The purpose and reasoning for my EPK, is to be used as a contact point and promotional tool for my career in music. My EPK serves as an easy and convenient way of understanding who I am and what I am about in relation to the industry and music. This should support me by making it easy for other aritsts to reach out to me and collaborate, as well as any venues or promoters that need or want to contact me.  

I have structured my EPK as so to ensure it is easy and accessible. Keeping to around 500 words keeps my EPK concise ad effective as i get all the important information out coupled with insights into me as a performer and worker. Keeping the EPK short and punchy is important as when it comes to being looked over you need to grab attention straight away and then keep readers hooked. I also added contact information and social media so i am giving multiple points of contact for anyone who needs. I have included a link to a music video that i feature in and that i also played on as well as the sportify link to the track. This acts as an easy way to see my style of playing and my feel for the rock and funk style of music, which is part of my target audience.  

As a first year student I haven’t managed to gain too much live performance experience in Leeds yet. However, I do have previous experience playing locally back home which I added to my EPK. I intend to play more live gigs around Leeds next year and will add this to my EPK. I hope to get more professional photos and recordings of any live gigs i play to build up a gallery to add to my EPK, this is inspired by a similar thing done on Larnell Lewis’s EPK. I would also like to set up a business Instagram account and email to link on my EPK. This way i can stay organised if i receive any messages or emails about opportunities through my EPK. Another improvement i would add is more studio recordings to a professional standard. I have demos recorded however, i wanted to keep my EPK as professional and industry standard as possible so chose to leave these out. I would also like to add testimonials from producers i have worked with as well as any venues that I have and eventually will play in. This adds another opinion into my EPK that could be the final boost i need when in contention for being contacted about an opportunity.  

The aesthetic i have gone for is clean and professional. I want to be approachable to a wide range of employers, venues, producers and any other industry professionals so I did not want to appear too niche. I used Blue white, black and grey as my colour scheme as it is clean and works together well aesthetically. I also implemented images fo my performing in different scenarios show casing my versatility as a performer. This coupled with the audio and video recordings i also added keeps a consistent feel to my EPK and gives anyone looking at it a feel for who i am.  

 I will use my EPK as the first point of contact for industry professionals and i believe that it works in unison with Instagram and other social media platforms. The use of my EPK will be to capture the attention of promotors, producers, bands and other projects and then will lead them to my Instagram if they want to know more about me and are genuinely interested in offering me an opportunity. Then they will be able to get a more in depth view of my ability, style and character as well as an easy way of contacting me. This is essential when trying to be booked for gigs recrodings or any other project.  

My audience for my EPK is quite vast. It could be anyone from promoters looking for a musician or band, a producer looking for a drummer or a band looking for a session player. I have kept my audience and genre very open as I want to work in multiple fields and genres within the music industry. I believe this is important at the start of a music career as it is the best way to gain hands on experience before possibly narrowing my field of employment and specialising more in specific areas. I believe the way i have presented my EPK and show my ability to adapt to new situations makes me look employable and competent for a wide range of employment opportunities. 

Throughout my market research i looked at multiple drummers EPKs. Some drummers that i am inspired by and that i liked and others that I had not heard of. The likes of Larnell Lewis, Jeremy Williams and Simon Phillips kept their EPKs clean and concise and didn’t overload the reader with information. They all had links to social media and professional contact points, As well as photo galleries and a list of accolades. I tried to replicate this the best I could as I believe they are setting the bar for the industry standard on EPKs. I also looked at other lesser known session drummer’s EPKs to see where a valid starting point was. They all seemed to follow a similar pattern to the drummers mentioned previously so i believe I was on the right track in creating my EPK the way I have.  

An EPK is extremely important for up and coming musicians when trying to get noticed, therefore can be vital when brining in revenue as it acts as a self promotion device and can lead to employment opportunities in the music industry. I hope to catch the attention of any employers in the music industry whether it is a one off job or a form of long term employment. Currently i have zero costs when setting up my EPK. All the photos were taken through friends or family, and i have had no graphic work done either. I am credited on the music i have used in my EPK and it is an original composition so there will be no worry of legal action through the use of the music.  

Working in groups and reflecting on my EPK was helpful and allowed me to improve my work using feedback from peers. Showing each other our work and comparing gave the best results. This was i was able to see what other musicians in similar situations to me were doing, as well as see potential competitors EPKs. This was helpful as it acted as a form of market research as well, as i could understand the reasons behind certain features of others works as well as justify my own. Aesthetic was a large part of conversation, and the group sharing allowed me to understand the importance of the aesthetic I was trying to put across with my EPK. This helped me land on a colour scheme for my EPK as well as decide how i wanted to show myself as authentic as possible. Throughout the group sessions we also talked about the importance of an EPK when it comes to its commercial application. We researched into how EPKs can create opportunities for musicians when it came to employment and getting noticed. An EPK acts as an online first impression and is very important at progressing your career. 

Overall, I was impressed at how my EPK came out. It looked professional and i feel that i captured the aesthetic i was trying to put across. I was happy that in was able to link to music and music videos that i featured in and feel this can give me an edge against other young musicians’ EPKs. However, I would like to extend my photo gallery and show me playing in more varied venues to prove my versatilitiy not just when it comes to playing the drums but performing in live spaces too. I would also like to eventually have more links to recorded music that i have played on whether as a session musician or from my own band.