Supporting Commentary:

Artistic Decisions

When designing my EPK, my first thoughts were what the colour scheme would be and how it may appeal to my target audience. I knew I wanted it to be bright and eye catching to help grab attention from first viewing it. My target audience, being quite like myself, fans of indie/alternative music, so I looked to some of my influences and artists who I admire. I found Fontaines D.C have a real bright and quite extreme aesthetic at the moment, so I took a little from their colour palette, being almost neon, green, pink and blue. I felt this choice may help me sit easily within the genre, and therefore, easily appeal to the taste of the fans of said genre.

This first decision then informed my choices of promotional imagery, as I worked with a photographer to bring these sorts of colours out of the photos from a recent gig.

I decided to include my logo on the first page of my EPK, to try and establish my brand, in the hope of making my name as memorable as possible, especially with it not being the most common name. Including this helped me decide on a font, as I wanted it to be relatively consistent with my logo to retain the aesthetic. As a result, I used a simple arial font, being simple and bold, like my logo.

Commercial Decisions

When writing my bio, I wanted to sell myself to my audience, to grow my brand and make it clear what I offer as an artist through being clear and concise. It begins with a short statement, regarding my general background and where I lie within the music scene. Although, I do not want to pigeonhole myself as an artist, labels do help getting an idea across to an audience, so I made it clear what genre my music is. In the same vein I introduced my main influences to again give people an idea of bands or artists I may be similar to, and maybe if you are a fan of them, maybe you could be a fan of mine. When writing my bio, I wanted to try and put myself into someone else’s shoes, to be more objective about myself as an artist. This was particularly challenging, as selling myself as a brand rather than as just a performer, is something I am not so used to, but obviously important in trying to hold a space within the music industry.

I went on to mention my achievements, particularly in live music where a large amount of my experience lies. Successful gigs, show that I can hold an audience, which may be useful if a promoter or anyone involved in putting on gigs, sees my press kit. Moreover, demonstrating how long I have been performing, may help give the audience or someone in the industry a greater trust that I can put on a show.

I felt it was important to include where I am currently as an artist and what I am working towards as this will help show that I’m going to continue to grow, and that my musical journey itself could be something to be a part of.

Research and how it impacted my approach

When finding examples of press kits, I looked to artists doing well in the same sort of scene as me. Keyside are an emerging indie band, and they happen to have a strong artist website/press kit. It has a consistent aesthetic throughout, using the same colours. Although, mine ended up more extravagant, I designed my EPK ensuring the artistic themes were consistent and maintained a look. They use quite a short, snappy bio; however, I feel that is more appropriate for them as they have more notoriety in the music scene, and further in their journey as a band, being able to let the music speak for itself to a certain extent. As a result, I felt I needed to include more in my bio, as there is less of a gateway into my music, with nothing released yet. They mention being from Liverpool and the Merseyside label they are signed to. I think this again, adds to their image and brand, so I wanted to include this in mine, hoping to attract music fans from my area, similarly to how Keyside a loyal following in their home city of Liverpool.

Group Tutorials

Tutorial 1:

At the point of the first group tutorial, I had made a start on my artist bio but had not yet started designing my EPK. Hearing other people’s ideas and plans for their, assignment was insightful and gave me a different perspective on approaching an EPK or business proposal. Speaking to peers, who are selling themselves as musicians as opposed to being an artist, highlighted to me the importance of the content as contrary to just creating a vibe or aesthetic. Demonstrating experience would be essential in seeking further opportunities, whether it’s a booking agent, or an artist looking for session players, as this shows what you have been capable of doing up to this point. Someone in the group, brought up the idea of a target audience, and working out exactly what that audience would be. This alerted me to the fact that I was not really sure either and, in our group, realised, the audience would not only be consumers or fans but also people working in the music industry. So, a press kit should help introduce yourself to fans by showing a level of personality, giving them something more than just the music to invest in. I thought this would be especially important in my case, being at such an early stage in my career. Whilst doing this, it would be important to retain some professionalism and formality, to show potential promoters or booking agents that you are serious about your work and are committed to your art.

Tutorial 2:

In the second group tutorial at this stage, I had written a full draft of my artist bio to bring to the tutorial for some potential peer feedback. The overall content of it was the same as the one in my final EPK, however I believe it was drastically improved as a result of this session. I found that my draft was too vague in its information, rather than being detailed and concise, for example, not mentioning the name of festivals and when I played them. This may not seem important, but that helps build a picture, especially if the person reading has heard of the festival, then they would get an exact idea of the level I may be at as a performer at this point. A peer in my group also mentioned that maybe, it could be more catered towards fans of my genre and that maybe it was a little generic. The benefit of this would be that you are more likely to please or attract a group of fans, even if it is a smaller demographic, by giving them something familiar or within their taste. At this early stage in my career, trying to appeal to the masses, might not be the way to go. Instead try and create a tighter, loyal fan base, which would then show my music is connecting with people.

Areas For Development

Overall, I think I have produced a simple and effective EPK, that gives the audience a good picture of a what I am about as an artist and a performer, whilst providing an aesthetic that can help establish a brand as an artist. However, more content such as videos of live performance and links to recorded music, would help sell me as an artist, giving the audience an easy gateway into my music. Once I have released music, as well as linking to it, I could then add in analytics of how they have performed, this would demonstrate my music connecting with people. Videos of live performance would particularly improve my press kit, as performing makes up a large amount of my experience as an artist up to this point, making it a big selling point.

I think on reflection, my artist bio could have been a little more concise, I do not think there is so much wrong with the content of it, but it could be further refined to make it a more pleasurable read, and therefore, the audience being more likely to read it. Finding a stronger unique selling point in the future and trying to home in on this in my bio could give it a stronger focus and help me stand alone from others in my genre.