What is a DJ EPK and How to Create One For Free
What is a DJ EPK and How to Create One For Free
An Electronic Press Kit, or EPK, is one of the most powerful promotion tools for electronic artists and DJs. You'll be asked to provide an EPK when pitching for gigs at clubs, events and music festivals. It's also used by journalists, bloggers and vloggers and is a critical part of any DJs marketing strategy.
What is an EPK?
Simply put an Electronic Press Kit, or EPK, is a PDF presentation that shows everything a booker or journalist needs to know about an artist or DJ. It will contain press photos, an artist biography, discography, accolades, quotes and key performances. The reader should be able to quickly ascertain all the important information regarding the artist and their unique proposition i.e., why they make a good booking or subject for a press article.
What is a PDF?
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It’s a file format created by Adobe that allows documents to be presented in a consistent way across different devices. PDFs are used for sharing documents that need to maintain their formatting, such as EPKs.
Do DJs need an EPK?
Yes. Bookers, agents and journalists will ask to see an EPK when considering you for bookings or press articles. Many artists think that they can just simply link to their Instagram or website but no booker or journalist wants to waste time clicking links and searching for the important information. A professional DJ will save them time by collating all the info into a professional looking PDF simply attached to their email.
If you're an aspiring DJ looking to secure gigs and bigger performances you'll need to create and distribute your EPK as an attachment to your booking enquiry emails.
Ultimately, a good DJ EPK will help you get more and better paid DJ work.
How To Make a DJ EPK For Free
You can easily make your own DJ EPK for free! We recommend using Canva or any other tool that allows you to create graphics and export as a PDF. You can also use slideshow software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Adobe Spark or Apple's Keynote. For the purpose of this guide we will use Canva as our free EPK design tool.
Start by gathering the content you will need for your EPK.
Step One: To create your EPK you'll need the following content ready to go:
DJ Press Photos
All DJs should recognise the importance of professional DJ photos. They are an incredible and versatile marketing tool. We suggest that before you create your EPK you work with a professional portrait photographer to create a range of stylish DJ photos that communicate the look and vibe you're going for.
DJ Biography
Every DJ should have a DJ name and DJ biography. A DJ biography is text that aims to introduce an artist to their audience, be it their fans, promoters or journalists. It highlights the DJs background, USP (unique selling point), musical style, influences, career achievements, accolades and experience within the industry. DJs will use their bio on many profiles including RA artist profile, Beatport artist page, Spotify artist page, Soundcloud artist page and in their EPK. Click here to learn how to write a DJ bio.
Some DJs will also have their own DJ logo.
Discography
A discography is a complete list of music that you have released. Many DJs are also music producers and will have music released on various record labels. If you do you'll want to include a discography in your EPK with links to your releases.
Important Gig History
You'll want to create and maintain a list of your most notable DJ performances. Collect flyer images, dates and event info. Simply list this information within your EPK but consider making the information easy to visually digest by utilising good graphic design practice.
Additional Information
An EPK might also contact additional information like any important awards or projects, quotes from the artist, previous bookers or press articles. See if you can gather important information that you want to highlight. Some DJs will also include any additional staging information they require like a tech rider (the decks and DJ equipment they need) and any lighting or visual setup they need. Click here for more information on DJ riders.
We've also seen more advanced artists include sections on their merchandise or stage show.
Contact Information & Links
Your EPK needs to include links to your social media profiles and contact information.
Step Two: Start the design process by finding a template:
Now you have all the content you need the next step is to start designing the PDF. Not everyone has a talent for graphic design, so if its not your strongest point consider asking a friend for help or reaching our to a graphic designer.
When browsing for design templates on Canva, search for keywords like Pitch Deck, Slideshow or Presentation. These will act as the background for your content. You can delete elements and pages you don't need and replace images and text with your own.
Step Three: Add your own content and tweak the design to your needs
Once you've found a template you'll want to add your own images and text. Using the sidebar on Canva upload all your photos. You should also have your text content ready to copy and paste.
I started by deleting the pages of the template I didn't need or like, you only need a few pages for an EPK. I ended up using six pages because I wanted to include a discography and achievements section. if you're a new DJ you'll probably just need four pages.
Once I deleted those pages I started work on the first page and added the DJ name, tag line and biography. I also added the important contact info at the bottom along with a cool background image of the example DJ at a gig.
Page two consisted a simple page to show off some DJ press photos along with a comment directing the reader to reach out for high-resolution copies. When deciding on the images to use here try and keep it editorial, don't use photos from your gigs. Think what your DJ photos would look like in a magazine or blog accompanying an interview.
Page three was used to display highlighted releases from a discography. Some DJ/producers will list their entire discography but often your most popular releases will have more impact. I've included the track name, record label and artwork in this example. If you don't yet produce music you might consider instead highlighting some youtube videos such as DJ livestreams or radio shows you host.
Here on page four I listed some example key performances with a timeline to show our artists growth and development. Try and make all your information visually appealing and easy for the eye to digest. As with most of the slides, I have used some photos from live performances as background imagery.
If you've got some press interviews, quotes or any other achievements you can highlight them here. It's common for artists to back up their credibility using press quotes from magazine articles, podcasts, radio shows and blog coverage. If you've won any kind of award or competition you can also mention it here.
Here on the last page I have included instructions for those readers who would like to book the artist. A DJ might include their booking agents details or simply their own contact information.
There is no set rule for how many pages an EPK should have but you want to keep it short and succinct. Feel free to add more pages but stop if you think it's detracting from the main message. You want to use your EPK as a sales pitch so it has to be short and sweet.
Remember, your choice of graphic design heavily represents your brand identity and professionalism. In other words, the quality of your EPK directly reflects your value as a booking. This is why some DJs will choose to pay a graphic designer to create something truly unique.
Step Four: Expand your DJ EPK (optional)
Your EPK PDF is primarily designed to be attached to an email. If it sparks some interest from an event organiser, booker or music journalist they will want to learn more.
DJs often include a link leading to a Dropbox folder containly more files. Dropbox is a service where you can store a folder of files and share a link for anyone to download. You can store up to 2GB of data without signing up for a paid account. You can also consider using Google Drive.
An expanded EPK Dropbox folder should include:
Press Images: Various high-resolution professionally shot press images of the artist. It's a good idea to have a range of styles including colour, back and white, portrait, landscape, studio, on location and live performance shots
Videos: Many DJs will include videos of their performance or DJ livestreams within their EPK, normally as a YouTube link.
DJ Biography: You should have two biographies, one short around 100 words and an extended version of around 300 words. These should be plain text files with no formatting, making it easy for anyone to copy and paste the text.
Discography: Include a complete list of all your music releases.
EPK PDF: Include your EPK PDF presentation.
Tech & Hospitality Riders: Include your tech rider detailing what DJ equipment you need them to provide. A hospitality rider would include information on what accommodation and travel considerations they should think about when booking you outside of your home city.
Step Five: Share your EPK and get more DJ gigs
Once you've created a stunning EPK presentation you'll want to send it to bookers, agents, music journalists and anyone who might be able to help you get more DJ gigs.
An EPK PDF is designed to be attached to an email. To get the word out you'll need to find the email addresses of the relevant people and write a compelling message to catch their attention. Don't forget you can always utilise AI like Chat GPT if you need help with writing or brainstorming ideas. However, it's a good idea to use AI to help come up with a draft but they rewrite it in your own words.
You can find the email of DJ agencies, clubs and promoters by searching on Google, Facebook, Instagram, RA or event listings. It's also useful to sometimes visit the venue and ask for the contact information of whoever books the DJs.
Need Help Getting Your First DJ Gigs?
London Sound Academy is the go-to destination for aspiring DJs. Not only can you learn how to DJ professionally but you'll be able to perform at LSA events. We are partnered with some of the UK's most famous venues including Ministry of Sound, Egg London and XOYO. In addition we run many DJ competitions including being an official education partner for both Pioneer DJ and elrow! We even organise DJ gigs in Ibiza!
If you're an aspiring DJ and want to break into the music industry join our academy. Learn how to DJ, improve your skills and access DJ opportunities.
Conclusion
Creating an EPK for DJing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. You can easily create a free EPK within a matter of minutes using tools like Canva. What's probably harder is hitting those achievements you want in order to stand out from the crowd. This is why at LSA we train DJs to be the best performers possible with extensive tuition and excellent real-world DJ work. Once a DJ has a history of DJ gigs and music releases the EPK will almost write itself!
