Tips On Building An Effective Press Kit For Your Band
One of my hobbies is running an internet radio station and consequently I deal with bands and musicians trying to get airplay on a regular basis. The thing that strikes me most of all is not the variance in the quality of music, but the variance in the quality of the correspondence I receive. To be quite blunt, most of it is crap.
Luckily for most bands this is my hobby and not my job so I tend to be a bit forgiving and listen to the music anyway. If this was my full-time job most of the material I get would go straight in the bin. Again, most of the music is great but it simply wouldn’t get listened to because of the lack of quality in the written materials. I’ve received hand written scrawl on a scrap of paper through to very professional printed press kits and everything in between. Having a professional quality press kit doesn’t have to cost you the earth though. Most fall down due to the quality of the info presented and not just the presentation quality although both are important. In a lot of cases a simple tidy up would improve the band’s chances enormously.
So what should be in a press kit for a start? A press kit can contain any or all of the following components depending on your audience.
- Covering Letter
- Cover Page
- Band or Artist Bio
- Band photos
- Equipment Requirements Page
- Booking and Contact Information
- Demo CD
- Sample Set List
- Newspaper/Press Clippings, Show Reviews etc
As you can see there are quite a few parts that go to making up a successful press kit and that can be a bit daunting if you don’t know where to start. Also, as I’ve already said, your press kit will need to be appropriate for your intended audience. For example, if you are trying to get radio airplay or a record contract you don’t need an equipment list. So taking a minute to think about your intended audience will be time well spent.It’s beyond the scope of an article like this to cover every aspect in thorough detail so I’d like to pick out a few things you can do to put the odds in your favour and to get started. The very first thing you need is a Band or Artist bio. Wikipedia defines a bio like this:
“Greek words bios meaning “life”, and graphos meaning “write”) is an account of a person’s life, usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form…
A biography is more than a list of impersonal facts (like birth, education, work, relationships and death), it also portrays the subject’s experience of those events.”
Now some folks take this definition very literally and try to give their entire life story, every instrument they’ve ever played and every band they’ve ever been in. Most people who read these things are busy and simply don’t have time to wade through pages of info in order to find out about their subject. This means you need to be brief. Only give information that is relevant to the reader. Try the old formula of Who, What, When, Where and Why.
Who’s in your band? Briefly list your members and any relevant experience. Don’t list every band they have ever been in unless they were big or well known bands. Nothing spells “amateur” more than a list of twenty unknown bands that your drummer has played in. Also, don’t exaggerate your experience. If you claim you once played with the Rolling Stones then you’d better be able to back it up.
What kind of music do you play? Don’t try to get into that whole “we won’t be pigeon-holed, we are unique and no one else sounds like us” rubbish. Even if it’s true, and it’s probably not, you are not helping the reader to form an impression of your band or music. If you play modern, swing-country music with a dash of polka then say so. Pretend for a minute that you can’t send a demo CD with your press kit and that your bio needs to tell the whole story. Be daring enough to pigeon hole yourself.
When did your band form? Give a brief history of how the band formed and took shape. Again, don’t try and tell your whole life story, just the good bits.
Where are you from/where do you play/where have you played?
Why? Here’s the kicker. You should try to explain why the reader should be interested in giving you a gig, recording your band, giving you airplay etc, whatever it is you are trying to get from the reader. Be honest and don’t bullsh!t.
The next topic I’d like to cover in this brief exploration of press kits is the covering letter. This should be purpose written to suit the intended reader exactly. While a bio can be written to serve a multitude of purposes, the covering letter should be specific to the task at hand. It should be neatly typed, not scrawled on a scap of paper. It should be specifically addressed to the reader, not “Dear Sir” or “to who it may concern”. Do a little research before you send it off and make sure you can address it to a specific person. This action alone will increase the rate that your kit gets read. For example, the radio station I run plays Australian music only. This fact is all over the web site and is stressed again in the name of the station, “All Australian Music”. Anyone doing even the most basic of research about my station would understand this. I also provide a specific page detailing my contact details and how to get in touch with me. Yet time after time I get correspondence like this:
“To who it may concern, I’m looking for airplay on your radio station for my band The New Originals. We are from Tennessee/China/Africa and play great music. Can you please play my music?”
Now, I’ve already provided every piece of information this person needs to send me their music and specified that it needs to be from Australia and they haven’t even bothered to check. They have completely wasted their time and money as well as my time to gain absolutely nothing. A correctly researched and properly addressed press kit stands a much better chance of actually getting you what you want and will waste a lot less of your time.
One last tip. Make sure YOUR name & contact information is included on everything you send out. I’ve received some great stuff from time to time with no contact info at all. That makes it very hard for the reader to actually find you if you do manage to impress them.
As you can see this is a big subject and I’ve only just looked at the tip of the iceberg here. If you have specific questions about any of the aspects that I haven’t covered here then please let me know in the comments below and I’ll attempt to help you out.
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