THE BEAST

An artist biography is an important piece of information that can be used for multiple purposes. These biographies are used on music streaming sites and in your press release kits. They help give people a sense of who you are as quickly as possible.

You should understand who these artist biographies have really been written for. They are for the music industry insiders that you are trying to impress.

This includes A&R reps, booking agents, and other music business contacts. There are certain steps that you can take to ensure your bio perfectly summarizes the image that you want to promote.

Here are 10 ideas for creating a killer artist biography.

#1 – Keep it Short
Your music biography will be used in EPK’s and other promotional material. The people reading this information do want to read multiple pages. They don’t need your life story. They just need the basics. Typically, your artist bio will only be 4 or 5 paragraphs.

You can find a little more detail about the structure by watching this short YouTube video:

#2 – Start with a Simple Introduction
The first paragraph should be a simple introduction. You only need to include your name. Of course, if you’re in a band, you’ll want to include all band members in this intro. List names, hometown or current location, and the genre or style of music that you perform.

#3 – Summarize Your Background and Influences
The next section of your artist bio should include a summary of your background. Try to include an interesting fact or detail. This could be a major obstacle that you’ve overcome or a turning point in your life. You should keep this information brief. Do not go into detail.

#4 – Explain What You’re Doing Right Now
After you give the reader some information about where you come from, you should let them know what you’re doing right now. Are you on tour? Are you working hard in the studio? Have you recently released new music? These details should fit into the third or fourth paragraph of your bio.

#5 – Discuss Your Plans
Finish your artist biography with a short paragraph explaining where you want to go with your career. List your ambitions or dreams. Let readers know what your goals are.

#6 – Use Positive Quotes
If you have any positive quotes from music publications, music reviews, or any other quotable sources, you could work a couple of these quotes into your biography. Limit yourself to one or two quotes per topic. For example, in your third paragraph, if you’re describing your latest album, you could one or two quotes from various sources describing how awesome your music is.

#7 – Avoid the Use of Buzz Words
When you describe your music as “cutting edge” or “completely original”, you’re using cliché phrases that are used way too often. These words do nothing to promote your music. Your artist biography is going to be short and there is no room for these filler words. Remember, you are primarily writing your artist bio for music insiders. They’re familiar with these phrases and will simply skim past them.

#8 – Be Specific When Describing Your Music
Along with the previous tip, you should make sure that you are specific when describing your music. Do not use vague terms and phrases, such as “a combination of genres”. Instead, you should specify which genres you are combining. Get specific and take the time to explain the style of your music in detail. You are trying to explain the style of your music to people that may never have heard it before.

#9 – Keep It Light and Easy to Read
Your biography should be straightforward and easy to read. You don’t want it to be too impersonal or personal. The tone of your artist biography may not directly reflect your own personal tone or style.

If you need a few ideas of a proper artist bio, you should take a look at the biographies of major artists that are included on streaming sites, such as Spotify. These websites pull the artist bios from the record label.

The bottom line is that your artist biography needs to be short and to the point. You want to keep it simple while still covering all relevant information.

#10 – Allow a Professional to Write the Prefect Music Biography
If you want to make sure that your bio really connects with people, you should consider hiring a professional to write it. Outsourcing the creation of your artist bio can help your music biography appear more authentic. Professional writers will have more experience writing engaging press release copy, including artist biographies.

Via ArtistPR