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FAQ

Topics:
1. What is an EPK (Electronic Press Kit)?
2. What is important in the flow of information?
3. How to do interviews via email?
4. What does the promotional flyer (Reader) contain?
5. What is an Radio ID Jingle?
6. What is the duration of a PR campaign?



1. EPK
In simple terms, an "Electronic Press Kit" (EPK) is a press kit in electronic form.
This variant can be conveyed to interested parties - in contrast to the once classic printed press kit - preferably by means of a download version on file-hosting websites. Proven sharehosters for this are, for example, Google Drive, File-Upload.net, etc. EPK distribution on CDR or DVDR has therefore become very rare.

Requirements
An EPK is designed to meet the requirements of editorial departments to save journalists from having to do their own research for reporting or reviewing or interviewing.

Default
Song streams without a download option are not accepted by the vast majority of music magazines, as it is advantageous for reviewers to have the .MP3 and .WAV folders, along with info, etc., available on their respective end devices for the creation of articles, regardless of location and network reception.

Execution
One should create 2 complete EPK downloads, 1x as .MP3 and 1x as .WAV version.
(Radio stations in particular demand the higher quality .WAV format).
Optimal therefor is the compressed "Zip" file format.
The following designations are ideal:
"EPK_MP3_BANDNAME_en.zip" and "EPK_WAV_BANDNAME_en.zip"

Download
Each EPK should be provided with a web link that can be used throughout the PR campaign.
The 2 complete EPK downloads should each be possible by means of a single link or clearly visible link button without logging in.

Contents
Into the 2 main folders (1x .MP3- & 1x .WAV-variant) individual subfolders with corresponding titles are to be inserted, which in turn contain songs, graphic material, info etc:


• 'Music':
all songs of the respective release in .MP3 or .WAV file formats in complete length with full listed titles
(songs must have ID3 tags, at least with song title and band name, so that MP3 players etc. can also show this in the display when playing)

• 'Visual':
if possible, current, relevant and printable, high-resolution graphic material such as band logo, band photo(s), front cover, etc. plus an associated subfolder, titled 'Visual Credits', as a text or Word file with respective artist or photographer credits in the context of the image rights
(band photo files must all be individually named with the name or pseudonym of the respective musician for correct assignment)

• 'Info':
one or more PDF files with current bullet points, band biography, line-up (musician names & respective instrument), complete discography, all relevant band websites and contact details (email etc.)

May also include:

• list of positive reviews - sorted in descending order from highest scores to reviews that received over 70 %
• chronological list of previous interviews
• chronological media feedback to concerts
• live recordings
• tour-dates


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2. Information transfer
In case of direct communication of the band with the press, media representatives etc. METALMESSAGE has to be informed immediately in order to ensure the most current level of knowledge.
Preferably, the band should refer directly to METALMESSAGE at the beginning, if e.g. requests for info and picture material are received.

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3. Interviews (email)
Interview questions via email should be handled as follows:

Deadline
• Return of the answers within 7 days to METALMESSAGE for forwarding
• In case of an specified deadline (final date of delivery) these date must be adhered to without fail
• Basically, the following applies in terms of scheduling: the sooner, the better

Execution
• Answers should be logical, grammatically correct and in the form of complete sentences
• Answers should be written in detail and clarified informative
• Answers should be placed between the respective questions

Format
• Don't use a plain text document, this leads often times to serious conversion errors at the recipient
• Never write answers directly in the email
• Work anytime with a special built question/answer document, which have to be attached to the email as a word.doc file

Information
• At the top of the question/answer document should be listed:
- name of the respective medium
- current date
- band's name
- answering musicians with their instruments - these are to be named individually before their respective answers.
(If all answers are representative for the whole band, this has to be noted accordingly.)

Setting
• Since some webzines copy the content of interview documents 1:1 by means of copy & paste, a note should be inserted in each case, in which two lines are the beginning and the end of what should appear in the published interview.

Subject
• The content of the email must be listed in the subject line - in appropriate upper and lower case - as follows:
"NAME OF BAND / interview answers by NAME OF MUSICIAN / NAME OF MAGAZINE / YEAR (f.e. 2021)"

Print
• Interviews for print media:
for this, several high-resolution, printable band photos are also required as a download link.

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4. Promo Printsheet (Reader)
When promo material is sent out physically, it is essential that it is always accompanied by a professionally designed insert (reader), preferably printed out in color.
If available, the printout of the info PDF from the created EPK can be used for this purpose.

Overview
It should contain all essential and updated information about the band in general.
This saves the editors responsible for the review, the interview or other reporting a sometimes quite time-consuming and unnecessarily time-consuming preliminary research.

Merging
If the supplementary sheet extends over several pages due to extensive information, these should be numbered chronologically in a clearly visible manner and stapled together in a stable manner. (In the latter case, PVC clip folders with a transparent cover sheet have proven to be ideal.)

Content
Promo-Printsheet must contain:

• Band's logo & -photo
• Firm written, preferably extracted created band-biography with most important basic data etc.
• All worth knowing infos about the sent release
• Numbered tracklist with total playing time
• Completely listed line-up with name and instrument of each musician
• Complete discography incl. demo mediums etc.
• All relevant web addresses and contact(s) to the band (address and/or e-mail)

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5. Radio ID Jingle (Radio Station Identification Jingle)
Radio ID jingles are brief and repeated interludes in the program for the unique identification of a station.

Meaning
Since the visual characteristic is missing in radio broadcasting, jingles contain certain noises, music, sounds or spoken material.

Thus, despite their brevity, Radio ID jingles enjoy a weighty role, since without them it would take much longer to clearly identify a particular station.

Radio ID Artist Jingle
Radio stations also use individual Radio ID artist jingles:
this involves fading in station-specific spoken words from artists in order to announce their song in the most effective way possible for both sides. Example:
"This is XY from the band XY from XY and you are listening to Radio XY!"

Execution
In the course of this, the artist records his personal contribution to the Radio ID Artist Jingle in digital form and subsequently sends it as a zip file via email to METALMESSAGE for forwarding or directly to the responsible radio presenter, who then embeds it accordingly in his recognition ID for the radio broadcast. 





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6. Time Duration (PR campaign)
The duration of a PR campaign depends primarily on the size of the budget available for it.

Practice
Music media regularly always prefer the latest so that as much attention as possible can be generated, preferably with something that has not yet been released.

Preprocessing
Therefore, it is most productive for public relations to distribute the first press release approximately 3 months before the official release date.

Marketing
It has proven to be optimal if diverse, positive media feedback is already available on the day of publication in order to achieve as much attention as possible.























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