artist profile.
• Leading with your newest single if it’s not your strongest song.
• Including 10+ tracks “so they can pick”.

Video: Audio Quality Is Non-Negotiable

A lot of bands treat video as an afterthought. Don’t.

For bookers and festival programmers, a live video is the closest thing to actually seeing you play. It answers the question they’re really asking, which isn’t “are they good in the studio”, it’s “what’s it like when they’re on stage?”

The most important thing about your live video is the audio.

A phone recording that sounds like it was filmed from inside a washing machine tells a booker almost nothing useful. A clear recording, ideally with a line out from the desk so the audio is captured cleanly, tells them everything they need to know about how you sound.

You don’t need a multi-camera production. A single locked-off camera with good audio is better than a slick edit with terrible sound. If you can capture some audience reaction as well, applause, movement, people actually watching, even better. That tells a story a studio recording can’t.

 

Minimum viable live video:

• 1–3 minutes of a real gig (not a rehearsal).
• Clear audio (ideally from the desk, or at least from the room, not just phone mic in a loud crowd).
• A shot that shows the band and some audience reaction.

 

Practical tip: if you’re playing a ticketed show at a venue with a front-of-house desk, ask the sound engineer before the show if they can run a line out for you. Most will say yes. The difference in audio quality is significant and the setup takes about two minutes.

Press Coverage and Quotes

If you’ve had any press coverage, reviews, interviews, festival listings, anything published by someone who isn’t you, include it.

Keep it brief and relevant. Two or three quotes with the publication name is enough. If a local paper reviewed your last record, use a line from that review. If a music blog has written about you, pull the strongest sentence.

If you don’t have any press yet, don’t fabricate it and don’t pad this section with fan comments. Leave it out entirely and let your music do the work. A short EPK with good music is better than a long one that’s clearly been filled out for the sake of appearance.

If you don’t have press yet:

• Use this space for notable support slots, festival appearances or local highlights instead.
• Or leave the section out entirely and let your music and video carry the weight.

Photos

Include at least two or three high-resolution photos.

One should be a clear band shot, something a venue or promoter can use for promotional material without having to ask you for another image. Think of it as your press photo. It should be well-lit, in focus, and show the full band.

You can include live shots too, but don’t let those replace a good promo photo. Live photos are atmospheric. Promo photos are practical. You need both.

If you only have phone photos, it shows and it’s worth getting a proper shoot done when you can. It doesn’t have to be expensive. A photographer who shoots bands regularly will know what’s needed.

Avoid:

• Heavily filtered images that hide who you are.
• Group selfies or casual phone pics as your main press photo.
• Using only live shots with no clear promo image.

Contact Information

Make it obvious who to contact and how.

Name, email address, and if you have one the name of your manager or booking agent. That’s it. Don’t list five different email addresses or ask people to fill out a contact form. One person, one email, easy to find.

If you’re handling your own bookings, just use your own name. That’s fine. Just be clear about it.

When you email your EPK:

• Use a clear subject line: “Booking enquiry: [Band Name] – [City] – [Month/Year]”.
• Include your short bio, one music link and your EPK link in the first email.
• Keep the message under 150 words.

Riders and Stage Plots: Not In the EPK, But Don’t Leave Them Out

Your tech rider and stage plot don’t need to live inside your EPK, but many bookers will ask for them early in the conversation, especially for larger venues or festival slots.

Mention in your EPK that you have a current rider and stage plot available on request, and be ready to send them quickly when asked. Being able to share clean, up-to-date documents at short notice is part of making a professional impression.

If you don’t have a tech rider yet, our guide on your tech rider walks through what to include. And if you need to put together a stage plot, we’ve got that covered in our stage plot guide.

Tools like Stage Portal can help you keep your rider, stage plot and gig history in one place, so when a booker asks for your tech info or past shows, you’re not scrambling through old emails and documents.

Keep It Updated

An EPK is only as good as the information in it.

Set a reminder to review it:

• Every time you release new music.
• Every time your lineup changes.
• At least twice a year, even if nothing major has changed.

 

Check the bio, is it still accurate? Is the music you’re leading with still your best work? Are the photos still current? Is the contact email still the right one?

A stale EPK is almost as bad as no EPK. If a booker pulls it up and the release you’re leading with came out two years ago and the tour dates listed have already passed, it signals that you’re not actively managing your career, even if that’s not true.

Treat it like a live document. Update it when something changes.

What to Do Once It’s Ready

Once your EPK is in good shape, use it actively.

 

• Link to it from your website.
• Include it in booking enquiry emails.
• Add it to your social bios where relevant.

 

When you’re reaching out to venues or festivals, your EPK is what you send when you want to be taken seriously, so make sure it’s always ready to go.

Next step:
Use this EPK to start pitching slightly bigger rooms than you currently play. In our next guide, we’ll walk through how to move from small gigs to bigger venues, including how to talk about your draw, when to pursue support slots, and what evidence bookers actually want to see.

EPK Checklist

Use this as a quick sanity check before you share your EPK:

 

• Short bio (50–75 words) near the top
• Longer bio (200–300 words) in a Press/About section
• 3 strongest tracks embedded, not linked out
• At least one clear live video with decent audio
• 2–3 high-res photos (including one clear band shot)
• Any real press quotes or notable support slots
• One obvious booking contact (name + email)
• Mention that you have a current rider and stage plot available
• Reviewed and updated in the last 3–6 months