What makes a great EPK?

There’s so much noise on Youtube these days that you only get a short time to deliver an interesting and insightful video. An EPK is the audio video equivalent of an ‘About Me’ web page.

How long should the EPK be?
Time is short – how much of your life would you commit to finding out about a new artist? Do you glaze over when the Youtube video is buffering and says it lasts 9 minutes? Metrics often show new viewers clicking out of most videos within 20 seconds. So the keep ‘em grabbed time is short – we are so pressed for time these days its down to minutes, or even seconds.
The EPK is a musical elevator pitch – you’ve got less than a minute to get your point across if you happen to meet the boss man in the lift before he steps out. The same is true of an EPK. Open with music and striking visuals, and then cut up several key songs with some short pithy interview. Ideally it should be shorter than a song. Two minutes 30 maybe. Four minutes and you are totally done!

What should be in a video EPK?
Its a greatest hits compilation for the artist, to make a statement in a short space of time. 3 or 4 key songs, and stick to the choruses only. Of course we want to hear from the artist, so an interview is needed. Try and film the interview as a head and shoulder piece to camera, like a proper TV interview. And if the location is different to the music content all the better.

Here’s an EPK we made for an artist we manage, Sam Beeton. A bit too long though – we had so much good content!