Press Kits/Packs, good, bad and what to avoid

[aout6]

hey,
i've seen loads of press-kits from superstar dj's. i used to work as a designer in one booking/club agency. they are usually very simple and include:
- high quality photos
- short bio
- latest mixtape

sometimes they add previous press material. that's it!

tho in my presskit i include my own tracks.

Monika made a pretty good summary there. tho i have few points of my own
i would love to discuss
don't think that business cards would do you any good
video might be nice if you show some REAL skills that not everyone has. but if you just perform a quick megamix or smth as mentioned before i doubt it would get you proper gigs or amaze anyone. i would love to see the video someone mentioned before.
videos work better as a club promotion material (check club exit (Kaunas, LITHUANIA) videos in youtube. they're true quality!).
and i agree about the flyers. that's a bit childish.

EDIT: forgot to mention that in my opinion websites are not worth your time + money. they are too complicated, you have to read/check everything, as when you go to artists myspace you already know where to look for what (tracks, dates, contact, additional info...). even the biggest names in the scene you myspace as the main tool for reaching people. + it's 100% interactive, you can be 'friends' with an artist, write him a message and sometimes even get a reply. and it costs nothing.
proper website would cost you a loooooot.

[Bodega Brad]

I just got this email from Strictly Hits a day or two ago and thought I'd share:

Last week I mentioned a little about the importance of a "press kit", and i was very very surprised by number of emails i had asking about more info. What they are? What are they used for? How are they made? These were just a few of the questions. Here's the deal! What i'll be talking about is actually referred to in the industry as a EPK 'Electronic Press Kit' A press kit can be compared to a resume, but it's more dynamic with graphics and media included. Most times you will include Bio Information, Logo(s), Entertainment Skills, DJ Experience, Awards, Video Footage, and MP3 Demos. Before you begin to design or hire someone to work on your presskit you must first gather your information and assets that will be needed to complete the project. Assets would be considered your bio, Mp3Demo's, Videos, Picutres, any and all Awards or Press (these can be features/stroies in a local paper, online dj blog, or anything else where someone else wrote something about you or your DJ'ing), You should also start gathering Quotes from past & present clients. WHY DO YOU NEED THIS? To present your service in the best possible light. This is the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, so why would you want to put a club owner to sleep with a resume? You only have one chance to make a first impression, so make the most of it. If you have a little bit of graphic skill you can put together a pretty nice EPK using PowerPoint, but yes it will take time and a lot of work, or you can google EPK and see that you can get a profesional one done starting at $495.00. To solve this problem Strictly Hits has teamed up with a dope graphic designer who "gets what we do" He has agreed to do a 3 Page EPK for only $100.00. If you are interested in using this service just email info@stricltyhits.com and we'll get the ball rolling.

[Segfault]

EDIT: forgot to mention that in my opinion websites are not worth your time + money. they are too complicated, you have to read/check everything, as when you go to artists myspace you already know where to look for what (tracks, dates, contact, additional info...). even the biggest names in the scene you myspace as the main tool for reaching people. + it's 100% interactive, you can be 'friends' with an artist, write him a message and sometimes even get a reply. and it costs nothing.
proper website would cost you a loooooot.

The bit about websites being expensive is a lie, and you are a liar for saying such things.

I run my website (link at the bottom) out of my house for less than 20 dollars a year, not counting what I pay for regular internet services, and all that is is the price of a domain name.

Sure the website looks like crap, but I spent about 10 minutes making the silly thing. I'm planning on having a friend who's a visual arts major work with me on designing a new one (I know how to code, but I'm not terribly artistic).

[Lambox]

Sure the website looks like crap, but I spent about 10 minutes making the silly thing. I'm planning on having a friend who's a visual arts major work with me on designing a new one (I know how to code, but I'm not terribly artistic).

At the risk of sounding like a jackass, you should avoid putting phrases like "THESE ALL SUCK" over the work that you do. You don't want to scare your listener away or give them a negative impression before they listen to what you've done. Leave it up to them to decide if it sucks or not.

On the same token it goes without saying that what's in your presskits should be your best work, and only your best work. When you turn in school work you don't include everything you did throughout your educational career, do you? I'd imagine most promoters are more impressed with one solid mix/production rather than 500 works in progress.

Quality over quantity

[aout6]

The bit about websites being expensive is a lie, and you are a liar for saying such things.

I run my website (link at the bottom) out of my house for less than 20 dollars a year, not counting what I pay for regular internet services, and all that is is the price of a domain name.

Sure the website looks like crap, but I spent about 10 minutes making the silly thing. I'm planning on having a friend who's a visual arts major work with me on designing a new one (I know how to code, but I'm not terribly artistic).

quite a drastic statement about me being a liar, i must say
what i meant was that it's expensive to DESIGN/PROGRAM A WEBSITE. proper design and correct programming would cost you
starting from ±600-1000$. and im not speaking about web templates
with cheesy dj-spinning-vinyl images and stuff.

and you said it yourself, that your website looks bad. it's better to have no website than to have bad looking one. if you do it - do it good from the beginning.

and you don't have to have a website if you have a perfect myspace.
the best example would be JIM RIVERS myspace http://www.myspace.com/jimriversdj

think out of the box.

[Segfault]

@Lambox: Yeah, but i have the tendency to not take myself seriously. Perhaps to the point where its detrimental, but oh well. On the same note, though, these forums are the only real place I could call my website distributed. When I feel I'm good enough to start seriously looking for gigs, the site will look much better, and there will be a lot less links to old and crappy mixes on it. I agree with everything you said, but at the moment the site is just a "See if I can make it work right" project in regards to servers and such.

@aout: You're right, and having a professionally designed and coded website is expensive as hell, but hosting it is cheap and easy. I don't know about it being better to have no website than none at all, however. Actually, I take that back. I've seen some pretty garish sites that make mine look like the Cistine Chapel.

And as a counter: coding a 'perfect' myspace would be just as difficult as coding a 'perfect' website. If you know enough about CSS to achieve what Mr. Rivers' designer did, than you certainly know enough to build something similar from scratch.

EDIT:
And as a side note to defend my ego, I wrote and maintain my site in vi. Bahaha.

[Mylestec]

What I include in my presskits:
Onesheet:...........Whatever it is, you find your main thing and exploit the HELL out of it. but just don't forget about the music. ^_^

Chica.. Impressive post. Just wanted to say thanks for this information!

Cheers.

[Str8upDrew]

http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/03/2...he-working-dj/

and

http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/12/0...he-working-dj/