JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Electronic Press Kits?

Does anyone know how to put one together without paying ReverbNation (or some other service)? I don't think I've ever even seen one, but I probably need to have one to help me book out-of-town shows.
Guidance and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I was member of www.sonicbids.com 2years ago and EPK is their invention, seems, now they offer membership even for 1 month, also
some song contests accept entries via sonicbids in this case
you get membership automatically (so was in 2008 year.)

AirPlay Direct has a free EPK service. If you're willing to be on their mailing list and have ads on your Press Kit page.

I'm a Sonicbids guy. It HAS helped me get some regional events gigs. {Tallstacks Musicfest, where I got to play the same night as Buddy Guy and Dr. John!}and Midpoint musicfest. I figure if you get just one gig a year out of it, it's more than paid for itself. Strangely enough though, I've found that the old tried and true method of showing up in person press-kit in hand STILL works better when it comes to getting local gigs.

I just used the Sonicbids EPK to enter the Great American Song Contest. The contest fees do not include a free membership to Sonicbids, just a 2 week free trial. However, it is a pretty handy tool to have to help promote your music and the EPK subscription goes for as low as $6 a month. The ReverbNation RPK goes for $6 a month too. Personally, I think the ReverbNation RPK may be a better value in the long run, but the Sonicbids EPK is more established and has a bigger network of opportunities that you can use it to submit to immediately.

Carlos

How about setting up a free website, and post what you need there. A website is a really good marketing tool:

You need a high Q promo picture for download.
A bio http://www.taxi.com/members/bios.html
And maybe some reviews or statements
Music

If you have an EPK stashed on your website, you can either direct people there from a business card, or just link to it, and you can print it yourself from anywhere you are (as long as you remember the url and the place has a computer an a printer..

This was discussed at length on another very popular forum. Consensus was that Sonicbids is a racket and most musicians there shunned them and used Myspace. A few said, I have no choice than to use Sonicbids, as they have a lock on festivals. Others said they would not use them at any cost. My take... use Myspace unless there is a festival that you MUST try to get in. Reason why Myspace instead of own site (although you need your own site) is that because many venues EXPECT you to have a Myspace.

If you are looking to put a professional face on things - have your own website. Not a free "ad-driven" site. You can have your own EPK on your site.

Domain registration for the year: $10 (approx)
Hosting with Bluehost for the year: $100
* for that $100 you can host 50 websites plus under the same account. So, get together with a few musician friends, and host your sites under the same account. Of course, you will all need to pay for your domain registration independently.

I recommend you use Wordpress to run your site - don't let a web designer talk you into flash. Wordpress let's you add pages, blog content, and has tons of plug-ins for music players, video players, plus you can use Reverbnation's widgets to put your music, show schedule, mailing list, videos, etc. on your site.

For some contest and festivals, they only accept SonicBids - but that is changing.

If you have other questions on Wordpress or other technology, feel free to ask.

Here is an introduction to Wordpress:
http://www.thesongwriteronline.com/2010/06/19/tutorial-what-is-wordpress-and-why-you-should-care/

Also, if you are in the LA area, I am giving a free workshop at GC Studios in Woodland Hills on November 2nd - 7-9PM.
http://1102gcstudios.eventbrite.com/

DISCLAIMER:
I consult for businesses; that, book royalties, and speaking fees is my primary source of income. I offer the free advice to musicians mostly because a lot of my friends and performers I would meet started asking me for help. So, while I am happy to help, it is a time-permitting thing...

I recently helped a "friend" with a website - several hours of time on phone and going online getting things started for them. I even remotely controlled their PC, cleaned up a virus, helped them setup a gmail account, organized how they track and run their business, etc. But when I could not drop everything to help them with some more updates (I couldn't take care of their changes for 3 days or so) I became persona non-grata. It bummed me out.

Matt, send them a bill. I get suckered into the same scenarios all the time. I do some Local Cable Access TV shows and everybody wants a copy of the stuff but they assume its free. Unfortunately it costs me. I'll learn someday.

I also think that your EMK (Electronic Media Kit) should be kept updated on a flash drive that you can carry with you. The verbage is changing, not a lot of pressing going on nowadays. Press releases are now called Media Releases,

I actually okay with the pro bono work I do. I allocate a bit of time each month exactly for that and try to keep it reasonable.

Of course, it is a drag when someone cannot keep it in perspective but I bring it up because I posted a tutorial recently on a site and someone reacted like I was pulling the bait and switch - trying to win business.

If I tried to make a living selling services to most musicians versus selling services to, let's say, a high-profile plastic surgeon (my newest client), my family would starve.

And really, getting back to the point at hand..

If your goal is to be perceived as a professional and your "website" is a myspace, sonicbids, reverbnation, or other site, you are largely failing at that objective. Get a website for heaven's sake.. yourwebdomain.com.

FYI: I also took a look at:
http://www.get-ctrl.com

They guide you through setting up a basic website - with some limitations but very easy. And, if you register a domain (your webname), you can "point" it to your get-ctrl.com site.

So, instead of:
http://matthewmoran.get-ctrl.com
- this is just a quick demo I setup.. so pardon the no content.

But pointing your domain there would make it:
www.YourVeryOwnDomain.com
- fyi: don't follow this link, I have no idea where you will end up.

Reach out if you have questions and I'll see what I can do to help.

Thanks, everybody!