Commentary
Firstly, before starting the creation of this EPK the most important thing to do is set out my main goals that I am to fulfil through the creation of this EPK:
- To create a simple web page where all my creative projects are visible for others to see and that can be updated when new projects.
- To create a page that stylistically has both an appealing but professional look
- To create a page that is fully professional as the main goal of this EPK is to present my work so other creatives can ideally book me to work with them on their projects.
Having researched a number of different session musicians, who are working in similar genre spaces that I hope to work in, websites (Adam levy https://www.adamlevy.com/ and others) I have come to the conclusions that a number of different aspects make up a good professional EPK these include:
- Professional Imagery. This is incredibly important and in light of this I have used my most professional shot showing me in a performance scenario to be a large component at the top of my EPK.
- The use of travelable headers. I have used headers relating to different aspects of my EPK at the top of my EPK allowing for quick jumping between different aspects of my EPK so that a potential client can jump straight to the part they want to view.
- Medium length Bio. In the bio I have included in my EPK I aimed to chronicle in a medium length my career progression in this field beginning with what I can offer to a person hoping to take me on for my service backed up by my previous experience.
- Social media / contact links. I have implemented this through some hyperlinks related to icons in the footer of the page ensuring that it is easy for somebody to find my social media through my EPK due to this being an incredibly important part of marketing myself to others online along with an email option so people can send direct messages requesting services etc.
- Music – where to listen. I have implemented through a music player a number of tracks from artists I am currently working with allowing a client to view some examples of my recent style. This means that someone wanting to listen to recent work form me will not have to leave my EPK and go out searching for it but instead will be able to listen directly on my site.
- Shows. A core important component is where others can go out and see me live so I have implemented a list which I can update once new shows are announced where I will be playing, with who, and when. Showing to a client I am a gigging musician and that I offer that service while also giving them the option to come and see me before deciding whether I am a good fit to work with.
- Photos. A clear photo gallery allows a client to see me in a number of different setting working and adds to my credibility as a consistently gigging musician so a wide breadth photo gallery with professional images is something I have included.
- Videos. If they are unable to see me out playing these videos should be able to provide another way for a client to see the service, I’m offering to verify whether I would meet the requirements they need.
- Services. A clear list of services I provide would show to a client looking at my EPK a clear selection of options they can book or contact me for more information about. This is a very practical element as it ensures that all those contacting should be aware of the services I provide and would avoid unnecessary emails if the services I provide do not meet a client’s needs.
- Contact box. Arguably most importantly a clearly sign posted contact box allows a place for a client to submit a message directly to me if they cannot find the email link. It also presents the idea to a client that I am open to a discussion with them about their needs.
- Testimonials. Testimonials provide a sense of credibility showing that my services have been used by others previously and that they were satisfied with the result further creating more confidence in a potential client.
Group feedback
Following group feedback on my EPK, several key areas were identified for improvement, and I set about implementing those suggestions. The group noted that simply uploading video files felt static and missed an opportunity for FURTHER engagement, so I integrated a scrollable TikTok feed that displays all my videos alongside their views and likes. This should have the result of building my credibility while also directing visitors again to my account. Furthermore, the group also said that my bio could be seen to be too informal and jokey in tone, undermining the professional impression the EPK needed to make given my goals are to attract clients to work with me in a professional environment. In light of this I rewrote it to better reflect the overall goals and of the EPK. While the group acknowledged that the personal touch of the original bio did make me seem more approachable, this strengthens the claim for directly integrating my TikTok page to the EPK because of how my personality can then come through via the TikTok integration due to the captions naturally carrying a much lighter, jokey tone without making me look unprofessional due to the nature of the application. The group also pointed out that the music section had been left empty, due to my lack of originally released music at current, the group then suggested that I could address this by including tracks from artists I am currently working with, ensuring the EPK feels complete even without original releases of my own. While also not shoe horning in artists and songs that I do not have a direct relation to giving a client a good idea of the style they can expect from my playing.
The group additionally suggested that my visual content needed improvement, recommending a wider range of higher quality photographs. In response, I have begun looking into the costs associated with commissioning professional photos across a greater number of occasions, with the aim of bringing this up to standard going forward.
Future steps
On the completion of this EPK I have noticed 2 key aspects that would need some additional work in the future to be up to standard. Those being my collection of photos available and my collection of videos. Currently these two aspects are clearly lacking in both the depth of them, the repetitive nature of these images, and for some the quality of these images not being up to a professional standard or of a professional setting. For example, a number of the photos I have are from one event – this simply does not reflect the broad nature of the work I have completed and to ensure that a potential client understands I have a much wider range of experience the photos should evidence that. Furthermore, non-videos of the videos show me in a live setting and instead are TikTok’s recorded of myself playing often to backing track. This again does not show the true nature of the experience I have, and both these aspects could seriously hold back my EPK from reaching the intended goals as outlined above.
In light of this I have completed research into the costs associated with hiring a photographer and a videographer to create high quality photos and images that can be used in an updated version of this EPK
photographer
| Service / Type | Cost |
| Small local gig (~1-2 hours) | £150 – 400 |
| Live music / event shoot (half day) | £300 – 800 |
| Professional music photography (full day) | £800 – 2000+ |
| Hourly rate | ~ £50 – 250/hour |
However, a number of different aspects could affect the rates listed above including but not limited to:
- Experience level – some photographers will offer a greatly reduced rate to completely no cost if they have very minimal experience and are still trying to generate material for their own business portfolio
- length of the show
- travel
- editing time
- number of final images
- whether usage rights are included (if the photographer has the rights to use the photos produced themselves or not)
(source: https://www.photographersaround.co.uk/article/photographer-cost-uk-2026-price-guide)
Videographer
The costs related to hiring a videographer are very similar yet often have an increased cost due to the greater number of factors that need to be considering when creating video materials especially once music is involved these include:
- increased lighting equipment required
- quality and mixing of the audio
- editing time being substantially increased
- the use of often multi camera setups which increases the people needed and the equipment required
in light of this general videographer costs are as follows:
| Service / Type | Cost |
| Basic gig/event coverage | £300 – 800 |
| Professional single-camera live session | £800 – 1500 |
| Multi-camera professional music video/live session | £1500 – 5000+ |
A number of the aspects relating to costs for a photographer also apply here so once again the rates can vary wildly.
(Source: https://www.videorecordingexperts.co.uk/article/videographer-cost-uk-2026-price-guide)
It should also be noted that image / video rights and how they can be used or the conditions in which they can be used vary so I understand that the specific licenses to use the images in the correct way would need to be considered before including them in a public EPK.
The final aspect to consider in relation to what would need to be completed to ensure the EPK is accessible to others is the cost associated with claiming a domain and keeping this EPK live and hosted on a website.
Firstly, considering the costs associated with obtaining the domain name: The options of obtaining a domain name through GoDaddy provided: ronanwhitemusic.com /.co.uk, ronanwhiteofficial.com /.co.uk, and ronanwhiteguitar.com /.co.uk, where available. These options would range between £12 and £50 per year. These quoted prices are in line with other domain name providers and would be purchased on a subscription basis, with the domain held for the duration that the domain is paid for, normally renewed on a yearly basis. This would allow me to host my EPK in website form under the chosen domain, making it easily searchable and discoverable owing to the straightforward and recognisable nature of the domain name. In some instances, the only available domain names are misspelt variations of the desired domain, due to fact the correct spelling has already been registered by another person. This makes it significantly more difficult to direct internet traffic from search engines to the intended page, ultimately reducing the number of potential clients who are able to access the EPK. Furthermore, it is widely recommended that, in order to ensure all potential traffic is routed to the correct web page, one should additionally purchase common misspellings of the domain name. These can then either automatically redirect visitors to the main site or serve to prevent bad actors from registering those variations and creating fraudulent pages designed to impersonate the artist whether for the purpose of harvesting personal information from unsuspecting visitors or outright scamming them.
(Source: https://www.godaddy.com/en-uk/domainsearch/find?domainToCheck=ronanwhitemusic)
Finally considering the costs associated with hosting the EPK on a website there are numerous options which all offer different services:
| Service | Cost | Best for |
| Shared hosting | £2 – 11 / month | Starter sites with low traffic |
| Managed wordpress | £20 – 70 / month | WordPress sites with growth |
| VPS hosting | £15 – 60 / month | Medium traffic, requiring more control |
| Dedicated server | £60 – 220 / month | High traffic, resource-intensive |
| Cloud (AWS/GCP) | £37 – 370 / month | Scale-on-demand, enterprise |
(Source = https://webcostestimator.com/costs/web-hosting-cost) In the table above we can see that numerous options are available but at this point, especially considering the somewhat bare bones nature of the EPK means that there are not a lot of requirements that are required to host it as a webpage and therefore the shared hosting option would be the best at this point but in future this may change.
EPK
