In this modern age, press kits don’t tend to include glossy 8X10 black and white photos as used to be the industry standard. However if you do want to include a photo it might make your package stand out more. Make sure that you have hi-res color JPEGs of yourself or the band that are a minimum of 300dpi. I don’t advise that the JPEGs you have on hand to send to media be larger than 2MB; somewhere in the 1MB range tends to work well. It is not recommended that you attach JPEGs to email unless you have been asked to send them but we’ll get deeper into this topic in weeks to come when we discuss how to approach the media.
Obviously you will include your CD or EP along with the bio and optional photo. The other integral part of your press kit for media will be what is known as the “pitch letter.” The pitch letter is typically a one page greeting to media people which gives a quick introduction as to what is included in the package you have sent. You can address it as Dear Good Media Person or any polite salutation of your liking. If you aren’t sending out tons of packages you can also directly address it to the person to whom you are sending the kit. Things to note in the letter include album release dates, any tour dates that are coming up in their area and one or two things of note from your bio such as a noted engineer or guest artists on the album.
If you are doing a mailing for a sizable number of tour dates you may wish to include a separate tour press release which will incorporate important elements from your bio in the first paragraph along with the tour dates. Visit this page on my website to see a sample of a bio and tour press release here: http://hellowendy.com/creedence-clearwater-revisited/.
If this is not your first time publicizing your music and you have a fair amount of positive press quotes from publications, you may wish to consider including a quote sheet with the mailing with a header saying something like What People Are Saying About X or Y Band along with the quotes and their source.
Music, bio, pitch letter and optional tour press release and/or quote sheet are what should be sent in your mailed packages. On your website you will want to have downloadable versions of JPEGs, album art, your bio and any press releases or quote sheets. Pitch letters would not belong on your website.
Next up we’ll start getting into the PR principles. Thanks for reading.
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