AN EFFECTIVE BIO

Creating an effective biography for a band or an artist can be as challenging as the tagline. To sum up your group, your sound and deliver it in a way that will draw people to your band is sometimes harder than making the music itself.

The problem with bios is that all too often they are either poorly constructed, or too saturated with ego. Your biography has to shine and envelop your group, your sound and your marketing.

Not only that, but the bio needs to be formatted in a way that makes it easy for reviewers to pull from for potential stories, interview information and reviews. In a lot of ways it’s like the press release, when you deliver a bio that is easy to access by the media, they will use it.

When the associated press does not have to work as hard, (sorry guys, but you know I’m right and many of the writers, upper level guys and girls have mentioned this to me) and you allow them to easily pull phrases, sentences or paragraphs that are applicable to stories across all major, minor and independent media.

Also, like the tagline, the logo and your images, stay uniform with your bio. Your bio should be consistent across all your materials. You can, of course, use different sections of your bio and alter the length as well, but stay consistent. Keep people aware of what you are about, and as they recognize the words, images and sounds more and more, you will draw in the more difficult crowds to you over time.

Below is an example of an effective bio for a band in the industry today. I am not by any means saying this is the template to follow, nor is it the only way to do a bio. However, from experiences I have had, this is a very effective format and gets solid results.

The Acme Band Bio

The Acme Band, based out of Seattle Washington, has blasted off for a musical journey through the universe of soul, funk, rock and blues. As likely to be inspired by Weezer or N. E. R. D. as they are by Otis Redding or Led Zeppelin, The Acme band will surely move your head, your heart, and your ass. The Acme Band is out of control rock and soul.

Bred on a steady diet of the roots of rock and blues, the Acme Band was schooled on the legends of Motown Soul, funk and rock & roll. Musical sponges to this day, and embracing all the technology that modern music has to offer, the Acme Band is just as exciting to see live as they are to hear through your speakers. The Acme Band brings you party music for the 21st century, with the power to stir your mind and shake your behind.

Combining versatile technical ability with solid craftsmanship and a deep well of emotion, The Acme Band has emerged as a formidable musical force. The band's approach to music is enriched by over 30 years of combined experience, which gives the Acme Band the ability to express and enhance any possible influence through each member's unique sensibility.

The Acme Band will keep you dancing all night, and their songs will stay in your head so infectiously that you will be compelled to seek them out to listen again. In no time flat, once the groove starts pulsing and their melodies fill the air, the Acme Band will turn you from a casual listener to a fan.

This bio is can be cut up in to four classifications as shown below.

It contains the…….

1. ONE LINER –

The Acme Band, based out of Seattle Washington, has blasted off for a musical journey through the universe of soul, funk, rock and blues.

This is the first sentence of the bio. It is the first thing that the reader sees and it can stand on its own without needing anything else. It is like a full sentence version of the tagline. This can also be used to describe the band where they want a little more information than just the tagline. It covers the basic information like the name of the band, the location of the band and the genre of the music.

2. SHORT BIO -

The Acme Band, based out of Seattle Washington, has blasted off for a musical journey through the universe of soul, funk, rock and blues. As likely to be inspired by Weezer or N. E. R. D. as they are by Otis Redding or Led Zeppelin, The Acme band will surely move your head, your heart, and your ass. The Acme Band is out of control rock and soul.

This is the first paragraph of the full bio. Notice how the One Liner is the lead of the Short Bio. Each part of the bio should start with the previous section. This is how you can maintain uniformity while still adding elements. Each element should stack evenly for the sake of continuity.

In the Short Bio, you continue off of the One Liner’s information about the styles by adding some of the influences. Adding 4 or 5 influences can help you give a ballpark definition of your sound to those that don’t know you.

In most cases, you can close the Short Bio strongly by ending it with your band’s tagline. The Acme Band's Tagline is "Out of control rock and soul."

This is the bio that will often get used in shorter stories and reviews.

NOTE: If you follow this piggy back format in your biographies, writers and reviewers will not have to search around to pull elements to use, they can follow your format very easily.

3. MEDIUM BIO -

The Acme Band, based out of Seattle Washington, has blasted off for a musical journey through the universe of soul, funk, rock and blues. As likely to be inspired by Weezer or N. E. R. D. as they are by Otis Redding or Led Zeppelin, The Acme band will surely move your head, your heart, and your ass. The Acme Band is out of control rock and soul.

Bred on a steady diet of the roots of rock and blues, the Acme Band was schooled on the legends of Motown Soul, funk and rock & roll. Musical sponges to this day, and embracing all the technology that modern music has to offer, the Acme Band is just as exciting to see live as they are to hear through your speakers. The Acme Band brings you party music for the 21st century, with the power to stir your mind and shake your behind.

This bio, following the piggyback format, starts with the One Liner, then the Short Bio, then it adds another paragraph to become the Medium Bio.
This paragraph adds even more detail to the sound of the band, from a deeper description of the influences to some basic plugs, delivered with confidence and assertiveness, without being too cocky. It also closes with something sharp that can be pulled by writers to be used in reviews.

For Example: The Acme Band brings you party music for the 21st century, with the power to stir your mind and shake your behind.

This has an air of confidence without being over the top. They are not saying they are the best party music, or that they don’t sound like anyone else, no one touches them…..the list of big ego, cocky phrases goes on.

This is confident, fun, assertive and gives a more detailed description of the group.

FINALLY…..

4. THE FULL OR LONG BIO –

The Acme Band, based out of Seattle Washington, has blasted off for a musical journey through the universe of soul, funk, rock and blues. As likely to be inspired by Weezer or N. E. R. D. as they are by Otis Redding or Led Zeppelin, The Acme band will surely move your head, your heart, and your ass. The Acme Band is out of control rock and soul.

Bred on a steady diet of the roots of rock and blues, the Acme Band was schooled on the legends of Motown Soul, funk and rock & roll. Musical sponges to this day, and embracing all the technology that modern music has to offer, the Acme Band is just as exciting to see live as they are to hear through your speakers. The Acme Band brings you party music for the 21st century, with the power to stir your mind and shake your behind.

Combining versatile technical ability with solid craftsmanship and a deep well of emotion, The Acme Band has emerged as a formidable musical force. The band's approach to music is enriched by over 30 years of combined experience, which gives the Acme Band the ability to express and enhance any possible influence through each member's unique sensibility.

The Acme Band will keep you dancing all night, and their songs will stay in your head so infectiously that you will be compelled to seek them out to listen again. In no time flat, once the groove starts pulsing and their melodies fill the air, the Acme Band will turn you from a casual listener to a fan.

The full bio piggybacks the One Liner, the Short Bio, the Medium Bio and then finishes out with the last two paragraphs. More details are added; the element of experience, the direction and the vision of the band should be added in this section. Lastly, add a couple sentences at the end that can be extracted and used by writers on its own.

Below are some bullet points pulled out of the last section. They can all be used by writers, reviewers and media pros. Make their job easier, and you will read about your band in more places.

• The band's approach to music is enriched by over 30 years of combined experience.
• The Acme Band will keep you dancing all night.
• The groove starts pulsing and their melodies fill the air,
• The Acme Band will turn you from a casual listener to a fan.

An effective bio will help bring in more people to your music, while making it easier to write about. In a lot of ways, you want your bio to be geared more towards the industry professionals, because it is those people and groups that will bring the information about you to others.

Watch for an excessive level of ego or cockiness and remember, a lot of the people you are trying to get to notice your band are used to seeing horribly formatted, terribly written, and vague, poorly put together biographies. Give them something different. Let your bio stand out, just like you.

Reach the people with your words and vision in a well-constructed and well-organized format. It will make them want to hear your music and learn more about you.

We all want the music to stand on its own and speak for itself….of course.

So deliver the support of a strong bio to guide the fans, the writers, the reviewers and the industry professionals to your music so that it has the opportunity to speak for itself and stand out in an industry that is so saturated today.

© Loren Weisman