Besides your band’s music, logo, album art and all that good stuff, a brief and awesome band bio is crucial. Bloggers, bookers, fans, and even some music execs are going to take a look at that little blurb – and they might make some quick judgements based on that info. Here are a few tips to take into account when writing or updating your music bio:
Define and Refine Your Mission Statement
A good way to think about your mission statement is to use the business world strategy known as the “elevator pitch”. It’s a way to artfully summarize a proposition in the shortest amount of time – quite like a conversation with someone in an elevator. You want to describe who you are in a succinct matter. The conversation will either continue after the elevator ride with an exchange of business – or yield a simple fair goodbye. Think about the qualities that set you apart from other bands. How do you sound like? How do you describe your genre? Insert this statement into your bio’s intro and your chances of attracting potential music managers, P.R’s and other important people in the music business will be much higher!
Stay Away from Birth and Childhood
Of course this type of history is important too but your music bio should not sound like an autobiography. Even if you did start picking up the drum sticks at age 7, don’t put yourself in a position to explain a whole episode of yourself starting to play as a kid. Instead, talk about the moment you decided to start out as a musician and what sparked it. Talk about the status of your current band/solo project. By steering away from falling into the typical childhood story, you’re not only keeping your music bio focused on the present (or significant,recent past), you’re also standing out amongst other artists who are working to be discovered too.
Highlight Personal Stories
Include special highlights in your personal life and/or career. Your story and your experience belongs to you. It is easy to fall into the generic format of including your band’s name, how much you’ve loved to sing and how you and your high school friends met up and became THE BAND. If that’s how it actually happened, great. But there has to have been some peculiarities. Years and Years member Mikey first overheard their now lead singer, Olly Alexander, singing in the shower the morning after a party. He dug Olly’s voice and asked him to team up – eventually leading them to release a number 1 hit single in the UK. This story is repeated in almost all their interviews for the sheer reason that it’s quirky, fun, and makes their image that much more interesting.
Know the Difference between Editing Your Short Bio and Long Bio
Your short bio is just your long bio – compacted with less details. For the short bio, try to keep your word count at about 250 and your long bio no more than 750. When people look into the artist’s music history, they’re more likely to read the short bio first – so make your “less” more. Your long bio should be in a different page because whoever is interested in your music will most likely want to know more. Do make your long bio accessible by placing a link at the end of your story for a separate page, or however you wish to do it!
It’s never too late to tweak or get started on your bio. Put your best content forward with this quick biography guide.
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Michelle Aguilar has a strong passion and love for music – and it’s history. She enjoys reading literary books, dancing, trip-hop/indie venues, working on her blog, and digging up new music.
