Your band's EPK: what to include in 2026

A planner opens your email on her phone between two site visits. She has 90 seconds to decide whether to shortlist you, and whether she can forward something to the couple without embarrassment. Your EPK either makes that possible or it does not; a 40 MB PDF with a 600-word bio does not.

An EPK, electronic press kit, was once a folder of press releases. In 2026 it is a booking tool: the smallest set of materials that lets a stranger say yes.

Two formats, one content

Keep the same content in two shapes:

1. A web page at your own domain, yourband.com/epk or /booking, unlisted if you prefer. Links to video, downloadable photos, a repertoire list, the rider. This is what you send.
2. A one-page PDF under 5 MB for agencies that file things, with the same headline items and links back to the page. Update it twice a year.

Never send raw attachments larger than a few megabytes; they bounce, they are ignored, and they go stale the day you change a line-up.

The nine elements, in order of importance

1. Video (the decision maker)

One live video of 2–3 minutes with real audio from a real gig, showing the band and the crowd. Then two or three clips of 30–60 seconds for different moods: a first-dance ballad, a floor-filler, the ceremony trio. Hosted on a video platform, embedded on the page, with the strongest 20 seconds at the start. How to shoot it on a phone without it looking like a phone is in live video that books gigs.

2. Photos

Three to five images, downloadable at full resolution:

• One landscape shot of the full band on stage with a crowd
• One portrait or square shot for social and directory thumbnails
• One clean promotional shot with the current line-up
• Optionally a ceremony or acoustic configuration if you sell one

Name the files yourband-live-landscape.jpg, not IMG_4471.jpg. Directories and planners will use them as they are. See band photos that sell.

3. A bio in three lengths

• One line (15–20 words): "A seven-piece soul and pop band from Lyon, playing weddings and corporate events across France since 2017."
• Short (60–80 words): what you play, for whom, how many musicians, notable gigs or numbers ("over 300 weddings"), what makes you different in plain terms.
• Long (150–200 words): for programmes and press. Nobody will read it before booking.

Write in the third person, avoid "unique" and "unforgettable", and include the facts a planner will be asked: line-up size, configurations, languages you sing in.

4. Repertoire

Not the full 200-song list on the page; a curated sample of 40–60 songs grouped by era or mood, plus a link to the full list. Planners check whether you cover the couple's decade and whether you play the three songs every wedding asks for. A configuration line helps: "Full band 7 pieces; party band 5 pieces; acoustic trio for ceremony and drinks."

5. Sample set structure

A short table of what an evening looks like: ceremony 30 min, drinks set 60 min background, dinner playlist, two party sets of 60 min, DJ service between and after. This answers "how does it work?" before the call.

6. Reviews

Five to eight short quotes with a first name, the event type and the month, plus a link to the full reviews on whichever platform you use. Recent beats glowing: a review from last month says more than a rave from 2019. How to collect them every time is in getting reviews and testimonials.

7. Tech rider and stage plot

A link to a one-page PDF. Planners and venues need it; couples do not. Include the "we bring our own sound for up to X guests" line, because it removes a question.

8. Price hints

Whether to show prices is the eternal argument. A "from" price filters out enquiries that were never going to book and saves everyone a week: "Evening packages from 2,400 EUR; full-day weddings from 3,600 EUR; travel and sound included within 60 km." Agencies may ask you to remove prices from the version they forward; keep a priceless variant for them.

9. Contact and logistics

Name, phone, email, response time promise ("we reply within one working day"), base city, travel radius, availability link if you have one, social handles. A booking form is fine as long as an email address is also visible.

What to leave out

• The band's history in paragraphs. Nobody books a story.
• Photos older than the current line-up.
• Audio-only tracks as the main item. Live video with real audio is the only medium that answers "are they good on the night?"
• Every logo of every venue you have played. Three recognisable names in the bio are enough.
• Anything that needs a download to be seen.

Keeping it current

An EPK dates in a season. Put a 30-minute review in the calendar in January and July:

• Replace the oldest video clip with the best from the last six months.
• Add three new reviews, drop the oldest.
• Check the line-up in the photos and the bio.
• Check the "from" prices against what you actually quoted last season; see gig fee benchmarks.
• Test every link on a phone.

Do this today

• Write the one-line and short bios; the long one can wait.
• Pick your best existing video and your three best photos, rename the files and put them on one page.
• Export the repertoire list and cut it to a 50-song sample.
• Add the rider link, five reviews and the contact block, and send the page to a planner you trust for a 90-second verdict.

Where expert.band helps

The repertoire and sample setlists in your EPK come straight out of expert.band: the repertoire exports as a plain list for agencies, and any setlist prints as a clean PDF that doubles as a "sample evening" for the page. When the enquiry comes in, the quote goes out as a client link in the client's language rather than another attachment.