How to make an EPK

Third person, 150 words maximum. The first sentence has to earn the second one — genre, city, and the one thing that makes you bookable right now. A residency, a recent release, a support slot, a labelmate a promoter recognises. Not adjectives.

Second and third sentences are context: what you sound like in one comparison, and what's happening this season. Cut every line that could describe any other artist. Anything starting with "passionate about music," "born with a love for melody," or "pushing boundaries" gets deleted.

If it doesn't help a promoter decide, it's not in the bio. Save the full story for interviews.

Two tracks minimum, four maximum. More than four and nobody plays anything. Lead with the track whose first 30 seconds hit hardest — a promoter is deciding whether to keep the tab open, not whether you can build a slow intro.

Embed streaming links (Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Bandcamp) so the player lives inside the page. Never send MP3 or WAV attachments — inbox filters delete them and A&Rs won't open unknown files. If a track is unreleased, use a private link with a fresh URL per contact.

One live set, one original, and one collaboration reads stronger than four tracks in the same genre. Show range only if you actually have it.

Three to five photos, high resolution, at least one portrait for posters and one landscape for press headers. Include one shot with your equipment or on stage — promoters use it to picture you at their venue. No selfies, no low-light phone shots, no logos slapped on top.

For stats, monthly listeners and one growing metric beat every vanity number. Ten thousand engaged followers in one city says more than a hundred thousand scattered across ten. Show trend when you can — "3× monthly listeners in the last 6 months" reads better than a static count.

If your numbers are small, name the city and the sub-genre where you're strongest and lean on that. Specific always beats big.

No press yet? Use the #start-small logic. One quote from a local blog, a community radio, a podcast interview, or a respected DJ playing your track — with the outlet name and a date — beats a blank section. Promoters read presence, not prestige. A dated line proves you exist in the world; empty sections read like you don't.

For live dates, list 3 to 5 recent past shows with city and venue, and every confirmed upcoming date. Cap it there — a 40-date archive from 2019 makes you look like you stopped in 2019. Old past dates are noise; recent past dates are proof of demand.

One booking email a promoter can write to. No forms, no "contact my team" runaround. If you have agents by territory, list them by territory. Otherwise, one address.

One live URL, not a PDF attachment. Promoters read pitches on their phone between meetings; a PDF forces a download, a scroll, a pinch-zoom, and half the time it doesn't render. A link opens instantly, updates when you edit it, and every past pitch you sent stays current forever.

This is where MERITO helps: it's free, it takes a few minutes, and you see when a promoter opens your EPK — read receipts on every share. Publish once at getmerito.com/your-name and use that one URL in every pitch, every Instagram bio, every email signature.