Keys to an Effective Press Kit
Every band knows (or should know) that a press kit is necessary for booking quality shows, approaching radio stations for airplay, contacting record labels, attempting to get an endorsement or sponsorship - pretty much any business aspect your band will tackle. However, having an effective and properly implemented press kit is critical to getting noticed. Otherwise, your press kit may land in the trash can before being seriously considered.
There are many approaches to making press kits but I’m going to discuss what I consider to be the most effective: the simple approach. Consider that the people you are sending your press kit to likely receive many submissions every day from other bands and are not going to take the time to read everything in a lengthy presentation. The more streamlined your content is, the higher chance you have of catching someone’s attention with things that really matter.
Let’s take a look at the basic sections that should be included in your press kit and the details surrounding each.
Cover Sheet: This is not a requirement but can be helpful to the recipient as it should display your band name/logo, booking and general contact information, and the genre/style of your music. If your band logo does not allow the band name to be easily read or implied, be sure to print your band name on the cover page as well. For example, if your band name is Nose Action and your logo is a stylized “N.A.”, you will need to include more on the cover page than just the logo. Otherwise, people may assume your band name is simply “N.A.”
Artist Bio: Be creative with your bio with the design and layout. This does not have to be a boring page with no more than eight paragraphs of straight text. Ideally, you should focus on the band bio with small blurbs for the individuals. This is not the time to toot your horn about every show and party each of you have played, what guitar you learned to play on, how your parents like classical music, etc. Be concise, honest, and to the point. Even if you have six members in your band, you should be able to simplify everything down to fit on one page. Key elements of the bio should include band influences, accomplishments, endorsements/sponsorships, and a brief summary of the group (longer for band, blurbs for band members).
Word of advice: do not state that you have a totally original sound that is unlike any other band in the history of music. First off, nobody will believe it because it’s most likely not true. Secondly, you’ll just be telling the promoter, radio station, or record exec that you are not marketable. See our blog article, “Unique Can Kill You” for more on this.
Photos: One good 8×10 should suffice in a first submission. Printing photos costs money and it’s always possible that your press kit will get tossed in the trash without even being looked at; it’s just the nature of the industry. So don’t waste money including 15 photos right off the bat. If someone is interested in you and wants to see more photos, they can visit your website, MySpace page, or simply contact you and ask for more. If you want to include a second photo, nobody’s going to fault you for it. But it’s not necessary.
Be creative when doing the shots for your band. Try to avoid the same approach used by every other band; you want to set yourself apart from the other submissions received daily with every aspect of the press kit and the photo is no different. See our blog article on bad band photo practices for a list of things to avoid. Or you can visit the Hall of Douchebags at http://rockandrollconfidential.com/hall/index.php for fine examples of what not to do with your band photos.
Demo: Every press kit should include a demo with two to four songs. If you’re not sure what songs to include on the demo, ask your friends and fans what their favorites are. Even if you consider those songs to be the weakest in your set, use them. You’re too close to the music to see things objectively and oftentimes the big hit on a band’s album is not the one they would have picked if it were up to them.
Label your CD; do not write on it with marker. Include the band name/logo (as with the cover page, make sure the name is legible) and contact information on the label. It’s possible that the paper elements of your press kit may get trashed while the CD is held aside to be listened to later. Make sure people can reach you if after giving a listen, they decide to contact you.
Make the first song quick to the punch. Do not have a minute-long intro on the first song on your demo. You may think that intro is the coolest thing in the world but the person listening is more interested in hearing the band play a song, not a Pink Floyd-esque space jam using three samplers and fourteen keyboards. Chances are, they’ll never get to the song actually kicking in because they’ll have already ejected the disc and chucked it.
Keep the songs short when possible (under five minutes). Unless every song your band writes is over seven minutes long (in which case you’re already driving away radio stations and record execs), there is no need for your epic musical adventures on the demo.
Song Sheet: If your band plays a lot of covers, it never hurts to include a list of songs (assuming they’re covers that people will know). If you are an original band, this is a waste of paper because nobody knows the songs you’ll be listing. If they did, you wouldn’t need to send them a press kit.
Reviews: If you have any good reviews or articles about your band, make copies and include each one with your press kit. If they are shorter articles/reviews, put multiple entries on one page. And no, in this case, not all press is good press. Do not send someone a review discussing how destructive you were on stage or how your music reminds them of a cat choking on a hairball.
Additional Materials: There are other things that can be included in your press kit but are not an absolute necessity. Business cards are a nice touch and are good to have for those times when you don’t have a press kit or demo with you. So if you’ve already had business cards made for your band, include one in the press kit. If not, don’t stress too much. Your contact information should already be on your cover page, bio, and demo.
If you have an impressive list of past, present, and future gigs to show that your band keeps busy and is doing everything possible to stay in the public eye (or ear, rather), include it. Try to limit it to one page, though.
A tech rider and stage plot will help future sound engineers predict how they will handle your band on-stage. This will be discussed in more detail in a future article. For now, just remember that this should only be included for contacting venues about booking. Do not have standard press kits made up with a tech rider already enclosed if you’re also planning on sending the press kit to radio stations, record execs, endorsement offers, etc.
