link to my EPK:
EPK supporting commentary – Anna Guillain
It is extremely beneficial for musicians to have an EPK. This is because it’s a great way for people to see what you have to offer as a professional musician and for people to reach out to you. The purpose of my EPK is to help me with getting paid work within the industry. As I’m starting out in my career, my aim is to get work as a session drummer (live or in studio), as a drummer in a function band (private events e.g weddings) or as a drummer joining a band as well as music tuition. I believe that my EPK is the perfect way for me to get work in these areas.
The structure of my EPK is straightforward for people to follow. Potential visitors to the site are festival or gig promoters, musicians looking for a session drummer, people wanting to hire a functions band and people wanting drums tuition. As I’ve identified these different groups who may be interested in my website, I want to clearly direct users to the section they need from the top of the home page to avoid wasting anyone’s time. I have different sections for different aspects of my EPK so not too much information is on the same page. It is very easy for people to get in contact with me if they are looking to hire a drummer and it’s obvious how to find out more about me and what work I do, making it suitable for my target audience. When adding videos to my EPK, I made sure that I chose videos that showed me playing a variety of genres, so it maximizes appeal to a range of people. I also added lots of photos as it’s important to have visuals on a website to make it engaging.
When it came to my artistic approach, I wanted my EPK to not be associated with a specific genre. Because of this, I kept the color scheme light and based around the colours in my photos. My reasoning for not wanting to be associated with a specific genre is because I currently play in a number of bands and as a session drummer playing many different styles and genres. Looking from a commercial standpoint, this maximizes opportunities to earn as a musician as I can meet the needs of various types of people who may be looking for a drummer/band. Additionally, I have links to videos hosted on YouTube rather than embedding them in the site to ensure that people can watch them with no delays.
I would improve my EPK by adding more links to social media. I have yet to set up a music account on social media and so I don’t have any posts for people to see. I think this would elevate my EPK as there would be more content for people to see and it would give me a stronger sense of identity. Additionally, as I develop as a musician and become more established in specific bands and playing certain genres, I would amend my EPK to have a stronger genre identity to reflect this Also, I would try to get input from a professional designer. This would maximize the look and feel of my EPK which would encourage more people to get in touch with me. As well as this, when I was looking through my EPK I felt as if I could have added more social media links. This could have been a great way for people to easily see more music content. To improve on this, I will try to start posting more on social media and I will be more active on my band accounts. The final thing I would do to improve would be by adding reviews and testimonials from musicians I have worked with so people can see what I’m like to work with.
It was extremely useful for me to do some market research while making my EPK so I could take inspiration from others. I had a look at one of my past drum teacher’s EPK (mikeglozier.com – Home )to find out more about what makes a good EPK. What I liked about Mike’s EPK is the way it was laid out. He had different sections for session drumming and drum tuition which made it clear where to go depending on what you were looking for. He has also included videos of him playing a variety of styles to show his versatility. I took this onboard by putting videos of me playing multiple genres in order to appeal to the most amount of people. I next had a look at Hayley Brownell’s EPK (Hayley Brownell.com). I really like how her website is very minimalist as it makes it easy to use and find out all the key information about her. It includes some really high-quality photos of her playing. This made me realize the difference professional photography makes as it makes you look much more professional and serious. She includes a lot less information about her than I did. This means people can’t really find out what she is like but at the same time it makes her website easier to look at.
It is important to acknowledge that an EPK drives revenue so it can be useful to invest in press photos and professional looking videos. I luckily got my photos and videos done for free due to knowing photographers and from professional photographers at past gigs. I invested in a domain to make my EPK easier to find. I brought the website name ‘annaguillaindrums’. This will hopefully be a good investment as it means people can find my contact information more easily.
Overall, I am happy with where my EPK is right now at this stage of my career. However, there is much more that can be improved over time, and I will ensure that I update it regularly as I develop as a musician.
Evidence of group work
Most of my ideas were generated by having group discussions in class. I got the idea from my classmate Immanuel to include studio and live work. This made my EPK more versatile and thus will maximize revenue. When discussing my EPK with my class, Bella suggested that I put a lot of emphasis on band work as this is my main passion. She said, ‘it’s obvious that session work for songwriters is not something that interests you as much as playing in bands so you should focus more on that.’ I agree with this however I still said in my EPK that I am willing to session for songwriters as it’s a good way to collaborate even if it’s not my priority. My tutor Tim also suggested that I add press photos or band images as adding visuals makes my EPK more interesting and engaging. I added some band photos of both bands playing live, playing in the studio and band photos from social media. This shows people viewing my EPK that I can be versatile in different situations. As well as this, professional press photos ensures that people take me seriously as a musician.
Over the course of creating my EPK, I had discussions with my band mates Jennifier Smith and Freddie Batemen. We discussed what goes in an EPK like a bio, pictures and performance footage. Together we had a look at some other artists EPKs for inspiration. We took a look at Taylor Swifts website and noticed that she had her contact information on the front home page. I thought that the home page should have looked simpler and so I put my contact information on a separate page. As well as this, by looking at other musicians EPK’s we all noticed how each artist had a strong sense of identity. I came up with a consistent color scheme and font throughout to create an artist brand/identity. We also had a group discussion about our artist bio’s. Fred and Jenny gave me the advice of adding some drummers that I am inspired by to give a stronger sense of identity.
I have developed by playing in bands. I am professional when I show up to recordings and rehearsals and this has given me more confidence in the EPK. I have been session drumming for a songwriter called ‘Jennifer Smith’. She has helped me with my confidence when it comes to session work, and I feel as if I can be professional and efficient when playing for songwriters. She gave me the advice to say on my EPK that collaborating is an interest of mine as that is a huge part of doing session work.
Moving forward, I would improve my EPK by having more discussions with industry professionals. I think it would be useful to talk to a band manager to gain a better understanding of what they look for in a band. It would also like to talk more with other drummers for inspiration.
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