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🔻 FAQ

🔻 Topics
1. What is an EPK (Electronic Press Kit)?
2. What does the info sheet (Reader) contain?
3. What is important in the flow of information?
4. How are written interviews to be completed?
5. What is an Radio ID or artist jingle?
6. What is the duration of a PR campaign?



1. EPK
Put simply, an "Electronic Press Kit" (EPK) is an "electronic press folder".
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, Onedrive.live 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
Most music media outlets do not, as a matter of principle, accept song streams that cannot be downloaded, as it is advantageous for reviewers to have access to the .MP3 and .WAV files, along with related information, on their devices — regardless of their location or network connection — so that they can write their articles
(Radio stations in particular require the higher-quality .WAV format)

Execution
The compressed "zip" file format is ideal for the main EPK folder
This has proven to be effective: "EPK_BANDNAME_en.zip"

Download
The EPK should be made available via one single web link that can be accessed without logging in throughout the entire PR campaign

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'
Song(s) of the respective release in .MP3 or .WAV file format in full length & full title spelling
(In the folder structure, the 2 audio downloads should be organised into separate subfolders, each containing an .MP3 and a .WAV file, and named individually)
Please note: Song(s) must have correct ID3 tags, at least with song title and band name, so that MP3 players etc. can show this on the display when playing

• 'Visual'
Current, visually relevant graphic materials in the highest possible printable resolution (at least 2000px) in PNG file format:
• Band logo
• Band photo(s) with and without logo
(Band photo files, especially single shots, must be named individually with the name or pseudonym of the respective musician for correct assignment)
• Front cover
• etc.
(Please note: most media outlets strictly reject publications with AI-generated graphics)

Plus an accompanying, integrated subfolder titled 'Visual Credits', the latter as a text or Word file with the respective artist or photographer named in the context of copyright and image rights

• 'Info'
One or more PDF files, clearly listed from top to bottom, containing:
• Band logo & photo
• Current bullet points
• FFO: 3 bands with a similar sound, which serve as a stylistic introduction for interested parties. (For fans of)
• Crisply written band biography, as condensed as possible, with the most important core or key data, etc.
• All relevant information about the currently broadcast release
• Numbered song listing with individual and total playing time
• Complete line-up with respective musician's name and played instrument
• Complete discography, including new releases, listed by year and format (demo, album, EP, single, etc.)
• All relevant web addresses and email

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. Info Sheet (Reader)
A clearly designed information sheet (reader) should always be included with both digital and physical delivery of promotional material
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 up-to-date information about the band. Information about the PDF content can be found above in the corresponding section under "Electronic Press Kit" (EPK)
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 info sheet extends over several pages due to the large amount of information, these should be numbered in chronological order and stapled together sturdily for physical dispatch. (PVC clip folders with a transparent cover sheet have proven to be ideal in the latter case)

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

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4. Written Interviews
Written interview questions should always be returned via email and completed as follows:

Deadline
• Return of the answers within 7 days to Metal Message ᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ 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 written directly below the corresponding questions; they should be as grammatically correct as possible and should be detailed and informative

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 below each other:
- name of the respective press medium
- current date
- band's name
- link to the band's website or online portal
- 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 MEDIA / YEAR (f.e. 2026)"

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

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5. Radio ID or artist 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 an acoustic and visual manner
As part of this process, artists record their personal contribution to the radio ID artist jingle in digital form and then send the audio file as a ZIP file via WeTransfer or Smash to Metal Message ᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ for forwarding, or directly to the relevant radio presenters, who then incorporate it into their station ID for the radio broadcast
As such contributions are often presented as reels on the radio stations’ social media channels at the same time as the broadcast to boost engagement, artist jingles have come very much into focus as video content

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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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