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How to Make Good Electronic Music Press Kits

A music press kit acts as your band's business card. It provides a brief encapsulation of your sound and description of your influences and experience, and typically contains a cover letter, a band biography, a photograph and a demo song or two. Distributing a press kit electronically provides a low-cost way to reach a great number of record labels and concert promoters. To ensure that your press kit stands out, give each of its elements a high-quality, professional appearance.

Instructions

    • 1

      Convert your demo recording to a high-quality MP3, using an encoding program such as dBpoweramp, MediaCoder or Exact Audio Copy. Set the encoding bit rate to a 320 kbps constant bit rate. This setting provides high-quality audio, and is the most compatible with MP3 and MP3-CD players. Add ID3 tags to the MP3. If the listener transfers the MP3 to a portable media device, embedding ID3 tags ensures that she'll be able to locate your track on the player.

    • 2

      Prepare PDF versions of the textual elements of your music press kit. Using PDFs gives your press kit a professional look, and the format can be opened on any operating system. Create your PDF using a program such as PDFCreator or CutePDF; if you've written your cover letter and bio in Microsoft Word, export the documents directly to PDF. Keep both the bio and cover letter short; neither should be more than a page. If your recordings or concerts have received favorable reviews in the press, combine these review clippings into a PDF and include it in your press kit.

    • 3

      Take a black-and-white band photo using a high-quality digital camera. If you already have an analog band photo, scan it using a high-quality scanner. Resize the photo to 8 inches by 10 inches, which is the industry-standard size for promotional photos. Save your band photo as a JPEG file, and attach it to your electronic music press kit.

Digital Music

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