The one-page artist website: when your EPK is enough
For most singers, bands and DJs, the website and the press kit should be the same page. Everyone who looks you up wants the same five things: to hear you, to see you, to know who you are, to check your dates and to find a way to reach you. One page on your own domain holds all of it.
This guide covers what that page needs, how it differs from a link page and from a full site, and the point where one page stops being enough.
Why one page is enough for most artists
Think about who actually opens your site. A promoter deciding whether to book you. A journalist checking your name before a review. A fan who saw you last night and wants the next date. Almost all of them are on a phone, and almost none of them click past the first page.
A site with six pages is also six pages to keep current. Most artist sites don’t go stale because of the design. They go stale because the dates page still lists last spring and the biography mentions a release from two years ago. One page is easy to keep right, and a page that is right beats a bigger one that is wrong.
One page, two jobs
The usual setup is three separate things: a website for fans, a PDF press kit for promoters and a link page in your Instagram bio. They hold mostly the same information, and they drift apart the moment you change anything.
A promoter and a fan want different parts of the same page, not different pages. The fan presses play and checks the dates. The promoter does that too, then downloads a photo, copies the short biography and looks for the rider and the booking email. Put all of it on one page in that order, and the same link works in your bio, in an email to a booker and on a flyer.
What the page needs
- Your name, city and sound in one line at the top, over a photo, so nobody has to scroll to find out who you are.
- Music that plays on the page without a login: Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music or Bandcamp.
- Upcoming dates with ticket links, and past dates that drop off on their own.
- A short biography and a longer one, easy to copy.
- Press photos at full size that a promoter can download, with the photographer credited.
- A tech rider, even a short one. For a band, cover the whole lineup.
- One booking email or button. Not a contact form, and not your DMs.
- Links to the profiles you keep active, such as Spotify and Instagram, and no others.
Link page, one-page site or full website
| Link page | One-page site or EPK | Full website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Mostly links out | Plays on the page | Plays on the page |
| Press photos to download | No | Yes | Yes, on a press page |
| Dates | A link to somewhere else | On the page | A page of their own |
| A page for each release | No | No | Yes |
| Keeping it current | Easy | Easy | Several pages to update |
| Typical cost | Free to a few dollars a month | A few dollars a month | $11 to $25 a month on a builder, or a custom build |
Put it on your own domain
Whatever builds the page, the address should be yours. A domain with your artist name costs about fifteen dollars a year. Point it at the page, and the link on every flyer and in every email keeps working even if you change tools later.
If you already have a site you want to keep, use a subdomain such as epk.yourname.com for the one-page version. Your existing site stays as it is.
When one page stops being enough
When that happens, keep the one page as your press kit and build the larger site around it. Until then, more pages mostly mean more things to keep up to date.
- You release often and want each release to be found by its own title, not only as a line on your page.
- You sell merch or tickets directly and need a shop.
- You run a label or a collective and need a page for each artist.
- You have years of shows, press and interviews worth keeping in an archive.
How to set one up
You can build it yourself on a one-page site builder such as Carrd, which costs 19 US dollars a year with your own domain, and lay out each block by hand. It takes an evening and gives you full control over the design.
Or use an EPK builder that already has the blocks a promoter looks for. Ours is one of them, so weigh this accordingly: a Test Press EPK is built from one form in about ten minutes, we connect your own domain for free, and you see when a promoter opens the page. It costs 7 US dollars a month after a free first month.
Sources, checked on each service’s own site: Carrd Pro plans.
Common questions
- Can my EPK be my website?
- Yes, for most artists. If it’s on your own domain and has your music, dates, photos, biography and booking contact, it does what an artist website does. Fans and promoters use the same page for different things.
- Is a one-page website bad for SEO?
- Not for the searches that matter most at the start. A single page with your name, city and genre in plain text can rank for your name. What you give up is a separate page for each release or show, which only matters once you have a catalog people search for by title.
- What is the difference between a one-page website and a link in bio page?
- A link page is a list of buttons that send people somewhere else. A one-page site holds the content itself: music that plays, photos to download, dates and a biography. A promoter can do their whole check without leaving it.
- Do bands need more than one page?
- Usually not until you sell merch directly or have a long catalog. A band’s page needs a few more details than a solo artist’s, such as the lineup, a rider for everyone and a live video, but they fit on one page.
- How much does a one-page artist website cost?
- About fifteen dollars a year for the domain, plus the builder. One-page builders range from free with their branding to a few dollars a month with your own domain.