What actually goes in a musician's press kit
A promoter opens your press kit briefly before deciding whether you're worth a reply. In those few seconds they look at one photo, scan for a fee or availability, and check that there's a phone number or email they can use without creating an account. They do not read your bio. They do not click through to a folder. If any of those first three things are missing or broken, the email gets archived and you never hear back.
What gets opened, and what doesn't
Promoters and venue bookers are working through a stack of emails between other jobs, usually on a phone. They are not evaluating your artistry. They're checking three things fast: what do you look like on a stage, what do you sound like, and how do I book you. Everything else in a press kit is decoration. A long bio, a mission statement, a list of influences, a discography with liner notes — none of it gets read on the first pass. It might get skimmed later if you're already shortlisted, which is exactly why it needs to be short enough to survive a skim.
The bio: two lines, not two pages
Write two sentences. What kind of band you are, and what a room gets when it books you. "Four-piece function band playing classic rock and current chart covers for weddings and corporate events, 200-plus shows played." That's it. If someone wants more, they'll ask, and you can send the long version then. A one-page bio in a press kit is a filter that filters you out, because nobody has time to read it standing between two other tasks.
Photos: what hi-res actually means
"Hi-res" isn't a vibe, it's a spec. For print use — posters, local paper, a venue's own promo — you need at least 300 DPI at the print size, which in practice means a file that's at least 2000 pixels on the short side. For a website or social post, 1500 pixels wide is enough and loads faster. The mistake that kills a booking here isn't low resolution, it's the opposite: a phone photo saved straight from Instagram, already compressed once, then compressed again when it's emailed. It looks fine on your phone and grainy on a poster. Keep one clean, unedited, well-lit photo of the full band or the act as it performs, not a selfie, not a phone-in-hand mirror shot. That single image is what gets used for flyers, so make sure it's the best one you have, not the most recent.
Why a Google Drive link gets ignored
Sending "here's a link to our press kit" instead of the actual file is one of the most common ways bands lose a booking without ever finding out why. A Drive or Dropbox link means an extra click, sometimes a permission request, sometimes a broken "request access" screen if the sharing setting wasn't changed from private. A promoter going through fifteen inbound emails is not going to fight a permissions dialog to see your photo. Attach the file, or link directly to a page that opens with no login and no click-through. If you only have one takeaway from this article, it's that: the thing they need to see has to load in one tap, or it doesn't get seen.
The one-page format that works
Put everything on a single page, in this order, top to bottom:
- One photo, full width, near the top
- Band or act name and genre in one line
- Two-sentence bio
- A link to one song or a short video clip, not a full album
- Upcoming dates if you have them, or "available [region], booking through [month]"
- A direct contact: a phone number or an email that goes to a person, not "see our socials" or "DM us on Instagram"
That's the whole kit. Anything else — stage plot, tech rider, full discography — goes in a second page or a separate attachment for after you're booked, not before.
What to leave out
Don't include a Spotify "follow us" ask, a list of every venue you've ever played, quotes from friends calling you "the next big thing," or a bio written in the third person by someone pretending not to be you. Promoters can tell, and it reads as filler exactly when you need to look efficient. Don't send a zip file. Don't send five photos and ask them to pick one — you pick one. Don't bury the contact information at the bottom in small type after a paragraph about your influences; put it where it can be found without reading anything above it.
If you're putting a kit together from scratch, the fastest route is to build it from a site you already have rather than from a blank document, since the bio, photos, and dates you'd put on a homepage are the same things a press kit needs. Roadshow generates a press kit PDF straight from the site it builds from your band description — same bio, photos, dates, and booking contact, no separate document to maintain, on every plan including the free trial.