Supporting Commentary: Ivania del Solar — EPK for the Creative Industries
Introduction
An Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
In the music industry, an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) functions as a clear visual way for professional artist’s to show their digital portfolio/resume while still showing their style and artistic aesthetic (Apple Music, 2025). It’s meant to be informative and polished while still engaging with their desired audience, which in most cases can range from producers to record labels. My EPK is designed to promote my work as a singer, songwriter and producer who blends my vocal production specialty with my folk roots. This supporting commentary outlines the reasoning behind my artistic and commercial choices, and explains how my EPK fulfills it’s purpose and works well with my artistic goals.
Artistic and Musical Identity
My artistic practice focus in crafting emotionally honest and vocally rich music. As stated in my Artist Profile section, my work is centered in folk storytelling and intimate vocal performance, mainly through acoustic and natural elements. I also explain my range as an artist and producer as my style isn’t limited to folk music, but instead leans into elements of R&B, Electronic music, and Pop. This combination of styles allows me to connect with multiple types audiences and shows my adaptability across genres, something I also expressed clearly in my EPK. My strength as a vocal producer is central to my identity, as I believe a voice can have just as much impart as any instrumental arrangement, and at times even more. It can shape the entire emotional tone of a piece, which is why I believe its important to focus on it with such level of detail.
The Style of Music section of the EPK explains this by referencing vocal layering, organic and experimental production, and the combination of both acoustic and digital elements. I use this section to divide the general layout of the EPK, keeping it organized and making sure no information is lost in the process.
EPK Structure and Commercial Relevance
The structure of the EPK balances professionalism and creativity, with the aim to look polished to industry professionals such as talent scouts, venue bookers, music supervisors, journalists, and potential collaborators.
Key commercial considerations include:
- Promotional Photos: Professional pictures placed throughout the text to ensure I was seen as the artist in the project. Also shows the level of work done in the past, with a combination of both live performance and studio work.
- Testimonials and Reviews: Quotes from collaborators serve to show my level of professionalism and abilities in a high stress social settings. These are mainly useful in commercial contexts where reputation and word of mouth can be valuable to gain a job or collaboration with another artist.
- Skill Summary: This section is divided into production and artistic abilities to provide people with a clean-cut text of what Im able to do in a professional setting. This section provides recruiters, producers, and collaborators with a direct overview of my technical and creative capabilities.
- Recent Accomplishments: By including streaming numbers, media exposure (e.g., Britain’s Got Talent), and management roles (social media) I emphasize my real-world results and professional versatility.
This structure was chosen to respect the short attention span of quick readers while still conveying depth and individuality. Additionally I placed it next to my social media handles to ensure they see my contact information quickly and efficiently.
Visual and Design Choices
Visual design plays a major role in the effectiveness of an EPK (Bradbury, 2023). I selected a general focus on the color blue as its meant to be a calming color that allows for the brain to feel calm. While many colors are associated with speed, anger and energy (red, yellow, orange), blue is meant to slow your brain down, hopefully that way allowing for the audience to look at my EPK for an additional minute if necessary (Hagan, 2018). This color pallet also suggests professionalism and artistic depth, reflecting the introspective yet bold nature of my music.
Images were carefully selected to convey performance charisma (live singing shots) and professional engagement (studio production photos). The central image of me performing radiates energy and passion, while the studio image shows technical skill.
The text font is modern and clean, contributing to the professional tone without losing any creativity. Layout decisions, such as dividing sections and ensuring strong headlines, makes the EPK easy to navigate and visually appealing. Finally, the QR code and social media icons are included to allow seamless access to streaming profiles and my portfolio, This way my audience had simple access to my work.
Target Audience and Marketing
My EPK is meant to target a number of different professional audiences, but the main one would have to be a record label. As an all around artist/producer its important for them to see my digital work aswell as my live performances. With this in mind, it was crucial to display my Britains Got Talent performance on a picture. This way they can see the level of work of done and my giving out my Spotify name they can search me up as an independent artist aswell and see my song “Medicate” (Del Solar, 2024). Additionally, by adding testimonials from a multitude of people anyone who wants to work with me can be able to see that while I usually focus my work on developing artist I can also collaborate hand-in-hand with professional musicians in the industry. It is also important to mention that by explaining I am Peruvian and how my Spanish is fluent it additionally opens an entire market for my audience. My latino roots allow me to understand Peruvian music and some other cultural music styles better than most producers, artists and songwriters in the UK, and overall making me more marketable to the masses.
Research and Influences
In preparing my EPK, I researched a variety of established artist portfolios including websites by Maggie Rogers, Arlo Parks and Gigi Perez. These artists blend with my styles of music and the styles I am used to producing for other artists. This shows innovation and present them as multi-skilled creatives—similar to the path I aim to follow.
Evidence of Group Work and Evaluation (500 words)
Working in groups during the second semester tutorials was a great support for shaping my Electronic Press Kit (EPK). These sessions gave me a ways to refine my ideas through open discussion, feedback, and collaboration. The general process started by sharing rough drafts of our artist bios and EPK structures in groups throughout classes. At first, I found it challenging to explain my identity as an artist as it seemed as if I was gloating, but after a discussion with my classmate Ileana Larkou I was able to understand how its important to present yourself in the best light possible. I then understood how important it is to show yourself in the light you want others to see. To cram my identity and artistic goals into a short, impactful paragraph seemed hard at first, however, hearing how my peers approached their bios—especially their focus on tone, genre-specific language, and achievements—helped me. It became obvious that specificity and clarity were crucial.
One particularly useful session involved workshopping bios with the example of “Sam Evans” when looking at artist bios. This showed us how vague and casual language can diminish professionalism, and how a simple improvement, as seen in the revised version can highlight achievements and stylistic traits in a way that feels authentic but marketable. Inspired by this, I revisited my own draft and used more targeted language for my audience, incorporating not just what I do, but how I do it.
These group conversations also contributed to my personal and professional development as a student and musician. Explaining my ideas out loud helped clarify them and even come up with new ideas I hadn’t thought of before, and listening to feedback trained me to view my work more objectively. It made me more confident and helped me realize that others had similar uncertainties—whether around visual branding, writing bios, or even getting started with the EPK itself. Through that shared experience we motivated eachothe, the group created a supportive space where experimentation and creativity was encouraged and no idea seemed too “weird” but instead something we could work from. I not only grew more confident when expressing my ideas but also offering feedback to others in a one-to-one format.
Moving forward, I’d like to improve on a few things. Firstly, I want to strengthen my visual branding to match the quality of my written and audio content. While many of my peers and classmates showed a branding that was very connected mine felt underdeveloped at first, that’s when I noticed I need to undetsand myself as a musician, meaning my EPK will change consistently till I do. Several peers showed examples of cohesive EPKs where the bio, images, and music all worked together stylistically and aesthetically. I also want to develop a more concise artist statement for different platforms outside this EPK, more specifically for my Spotify artist bio and my Instagram page.
Bibliography
Apple Music. (2025). Why an Electronic Press Kit matters. From Apple Music for Artists: https://artists.apple.com/support/1121-why-an-electronic-press-kit-matters
Bradbury, W. (2023, June 6). How To Make An EPK For Artists (with examples). From Pirate.com: https://pirate.com/en/blog/epk-music-artists/
Hagan, E. (2018, October 29). Surprising Research on the Color Blue. From Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/your-personal-renaissance/201810/surprising-research-on-the-color-blue
Del Solar, I. (2024). Medicate [Recorded by I. Del Solar]. Lima, Peru.
Parks, A. (n.d.). Arlo Parks Official. From https://www.arloparksofficial.com/
Rogers, M. (n.d.). Maggie Rogers Official. From https://www.maggierogers.com/
Perez, G. (n.d.). Gigi Perez Music. From https://www.gigiperezmusic.com/
