5 Steps to Create the Perfect EPK for Musicians

An electronic press kit, or EPK, is a means of showing off your work to promoters. Think of it as an audiovisual resumé that markets you to your target audience. Whether you want to get your music on a streaming platform or score a spot on the bill at a music festival, an EPK can help you reach your goals as a musician.

EPK VS. ARTIST WEBSITE

Not to be confused with a website, which is geared toward fans who recreationally enjoy your work, an EPK is a straight-to-the-point method of letting industry connections get to know you from a business perspective.

Interested in learning how to make or improve your EPK? Below are five tips to help you:

1) COVER THE BASICS

One of the primary purposes of an EPK is to help your target audience reach you. Make sure you simplify the process by making your email, phone number, social media, website, and other relevant contact information easily accessible. Also, ensure to include a bio that gives insight into what you’re all about while also taking the opportunity to pitch your uniqueness to your audience. Many artists include two biographies in their EPKs: one short and one long. Quick facts that the press can use should be included in the short bio, while the long bio can go deeper into your story as an artist, which also can be used as promotional material.

2) SHOW YOUR WORK

It’s time to show off what you’ve got. Displaying tracks, album art, and music videos is key for your EPK, so make sure they take centre stage. It is important to stand out so make sure your tracks are professionally mixed & mastered, this can make your track stand out among the rest. List your most popular releases first, as music promoters likely won’t have the time to stream your entire discography when deciding whether they want to take you on or not.

Don’t forget to include projects featuring your music as well. This way, you can give promoters a sense of how your songs have been used in the past and how they can display them in the future.

3) INCLUDE REVIEWS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

While your work should speak for itself, featuring external opinions makes it so it’s not just your word convincing promoters you’re worth their time – other people agree. Professional endorsements hold immense value when marketing your work in an EPK, especially if they’re well-known names giving their input.

4) SELECT HIGH-QUALITY VISUALS

Just because an EPK is an industry document doesn’t mean you’re limited to a text-laden PDF document, rather the opposite. Use images and videos to capture your audience’s attention and give a better idea of your artistic aesthetic. Including a video introduction, pictures of your stage setup or tech rider, promotional shoots, or even performance clips can help promoters get a sense of how to portray you in the media. Pro tip: ensure promotors can download the images from your EPK so they can use them.

5) HIGHLIGHT IMPORTANT DATES

Including a calendar or list of important upcoming dates lets promotors know when they can contact you for an interview or book you in for gigs in the future. Showing your performance calendar gives the reader a sense of your demand as an artist. You can also include release dates, interview appearances, and meet-and-greets, among other future resumé events.

CONCLUSION

An EPK can help you immensely as an artist when building connections in the music industry. From helping you get your band on a ticket when starting to helping you reach out to more prominent names to get featured in the press, an EPK is essential for public relations and marketing. Hopefully, these five tips will help you in crafting the best EPK you can

Written by Midhat Mujaddid

Do you have an EPK? Will you be adding any elements to yours? Let us know in the comments!

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5 Best Alternatives to Audible

Audiobooks are not a thing of the past. Instead, they are becoming increasingly mainstream, enabling users to find a comfortable ground to listen to books on the go. When it comes to audiobooks, Audible is a platform that has created a name for itself. It's accessible, extremely diverse, and hosts a plethora of novels and books that aren’t mainstream.

However, Audible isn’t a free service. So if you are considering shifting from a paid service to a free or more affordable one, some alternatives are worth the time.

This guide will review some of the best alternatives to Audible that we think are worth considering.

What are the Best Alternatives to Audible?

When looking at alternatives for Audible, we wanted to explore affordable (and free) options. But, we also wanted to curate a list that introduces promising audiobook platforms that offer access to various novels, short stories, and books.

Following are our top 5 picks:

1. Audiobooks.com

When looking for the best alternative to Audible, nothing beats Audiobooks.com. This is a subscription service hosting 350,000+ novels, titles, and books. Besides the extensive library, the accessibility and UI of this platform deserve special mention.

If you are on edge about using it, Audible has a generous free trial where you can download and listen to 3 audiobooks. The unique trait of this platform stems from its Audiobook club. Users can choose from the 8 clubs and avail of 30 days of unlimited listening.

The categories of audiobooks on the platform are quite promising too. If needed, you can also sign up for their 30-day free trial. The 3 free audiobooks can be selected from the Premium and VIP sections of the available titles.

Once the free trial is over, users must pay a recurring fee of $14.95 per month. However, it is a fairly good price, given the diversity of books available.

2. Chirp

Want to save up to 95% on your favorite audiobooks? If yes, Chirp is the platform you need to look into. With Chirp, users can avail of limited-time deals on some popular audiobooks without paying a hefty price.

Unlike Audible, where you have to pay a monthly fee to avail of the audiobooks, Chirp is perfect for the occasional audiobook listener. You can buy individual audiobooks at discounted prices and make the most of the purchase.

The platform also hosts new discounted deals daily to bring you various choices. In case you don’t like any of their audiobook or their quality, Chirp has a money-back guarantee you can look into.

Users also won’t have to get into waitlists. All you need is to find the audiobook you wish to buy, get it for a reduced price, and enjoy your day listening to it.

3. Libro.fm

It's not every day that you come across an audiobook platform that supports your local bookstore. With Libro.fm, you get to make that happen. Every purchase or membership gives back to the local bookstore, keeping them in business.

Libro’s primary objective is to take away from corporations' huge profits and share them equally with the local bookstores to keep their business afloat. Therefore, it is a social purpose corporation and a more ethical choice than Audible.

You will find a lot of exclusive perks and features with Libro. They have a sense of community on the platform where you can share your excitement and passion for books with others. There are bookseller-curated playlists on the platform as well.

The app version of Libro is available on both iOS and Android and for free. So you need an active membership to the platform, and you can get started with the audiobooks.

4. Libby

An app-based audiobook platform, Libby is developed by Overdrive and allows you to borrow audiobooks using your library card. The best part about Libby is that it's 100% free. You don’t have to pay a dime to download the audiobooks from your local libraries. The only thing you need is a library card.

The app hosts a variety of audiobooks, including the NY Times bestsellers and the classic novels we have read growing up. In addition, you can browse through the different categories of novels and magazines and listen to them on the go.

Also, the app is available on iOS and Android devices, so compatibility won’t be an issue. However, there are certain limitations regarding the availability, so that’s a downside. Also, if the novel you are trying to download is already borrowed, you might have to wait a bit.

Not just for smartphones, Libby is accessible on PCs, too, if that’s something that catches your attention.

5. Scribd

Scribd is another versatile platform that hosts audiobooks, e-books, and much more. Similar to Audible, even Scribd is a subscription-based platform. You pay a monthly recurring fee and get to enjoy unlimited audiobooks.

The platform is highly popular and caters to millions of users. The library is quite organized yet diverse at the same time. However, the best part about subscribing to Scribd is their affordable subscription fee of $9.99 per month.

Although they offer unlimited access to audiobooks, e-books, etc., some titles come with exclusive restrictions. What makes Scribd different from its competitors is the difference in formats. Not just audiobooks, you also have print, which is a bonus.

The users can start with a free account with a 30-day free trial. Once that’s over, you need to upgrade to their premium version to access the library of e-books and audiobooks.

Which is the Best?

Audible is no doubt one of the best audiobook platforms on the internet. It's popular, diverse, and has an affordable subscription too. However, these are some of our top picks if you want to branch out. A studio is an excellent place to set up your audiobook and listen to them online. All of these alternatives are diverse and unique in their way. Some of these alternatives also give back to the local bookstores, libraries, and the communities attached to them, which is always a positive and not something you’d get with Audible. 

Author Bio: Hi, my name is James Mann from Becomesingers.com, I’m a vocal coach. And I have been involved in singing all my life in performing on stage, joining live bands, as a backup singer for other studio singers and teaching others on how to improve their singing skills and voice based on their vocal circumstances.

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If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer remote audiobook production and editing services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Listen to some of our audiobook samples here to get started.

10 Step Video Checklist for Content Creators

Introduction

Ever had a thought that you could be a vlogger? Don’t say no because I know we have all had that thought at some point. Deep down I think that we all aspire to be content creators and showcase all the great and amazing moments of our lives! What if I told you that it’s not that hard as long as you follow these 10 simple steps for content creators!

1) Do Your Research

Get a good understanding of what your target audience is! Let’s say you’re a content creator that makes videos about skincare products and routines. You might already have followers that care about skincare, but it’s great to figure out what else they care about. Don’t assume that you know exactly what your audience wants to see and definitely don’t be afraid to ask them what they want! Having trouble figuring out what kind of content creator you want to be? Don’t stress, there are so many ever changing industries that can fit your interests! All you need to do is find one thing that you are passionate about and BOOM that’s your niche. Change in any industry happens fast, and ongoing education is important. That means not only do you have to create content that people love, you also have to read others’ content. The best content creators are curious and look for topics their target audience likely cares about. Learn from others and keep improving!

2) Prepare Some Notes

Make sure to plan ahead and prepare a couple notes in advance! Recording yourself can sometimes feel awkward or uncomfortable and screw ups are inevitable. Try to make your recording time more efficient by keeping a couple notes on the side so you know exactly what you’re going to be talking about in the video. Helpful tips when note taking is keeping things short and to the point! You don’t want to be reading through an entire paragraph of words when trying to look at the camera and record a video. Make sure to have them taped up somewhere close to your camera so you won’t be looking down at your notes while recording.

3) Find Your Voice

This ties in nicely with doing your research and what makes researching so important! You don’t want to be like every other Youtuber, blogger, content creator etc., you want to be unique and stand out! Don’t hesitate to let your personality come through and just overall be you! People will want to watch your content if you are as genuine as possible.

4) Set Everything Up

This is from checking your gear to setting up your camera to doing a test run. Checking your filming gear is vital to the set-up process especially in order to make sure you have everything you need to start filming – microphones, camera, batteries, spare memory cards, etc. This will also give you a chance to check out the lighting, audio, and fix any flaws that need fixing. You get the picture – this step is all about getting set up so that you won’t run into issues while filming.

5) Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice truly makes perfect. If you think that your favorite content creator did all their content in one take, sorry to break it to you but there were probably hours and hours of work that went into creating that perfect shot. But at the end of the day, it’s totally worth it. Don’t over exhaust yourself, but make sure to rehearse a couple times before hitting that record button.

6) Keep Track of KPIs

A key performance indicator (aka KPI) is a technical phrase that’s basically a metric that you choose to measure how well your content is doing. Your KPIs could be based around an increase in followers or subscribers, number of likes or shares, amount of organic traffic, etc. KPIs are helpful for setting goals and measuring how well you’re doing at reaching those goals.

7) Stay relevant

Creating great content that really resonates with your target audience requires you to know what's going on in your industry. The best content creators stay on top of industry trends. Every. Single. Day. And it’s not enough just to browse — you need to devour content relevant to you and your target audience. Set up Google alerts for digital media to stay on top of niche trends. Network with industry leaders on social media. Read relevant trade publications. Do it all!

8) NetworK every chance you get

Successful content creators know their success is due not only to their passion, but also to those who taught them, inspired them, and pushed them to think in different ways. Get in the habit of networking by seizing the countless opportunities you have to do it. They aren't called social networks for nothing! Spend some time on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to check out who the thought leaders are in your industry and follow them!

9) Stay busy

As your own boss, you can’t wait for work to come to you, you need to go to it. If you’re serious about becoming a good content creator, you must create daily. Pick the time of day that works best for you. Shut down distractions. Start small. Doing even a couple tasks a day to create content adds up fast. Make sure to think from different perspectives, then crystallize your thoughts. Getting content ideas becomes easier. In turn, you build an audience that’s interested in what you have to say.

10) Above all, don’t give up!

When you feel like giving up, think about why you started in the first place — a chance to use your creativity to make a great living. And you don’t need to try to become a content creator on your own. Get to know great content creators and learn from their mistakes. Local and online groups are both excellent options. Celebrate all the smallest victories and stay motivated!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, becoming a top-notch content creator isn’t easy, but the process is extremely rewarding and enjoyable for anyone who is passionate! As a content creator, you’ll get to do something you enjoy while helping others improve their lives. Comment below a topic that you would make your content about. What are you waiting for? Start creating!

Your fans are waiting for you!

Written by: Rena Wu

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