Supporting Commentary of my Electronic Press Kit (SHR4C007R~002):
What I included and why:
To start, I will explain why I have chosen to create an electronic press kit and how I will use it. The use of an electronic press kit is similar to the use of a business card or a Curriculum vitae; people working for venues, musical directors, music labels, and other people hiring in the music industry want to see a resume of who you are and your achievements. As someone who wants to be involved in as many projects as possible, I marketed myself as a session musician of which is an avenue I hope to pursue as a career. As my intention of what I want to market myself as became clear, so did the intended audience. Knowing that the people who would be seeing my electronic press kit would be professional music business practitioners, I aimed my themes to be professional and less personal. I chose a black theme to reflect the professionalism of concert black and white text to create a nice contrast and make the text pop. I also chose to include easy access to contacting me via a direct contact line at the end of the electronic press kit to make it as easy as possible to contact me without having to open other windows or sites, which could deter contact if bookers would face a hassle to contact me. I also included links to my music social media account for bookers to see what sort of online presence I have, as well as live videos accessible on YouTube for bookers to see my skills in stagecraft and presence. I also chose predominantly only session players to provide testimonials to show I have connections with other session musicians and how they felt working with me. I also included a testimonial from an artist I previously and currently work with as evidence of me actively working on projects.
Reflecting on my content:
The biggest issue I faced with my content within the electronic press kit is the current lack of breadth of projects I can evidence. Before university, I worked predominantly with only one band, from which most of the content is sourced. The issue with that is that I can only evidence one genre and one band, which for a session musician is quite poor. However, I am currently already working with multiple bands within the university; however, I cannot provide evidence of them due to performances not being filmed and the bands not gigging outside of the university. Moving forward with the projects and the electronic press kit, I will add more towards other projects, showing my true breadth as a session musician. The testimonials, whilst all being people I have played with in different projects, are also people I know, which could be used to discredit me as a musician, as I have only quoted words of people I am friends with. With this in mind, I aim to build up my book of testimonials with people less associated with me to show that people who aren’t friends with me also think I am a well-rounded session musician. Overall, I aim to add more towards my projects by developing current and future projects, which will be of more value in my electronic press kit.
The pictures and overall theme were chosen with professionalism in mind; black was predominantly used to convey a sleek and professional look, and I also opted not to include too much personal information. This decision was down to the fact that I want to be hired for things as a musician for my skills and portfolio. I believe that due to me not promoting a band or me as an artist but as a musician, bookers will not care for me as a person. My soft skills are conveyed, however, I don’t think my personality coming through in the electronic press kit would give me more opportunities than if I included more about myself. Overall, the decision for it to lack my personality is to further convey my professionalism.
Instagram vs Electronic Press Kit
The jobs of Instagram business pages and electronic press kits are two very different things. You very well may get contacted through Instagram due to your musical content, however, it simply is not professional enough for things such as a venue or a musical director. It can be a good tool to further show off your ability, and as a promotional tool, but that is not the job of an electronic press kit. It is not promotional, instead, it is a business card for the industry. Both are very useful tools in being recognised as a musician, but they both provide very different yields, which is why both should be used.
Market Research
My market research predominantly consisted of researching who was doing what I want to do, and what their electronic press kits looked like, their formatting, and what information they put forward. There were a lot of ideas that I hadn’t thought of, such as contact forms and sleek transition animations. What I didn’t like, however, was that many didn’t seem to follow much of a colour scheme, the colours changed a lot, and there was a lot of what felt to be random colouring, which I didn’t think suited the audience much. I knew my electronic press kit would be seen by professionals, and so I made mine as professional as possible.
Financial and Legal aspects:
With the electronic press kit being a CV of sorts, it is apparent that it is a crucial aspect for income. For example, with my originals band, I created and pushed out the electronic press kit for the group to as many local venues as possible, which netted us opening and headlining gigs, generating a good amount of revenue for the band. However, while it can make you money, it also costs money. For example, for this electronic press kit to be open to the public, the cheapest option is 8 pounds a month, including the domain. Which, with all things considered, is not a huge amount of money, and if it is generating you income, it pays for itself. All images, music, and videos used on this electronic press kit I own and haven’t paid for it; however, moving forward I would pay for things such as professional pictures.
With me aiming to use this for sessioning, the music and other property used in the electronic press kit will have to be properly copyrighted and trademarked as either my own or others work. This is due the electronic press kit being open for viewing by the public, meaning it could be easily stolen from me and other creators if not properly protected by such laws.
Group Work:
The group work both within seminars and with people I know on the same or similar courses proved very valuable. For example, my flatmate and student on songwriting, Robin Lovitt, suggested I try to give my electronic press kit a more personal touch, which he had done in his. However, with him using his electronic press kit to push himself as a rapper, it made more sense for him than for me. If you are selling your music, getting to know the artist is an integral part of what a venue, or whoever is looking at their electronic press kit, wants. This, to me, differs from a session musician. I feel that I would be judged more on my resume and skills than on my personality. The inclusion of a fun fact about myself, which Robin suggested, felt out of place in a professional piece of work such as this electronic press kit, for example, you wouldn’t put a fun fact on your CV.
A good piece of feedback I received was when I was first starting the electronic press kit, which was within a lecture. The feedback was that instead of building on top of an older, outdated electronic press kit I had from a few years ago, I should create a completely new one. This feedback really changed the outcome of my work. If I had taken the route of simply updating photos and changing my location, then I would have been left with a much worse electronic press kit. Starting over forced me to reflect on who I am now as a musician. It made me think about where I am and where I want to be in the future. If I had built upon what I already had, I wouldn’t have had this realisation that I would be writing and keeping a lot of the musician I was a few years ago. But now I am a completely different musician, in a different city, playing with new people every day. This also made me change who hosted my electronic press kit. Switching to Wix means now I have more direct input into the electronic press kit than I did with Bandzoogle, which is a good tool to start with, but Wix provides many more tools and a more professional look.
