THE MEDIA KIT
A necessary tool for promotion is putting together a simple media kit. If you’re organised, it will be an effective way of getting your message to the right people. So what should be in your ‘media kit’? Here’s a list of the basic ingredients for a successful ‘media kit’ mix.
The Bio
A bio is a short biography of your act. It needs to contain the basic history and information about your act — eg who is in the band, where are they from, what kind of music do they play and what are they all about. The Photos
It’s important to have professional quality photos of your act. Try and make your photos interesting but not so interesting people have no idea what they are looking at. Always supply the photos in the correct size and format for the appropriate media. If you supply a correctly sized quality photo to street press they will more than likely use it – they are always looking for good new images. However, if you supply a bad quality image in the wrong format it will make its way to the trash either literally or electronically. So do the research – pick up the phone or write an email and find out the correct requirements. Professional photographs can be expensive if you are starting out. There are a couple of ways to save some money and still have professional quality photos. You can approach a friend or fan who are budding photographers and see if they are interested in helping you out by taking photos of you – in return you can offer them free promotion and of course, credits wherever the photos appear. It may even be worth putting up a notice at a local college or TAFE that holds photography courses – you could find someone looking for a new project. The Music
If your tour is in support of a single or album release include a promotional copy of the relevant media release. Make sure the media release immediately tells the story or they won’t know what they have received and will more than likely file in the trash. The Media Release
The media release should be a brief information sheet (no more than one page) that explains simply and interestingly who you are, why you are, where you are, what you are and when you are. Include any good quotes if you have any! Don’t overcrowd your media release with irrelevant information just to fill space. Make sure you have included the all the correct contact details. Check your release a few times for errors - there is nothing worse than finding you’ve sent out the wrong details. Checklist
¨ Who are you? (include a photo so people can identify with you)
¨ What are you doing?
¨ Where are you doing it?
¨ When are you doing it?
¨ Why are you doing it? The EPK
The Electronic Press Kit or EPK is a new way to package your entire media kit in one hit. The EPK can come as a DVD or a cheaper alternative is the online EPK. If you have a DVD EPK make sure you still include a media release as many people still won’t look at the whole thing and will want to know what its about first. The DVD format will most likely include a video bio, music clips, live footage, music and any other little extras you want to include. The electronic EPK can take the form of an email with links to the relevant information or you can use one of the professional websites set up specifically for the purpose. Online EPK specialists www.sonicbids.com can help you out for a small fee – there are special deals with sonicbids for members of different organisations (such as AIR, MMF and APRA) so make sure you check out the relevant websites to see if there is a current deal available to you. This option gives you a professional looking EPK that you can very simply direct people to. Make sure if you are using this option that the people you are contacting are okay with receiving information in this format. Further Information Association of Independent Record Labels
http://www.air.org.au Music Managers Forum
http://www.immf.net/au Sonicbids
http://www.sonicbids.com | 
