The Importance of a Professionally Written
Press Kit

For independent bands and musicians, money is tight. Expenses add up faster than you can say, "I need a new day job." So who's got the dough to hire a professional writer for a press kit? "Not me," you’re probably thinking.

That's an understandable response. Hey, as a small businessperson, I'm in the same boat, and I've spent a lot of time working with musicians. I know that you have to think about every dollar you spend when you're trying to make it on your own. But if you stop to think about where you're trying to go with your music and what kind of "ammunition" you need to get there, you might want to reconsider your position about professional writing. Here are some reasons why.

To be taken seriously as a musician and an artist, especially by the media, you (or your band) need to convey the message that you take yourself seriously. That includes how you conduct your business, and promoting yourself is definitely part of your business. If you are a professional musician, everything you do should be of professional quality. Hiring a writer to put together a well-crafted press kit is a move that can go a long way toward helping you get written about, get hired, and perhaps even get signed. It's an expense—and for the most part a one-time expense—that you may recoup directly or indirectly many times over.

What's the big deal about a well written press kit?

You want press coverage: articles, interviews, CD reviews, national and local, in print or online. So you send your CD around—ten cuts of harmonic thunder and lightning. Now imagine a reviewer with your CD on his or her "unsolicited" pile. How does this busy person know you're so amazing? Most reviewers don’t have the time or inclination to listen to every demo they receive.

Most likely he or she will take a quick look at your press kit to see who you are. If it's a shoddily produced effort—a poorly written band bio, full of cliches, grammatical errors, or hard to understand descriptions of style, accompanied by a shabbily photo-copied two-year-old club date review—the reviewer may jump to the conclusion that the production, writing and performances on your CD are equally lackluster. "Thanks, but no thanks," is a likely reaction. "Come back when you know what you're doing."

Is it fair for a reviewer to equate the quality of your writing or even of your copy machine with the quality of your music? Maybe not, but unfortunately, that's human nature. And because reviewers are writers by trade, bad or even indifferent writing is going to jump out at them. But on the other hand, if a journalist sees something sharply written, with copy announcing that here is a band with compelling ideas and an interesting story, then, OK, now you're making contact. The reviewer makes a note to listen to your CD, and then gets blown away. Four stars! Pick of the week!

And here's one more point to think about. It's not necessarily enough for reviewers to like your music. They have to want to write about you, which means they have to find you interesting. Maybe your music alone is enough to compel a reviewer to spend column space on you, but professional, engaging press material can tip the scale. It's not that a writer will simply reproduce what you've sent, it's that your releases and bio may prove fertile ground, helping the reviewer to come up with interesting story angles for his readers. Now you're making the writer look good, which in the end benefits you.

Other than writers, who sees your press kit?

Some very important people, like club owners, promoters, radio programmers, record label reps, managers, producers, distributors and your fans. Obviously, you can also post your bios and press releases on your web site, either wholly or in excerpts, for the world to see.

Your press kit should include bio information, a photo, any reviews or articles written about you (carefully reproduced), and press releases describing your recent or upcoming activities, including noteworthy performances, CD releases, signings, tours and anything else that shows you're a performer or a band to be reckoned with. It doesn't have to be slick or expensively produced, as long as it's put together with care and shows that you're paying attention to how you present yourself to the world.

And speaking of press releases, write one to cover each achievement or milestone, even if you're not at the point where you're doing full-on press mailings. They can be as short as three or four paragraphs. Include these releases in your press kit and post them on your web site. Professionally produced and formatted press releases lend credibility to your kit and to your site. And while you're at it, maybe there are three or four key journalists or editors and a club owner or two who could stand to receive your releases via email or snail mail.

Put your press kit online

Having all this information online is important. If a journalist hears about you by word of mouth, sees you perform, or catches your CD someplace and decides to write about you, he or she can get information about you right away, by running a web search of your name, finding your site, and checking out your band history.

By putting your press materials on your web site, you're making it easy for anyone interested in your band to find all the information you want them to have, all in one place. Take my word for it—there's little that's more irritating for a writer than to find a band's web site, only to discover that it's out of date or otherwise devoid of useful source material. That writer may just move on to write about another group, instead.

I’m not saying you need tons of text on your web site. The main pages of your site may not have much writing at all. What you want is a "Press" page, with individual links to each recent press release. Your "Bio" page can have just a short paragraph about each band member—good enough for a more casual audience—but think about including a "More Information" link for the writer or fan looking to go deeper into who you are, where you've been, and what you're about as an artist. Once you've got the material written, it doesn't take very long to add it to your site, and it doesn't cost much, either.

We're talking about how effectively you describe your music, your art, and your passion. A carefully crafted press kit is a critical tool. It can play a major role in increasing your exposure and helping you get the attention you want. Quality is important. Whether or not you decide to pay a professional to help with your press material and your web content, make sure you don't treat this part of your arsenal as an afterthought.

Jerry Karp is a freelance writer whose articles have recently appeared in Jazz Steps, San Francisco Reader, Auditoria, and WetFeet.com. Through his business, Rocket Words (www.rocketwords.com), Jerry helps musicians, artists and arts-related businesses attract new audiences with high-quality web content, press kits and marketing materials of all kinds.

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