Throughout his fprty year career in the music business, FourFront Media & Music's Christopher Knab has shared his experience at many industry conventions and conferences, including the New Music Seminar and the Northwest Area Music Business Conference.
Knab was owner of a San Francisco music store, co-owner of the 415 Records label, and station manager at KCMU Radio in Seattle.
He currently provides a unique consultation and education service for independent musicians and record labels. His new book is entitled "Music Is Your Business".
Visit FourFront Media & Music's web site.
Send comments or questions to Christopher Knab.
© Christopher Knab
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Click here for a printer-friendly version of "How To Write An Artist Biography: A Bio Made Simple".
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Before you begin to write the bio, be sure you have "taken an inventory" of your background, accomplishments, goals, and objectives as a musician, and remember who you are writing the Bio for: A&R Reps at Record Labels, Media Contacts, Booking Agents, and Management Contacts. These professionals in the music business are busy individuals, who may deal with dozens of "wanna-be's" every week, so make your bio informative, upbeat, and filled with useful comments, descriptions, quotes, and motivational language that can make them want to listen to your music, and help you on your musical way. When you are ready to rock n' roll, writing the Bio using this outline can keep you focused and organized.
First Paragraph
Start with an introductory sentence that clearly defines the essential band/artist name, your specific genre of music, where you are from, and perhaps a positive quote about your music from a contact you have made in the music business.
Second Paragraph
This section should address the immediate purpose of the Bio. What are you doing at this time? Mention a current activity you are involved with. If a new CD or tape is coming out, that should be the main topic of the first sentence of the second paragraph. In other word, a reason why the Bio has been written should be clearly stated early on. Hints about any promotional activities that will be occurring to support the CD/Tape is also useful in this paragraph.
Third and Fourth Paragraph
At this point, information on any other band members can be introduced, and background information on the forming of the group, past experience, accomplishments, and recognition issues can be addressed. If you have developed a plan for your career path, additional paragraphs elaborating on this type of can be written, that demonstrate how your current project is part of a larger career development plan.
Ending
As stated earlier, the Bio should not waste words. For a new artist, one page is sufficient to get the job done. For more experienced artists, a page and a half to two pages should be the maximum length. So, ending the Bio in a efficient way should be the aim; use another quote from a gatekeeper who supports the artist, or summarize the second paragraph information, reminding the reader of current activities.
Additional Columns by Christopher Knab
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- And 60 more in the Guest Columnists series, view the index
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Vol. 17, No. 2: Feb.-Mar. 2012
