EPK – Elyssa Shum (24101206 – SHR4C007R~002)

by

Elyssa Shum 24101206

Artist’s Bio

Elyssa is a keys player and self-produced artist from Malaysia who creates and performs music blending R&B, jazz, and soft pop. Influenced by artists such as Bill Evans and Yiruma, she uses music as a space for freedom, healing, and emotional honesty. Her style, drawn from the expressive and emotional piano melodies of Yiruma, alongside the rich jazz harmony and chord progression of Bill Evans, shapes her approach to composition and arrangements. Her production style incorporates detailed sound design, balancing creativity with a strong foundation in harmony and musical structure to create immersive and atmospheric tracks. She also develops piano arrangements that shape her ideas into expressive, piano-led compositions. She has gained performance experience playing with the WVC Jazz Band, further developing her musicianship and understanding of collaborative performance.

As an emerging artist and songwriter, Elyssa is developing a growing catalogue of original songs that explore vulnerability, self-discovery, and personal growth. Through warm melodies, intimate songwriting, and production, she aims to create a calm and reflective listening experience that connects deeply with listeners.

Music

Gallery

Videos

Contact

Elyssa Shum

Email: elyssa.music@gmail.com

Phone: (+44)7979033859

Commentary

The Electronic Press Kit (EPK) developed from the traditional press kit, which is a physical collection of promotional materials used to introduce artists to the media, which has since developed into a digital format for wider distribution and accessibility (Macy et al., 2015). In the contemporary music industry, an EPK functions as a digital portfolio, providing information such as an artist’s biography, musical style, promotional images and videos, and contact details in a clear and professional format (Kealey, 2024). Its purpose is to present an artist to industry professionals, allowing them to quickly understand the artist’s identity and potential. As industry professionals often have limited time, an EPK must be concise, clear and well-structured, allowing relevant information to be accessed quickly and efficiently (Kealey, 2024). While having an EPK is as important as developing a digital presence, they differ in purpose, as digital platforms are primarily focused on fan interaction rather than communication with industry professionals. Digital presence is important for building an audience and engaging with fans, particularly through social media platforms, which is usually how music is promoted and consumed. In contrast, an EPK is specifically designed to present an artist in a professional way to the music industry. Without it, industry professionals may need to gather information from scattered social media profiles, making it difficult to evaluate an artist. Therefore, while social media is effective for building a fanbase and maintaining visibility, an EPK is important for presenting a professional image within the music industry. However, it is important to ensure that an artist’s name and biographies are consistent or closely aligned across platforms to maintain a clear identity when reviewed by industry professionals, while also ensuring that my artist’s name is unique enough to avoid confusion when searched.

I have structured my EPK in a way that enables record labels and industry professionals to quickly understand my identity and potential. It starts with the artist’s bio, which is written in third person to ensure a professional tone and to clearly communicate my musical style, influences, and creative direction. The bio also reflects my personal connection to music and my artistic character, while outlining how I aim to create a calm and reflective listening experience that resonates with listeners. This ensures that key information is immediately visible, allowing professionals to access my work efficiently. In addition to the bio, I have included examples of my music and a selection of images to support my presentation as an artist. While my current images have not met the professional requirements, I understand that including images of live performances and audience interaction would provide a stronger representation of my stage presence and experience. These are the elements I would aim to include as I continue to develop as an artist.

I understand that my EPK is still in the early stages of development and does not yet include all the elements expected in a professional press kit. While I have included my artist bio, music and images, additional content such as released tracks, live performance footage, press coverage, reviews and testimonials, and a developed social media presence would further strengthen the overall presentation (Bandzoogle, 2024). A professional headshot is shown alongside the artist’s bio to show the professionalism of the EPK and provide a clearer visual representation of me. Reviews and testimonials would be included after the music section in the future to support the quality of my work once they become available. Upcoming shows would also be included in the future, showing I am actively performing and developing as an artist. The professional headshots currently included would remain as part of the EPK, while the other images and videos would be replaced with live performance footage and audience interaction to better represent my stage presence and performance experience. The music I have included will also be replaced with professionally produced content, allowing the EPK to develop alongside my progress as an artist. Social media icons have been included in my current EPK to indicate where this content would be placed once they have been set up. The overall structure of my EPK follows a clear order, beginning with the artist bio and profile picture, followed by music, reviews and testimonials, gallery, upcoming shows, videos, and finally contact information alongside social media links. Integrating audio and visual elements within text-based sections helps to break up large amounts of written content, making the EPK more engaging and easier to navigate. As Richard E. Mayer (2009), a psychologist, states, “People learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone.” This is reflected in the design of my EPK, where audio, video and images are placed between written content to maintain engagement and improve clarity for industry professionals.

Due to the limitations of Show, the visual design of my EPK could not be fully customised. In a web-based version, I would implement a muted purple colour palette to ensure a stronger connection between the visual identity and my musical style. Visual design is an important aspect of branding within the music industry, as elements such as imagery, typography and colour work together to create a recognisable artist identity (Ilieva, 2022). Visuals are considered “one of the most important” aspects of building a successful music brand, as they help differentiate artists and influence how they are seen by audiences (ibid.). Therefore, a consistent visual style within an EPK is important for presenting a clear and professional artist image. From analysing existing EPKs, I have found that the most effective examples are usually simple, easy to navigate and focused on key information. This allows industry professionals to access information quickly and efficiently. However, some EPKs can become overly complex or contain excessive information, reducing clarity and making them more difficult to engage with. As a result, I have chosen to structure my EPK in a more minimal and focused way, prioritising clarity and accessibility over the amount of content included. During group discussion sessions, feedback from others suggested that my EPK presented too many roles, particularly as a session player and a self-produced artist. They recommended that I focus more clearly on one primary identity to create a stronger artist image. This feedback helped me rethink my approach and present a more focused artistic direction. I also realised that I was unclear about my unique selling point as an artist. Feedback from others helped me figure out my strengths, including sound design and a strong foundation in musical structure, which helped me understand what differentiates me as an artist and how I can present this more clearly within my EPK.

In addition, I analysed the visual presentation of artists such as Laufey through both her Instagram and official website. Her visuals give a vintage aesthetic, which strengthens her artistic style and aligns closely with the tone of her music. Her official website also functions similarly to an EPK as it presents key information such as music, visuals, videos and social media in a clear and professional format. However, it does not fully replicate an EPK as elements such as an artist biography and contact information are not included. The layout prioritises visual and audio content over large amounts of text, making it easy to engage with. This has influenced my approach when creating my EPK, where I balanced written content with audio and video. Her images show a visual style I would aim to achieve when working with a photographer, especially in the banner images used on websites, focusing on creating a calm and dreamlike aesthetic that reflects the emotional and expressive qualities of soft pop music. Her images and videos of live performances with audiences provide a reference for the type of gallery and video content I would aim to include in my EPK in the future.

As stated earlier in the introduction, in addition to its role in presenting an artist to industry professionals, an EPK also plays an important role in securing opportunities such as live performances, collaborations, session work and potential record deals, while my EPK mainly focuses on record labels and collaboration opportunities (Kealey, 2024). These opportunities are often sources of income for artists, as they provide both financial return and career development (ibid.). However, there are financial costs involved in creating and maintaining a high-quality EPK. These include professional photography to ensure strong promotional images, graphic design for branding and layout, and website hosting and domain names if the EPK is presented online. For example, a domain name such as elyssamusic.co.uk would involve an annual cost, with providers such as GoDaddy offering domains at approximately £12.99 per year. Portrait photography, including professional headshots used in the EPKs, is usually at the lower end of the pricing scale within the photography industry (Bark, n.d). In the UK, portrait photography costs approximately £125 per hour, compared to higher-end categories such as fashion photography, which can reach around £300 per hour (ibid.). However, photoshoot for concerts can typically cost around £350-£700 (Buttrey, 2024). At a more professional level, publicity photo and video shoots can involve higher costs due to additional requirements such as styling, makeup, location hire and production teams (Macy et al., 2015). This shows that more stylistic or high-end promotional shoots require greater financial investment. In addition to financial considerations, legal aspects are also important to consider. All music, images and visual content must be either original or properly licensed to avoid copyright infringement. Other than the artist name and bio stated in the introduction, logo and domain name should also be consistent to show a clear identity.

In conclusion, developing an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is an important part of presenting an artist professionally to the music industry, as it allows information to be communicated clearly to industry professionals. It requires thinking about both creative and practical elements, including branding, visual identity and financial planning. The process of creating my EPK has helped me understand how artists are represented within the industry and how different media elements contribute to the overall impression. It has also helped me identify areas for improvement and given me a clearer idea of what I need to work towards, such as improving my images, music, and video content that represents my artistic identity. Overall, this research has given me a better understanding of the importance of consistency, clarity and conciseness in building an effective EPK, which I will continue to develop as I progress further as an artist.

Bibiliography

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