An artist biography is an essential part of your electronic press kit. It can also be used for your biography on music streaming sites. So, it’s important to make sure that your artist biography accurately reflects the image that you want to present.
The following 7 suggestions will help improve the quality of your artist biography.
#1 – Use Short Sentences and Paragraphs
First, your artist bio needs to be easy to read. To do this, you should use short sentences and paragraphs.
Try to limit your average sentences to less than 12 or 14 words. Your paragraphs should average less than 3 sentences.
This improves the readability of your artist biography. Imagine that you’re writing it for a grade school child to read. The simpler the better.
Sometimes, it’s easier to edit the sentences and paragraphs after you finish writing. Go ahead and write your first draft, without worrying about the length of sentences or paragraphs.
Then, once you finish the draft, go through and cut some of your paragraphs in half or find ways to rewrite sentences to make them shorter.
#2 – Include the Right Details
You also need to ensure that your artist biography includes all the right details. This includes any training or your background in the music industry. Highlight important achievements, such as a degree in sound engineering or a supporting tour for a major act.
Also, discuss the style of sound that you focus on and what you hope listeners will get from listening to your music. Keep this section of your artist biography short.
Overall, your artist biography paints a picture of your musical career – not your entire life story. You don’t need to discuss your childhood or any other details that are not related to your musical career.
#3 – Don’t Write in the First Person
You should write in the third-person, instead of the first person. Don’t think of your artist bio as an autobiography, even if you are writing your own biography.
Don’t use the first-person language, such as “I” or “me”. Instead, you’ll refer to yourself as “he” or “she”.
Basically, imagine that you’re writing the biography for someone else. It’s really not that difficult. Just make sure that you go through your biography after you write it and rewrite any sections that use first-person pronouns.
#4 – Write Several Different Biographies
Before you decide on the initial draft for your artist bio, you should write several different versions. Write three completely separate artist biographies. Each time you write a new biography, you may find new ways of saying the same things.
You can then take a look at the three different versions that you wrote and choose the parts that you like the best. Combine these into one consistent biography.
#5 – Thoroughly Proofread Your Artist Bio
Once you choose a draft to move forward with, you should thoroughly proofread it to make sure there are no grammatical errors. First, use the spellchecking program built into your word processor. Then, read the entire artist biography out loud.
When you read aloud, you force yourself to read every single word. This should help you catch any mistakes that the spellchecker did not catch.
#6 – Have Someone Else Read Your Bio
Before you finalize your artist biography, you should have someone else read it. Even if you thoroughly proofread the bio, there’s a chance that you’ll miss a few grammatical issues.
Allow someone else to read the bio and catch any mistakes that you missed. They may also be able to provide some insight that will help improve your biography.