SUPPORTING COMMENTARY:
My Electronic Press Kit (EPK) was designed to be a portfolio of work for potential managers/booking agents to showcase my skills as vocalist, and aspirations going forward. After conducting extensive research of artists I enjoy within the indie/alternative pop genre, I created this PDF design. Nieve Ella, ELLUR, and FLETCHER are artists I have taken interest in when creating my EPK, as well as the band Mince, which I have used for formatting and visual purposes (see Appendix 1).
Appendix 1: Nieve Ella, ELLUR, FLETCHER and Mince website examples.
I have taken this form for my EPK rather than a website like the examples I have stated as it currently serves its purpose more appropriately. As an artist with no music out just yet, nor any merch or collaborations, I feel a more concise document with all my main achievements thus far is the most user-friendly option. As I progress in my career, this will be expanded, and I will explore other options for best marketing myself as an independent artist.
The intended audience of my EPK are alternative indie/folk listeners and artists, as well as music managers, events promoters and booking agents. Visually, the portfolio serves its main purpose of encapsulating my brand and aesthetic as an artist. The purple/blue colour scheme and reoccurring star feature is recognisable going forward from a marketing standpoint and is noticeably appealing when viewing the document. The reasoning behind these colours is for aesthetic purposes – my personal colour palette with clothing has always been darker colours; navy, burgundy, browns etc and having cherry red hair is something I want to maintain throughout this first chapter of my artistry.
Reflecting on the content used thus far, I am relatively satisfied with the images used as a starting point. The majority of these were taken from a photoshoot to be used for a single release, but I will be conducting other shoots with different props and themes prior to the release in October. I don’t have much experience in front of the camera, explaining the limited poses and variation of the images, but this is an active work in progress. Regarding the video content, this is not the standard I would like, but this is limited due to lack of experience playing live gigs, as well as sourcing a videographer for these gigs. I am trying to find the balance between playing live and gaining more experience, as well as hiring the right team to get the content needed to promote myself for further events. Most of the live content I have has been recorded by friends or audience members, so this is something I would like to invest in further down the line when playing more professional gigs. With more live experience comes more testimonials and further opportunities so my focus is actively work on writing new music to perform live and then collate all these documents for an improved portfolio.
After creating this EPK, I do understand the relevance of having an artistic portfolio to present myself, but I found that they are sparse to come by in the industry. The artists I researched into tend to use a website to store all their information, or social media such as Instagram to put everything in one place. It doesn’t seem to be industry standard nowadays to have an EPK, rather a Linktree tagged across social media profiles, or a website as mentioned previously. Personally, I would opt to using both a Linktree as well as advertising myself across social media. Instagram seems to be the most popular way of selling yourself as a musician, and the easiest platform to use in my opinion, but it’s also useful having a Linktree with gig tickets advertised, Spotify pre-save links and other assets together. Both Instagram and Linktree have functions to monitor interactions and give overview insights on what content is performing best with audience engagement, as seen in the images below, which is a useful tool when starting new projects and promotion (see Appendix 2). Prior to building my EPK in PDF format, I tried to build a website, but it was not user friendly, and didn’t provide these analytics in comparison to Instagram and Linktree. I am considering working on the skills of building a website soon, so I have options when it comes to promoting myself further. The cost of a domain name is between £12-£18 per year (IONOS, 2024) which is something I will need to consider if I want to go down this route.
Appendix 2: LinkTree and Instagram analytics from my business account.
As previously discussed, the intended audience for my EPK is predominantly young adult, indie/alt pop listeners. Typically, these are the people who enjoy the aesthetics of music and the elements surrounding it more than the actual music itself. This includes stylistic content, colour schemes, clothing and accessories. I feel I have really tailored this portfolio to these people, as it is very visually appealing, and you get a sense of self identity immediately. The logo especially is a key asset of this, designed by me and represents the brand identity. I have used my own handwriting accompanied with a star underneath the ‘A’ to use as a logo for my music. This will be seen on upcoming gig posters, single releases and so on. Soon, this may need to be registered for trademark to protect my brand from any copyright issues. To be protected for ten years it is £170, averaging at £17 per year, with varying costs based on how many aspects I require my brand protecting in (gov.uk, n.d.).
An example of an artist with a very strong aesthetic is Nieve Ella. She has a black and white theme across all her social media, with pinks, reds and blue accents. She has a distinct logo and brand design across her merchandise, further adding to this aesthetic (see Appendix 3). This is seen very clearly within her fanbase, namely when attending her performances as there is a sense of uniform and togetherness. They tend to wear bows, lots of jewellery, skirts over trousers or long white skirts etc (see Appendix 4). This is something I enjoy as a consumer of her music, as well as an inspiring artist and fan of her craft. Using repeated colours and motifs within my EPK, I feel as though I am developing a strong aesthetic for myself prior to releasing music, and this will be strengthened when I further establish my sound and persona.
Appendix 3: Nieve Ella use of branding and aesthetic.
Appendix 4: Fan video of outfits inspired by Nieve Ella’s aesthetic.
It is evident that EPKs do drive revenue, and I have seen this through initially using a Linktree to advertise my performances thus far. An example of this is my ticket sales for my support gig for ‘The Redroom’ at Hyde Park Book Club on April 27th. Through posting a link for tickets under my name, I gained a commission payment which was a percentage of the 16 tickets sold. If this was not easily accessible through my advertisement, I would not have received this extra payment. I also gained enough momentum to have photographers offer to take pictures for free, which is a rarity in the industry.
When developing my artist bio, this was workshopped in a group study seminar on January 27th, 2025. The initial ideas were generated through the process of rewriting an example artist bio and splitting it into short, medium and extended bios for different purposes. After this, we then had to write our own bios for their different purposes, one of which being for this EPK portfolio. It was useful working with other students for this project because it gave a better insight into what vocabulary was most suitable for different bios, especially within different genres. There must be a balance between writing in third person and keeping it interesting for the reader, as well as highlighting the standout points to showcase. Phrases such as ‘storyteller’ were changed with ‘documenting her existence through…’ which evoked a more emotional response to the bio. This was a lengthy process of perfecting the right piece for the brief, and a lot of research went into it through looking at Spotify pages for existing or graduate students from the Conservatoire, such as LOIS and Romy Taylor to identify what their bios look like to build my own (see Appendix 5). Overall, this was a valued experience that enabled me to enhance my preexisting bio. I enjoy participatory group work that can be applied to personal projects such as this one, as it helps me understand the process more if can work on other projects and then transfer that knowledge to my portfolio. Going forward, I will start to refine all my assets, namely all versions of my artist bio, press photos and videos for promotion, and compile all of this in one area for not only my accessibility, but also for future collaborators, audiences and managers. This will all be listed in a GoogleDrive link, and the highlights to be featured on my Linktree and across all social media for continuity. I believe I am headed in the right direction with the branding, as well as promotional content for future performances, so a goal of mine is to polish this to look more professional.
Appendix 5: Romy Taylor and LOIS artist bios on Spotify.
WC INCLUDING EPK : 1963
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ella, N. (2023). Nieve Ella – Home. [online] Nieve Ella. Available at: https://www.nieveella.com [Accessed 15 May 2025].
Ellur (2025). Ellur. [online] Ellur. Available at: https://ellur.biz [Accessed 15 May 2025].
FLETCHER (2024). FLETCHER | Official Site. [online] FLETCHER. Available at: https://www.findingfletcher.com [Accessed 15 May 2025].
HM Government (n.d.) Register a Trade Mark. https://www.gov.uk/how-to-register-a-trade-mark [Accessed 15 May 2025].
IONOS Digital Guide. (2022). How much does a domain name cost? Tips for planning your budget. [online] Available at: https://www.ionos.co.uk/digitalguide/domains/domain-tips/how-much-does-a-domain-cost/. [Accessed 15 May 2025].
LOIS (2025). Spotify. [online] Spotify.com. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qAYnkQmOOQCBPPmyd4lo1?si=sMPhTKPPQk-6vSxvc03Mew [Accessed 15 May 2025].
MINCE (2024). Mince EPK. [online] Adobe Express. Available at: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/IctDpaHd5klEs?fbclid=IwAR1qbd1NFx-1pbPAvx2Jo0cyaUtPbvurxPy5_eiHmrTaZsdZxmS7-l8RMkM_aem_ATh9kNsmR6Qs_-sZAKHOISTUYjdVv0FLxlOoDuO0Aflms3MnGO9UfgxY19HNo8MuPY7ps_stx97SGS4BYUHqPCEY [Accessed 15 May 2025].
Taylor, R. (2025). Spotify. [online] Spotify.com. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7hwxe1biG7DJxyco5ecLKT?si=gceet1hUSBapvZOwziasYA [Accessed 15 May 2025].
