The 7 Essential Elements of Your Digital Press Kit

When reviewing websites for Bandzoogle, I advise artists to think about the different kinds of people that will be visiting their site. These can be your current fans, and potential new fans, but also media/bloggers, bookers and other industry people.

For
that latter group, they’re likely looking for different information
than your fans are, and you have to be sure to make it easy for them to
find it.

This can best be done by adding a Press Kit section to your website. Here are the 7 essential elements you should include in your digital press kit:

1. Bio

First
and foremost, have your most current bio available. It would also be a
good idea to have a few different versions of your bio, like an elevator pitch,
a short bio (1 paragraph), a medium bio (a few paragraphs) and a long
bio (4+ paragraphs). This way you’ll have options for whatever needs the
media or industry person might have. You can also include a
downloadable pdf with all of the different versions of your bio on them.

2. Images

The next element to have in your digital press kit is a section with images available for download. Make sure some of these are hi-resolution in case the media person or festival programmer needs to use the image for print. You should include a few different official photos, with vertical and horizontal options, as well as black & white versions. Be sure to also include the image for your most recent album cover as well.

3. Music

Of
course, you’ll need to have your music available to listen to. You
should also make a few tracks available to download and/or embed, and if
a media person wants to have a copy of your full album or EP, place
clear information on who they can contact to get a copy.

4. Video

Many
blogs and media sites love to embed videos of the artists they’re
covering to make the article more visual and engaging. Embed 2-3 videos
in your digital press kit to make it easy to find a quality video that
best represents your band, including at least one live video incase a
blogger is previewing one of your upcoming shows.

5. Press Articles/Reviews

It wouldn’t be a press kit without some press, so post links to a few of your best reviews and interviews. Be sure to pull the best quote from each review and include it underneath the link,
don’t assume that people will click on each article and read them in
full. You can spice up this part of your digital press kit visually by
including the logos of the media source next to each article/review.

6. Contact info

Even
though you might have a “Contact” section on your website, include
detailed contact info in your digital press kit to have everything in
one place. Include an email address as well as a phone # where a media
person or booker can reach you if they need to speak to you in a hurry.

7. Social Links

And
finally, add your social links to the page so that if the media person
or booker wants to quickly check out your social media presence, they
have all the links right there. Don’t overdo it, you can simply list the
social media networks that you are most active on. For most artists
this would be Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Hypebot contributing writer Dave Cool is Director of Artist Relations for musician website & marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool