If you can afford to have a professional writer draft your bio for a fee, you may wish to consider this option. If you hire a music writer, be sure not to hire someone whom you could potentially pitch. The term “pitch” means to solicit coverage. When you or publicists pitch writers or editors, you are trying to get them to write about you. Likewise, freelance writers, those who are not on staff with publications, pitch story ideas to their editors. Many writers don’t consider it ethical to pitch editors a story on an artist for whom they have been paid to write a bio.
You always want to engage the reader’s interest in your bio so it is recommended that you do some research on the internet and see what other bios look like. In so doing, you will notice some patterns of overused words and phrases, things like “exceptionally unique,” “one of a kind” and so on. A thesaurus just might turn out to be your new best friend when you’re drafting a bio as you’ll want to not use the same words and adjectives multiple times. The jury is mixed with regards to citing musical influences and who you sound like in your bio. Some writers do not want you to tell them the full story. They want enough facts to allow them to figure out whom you sound like. Others would rather have an idea of what to expect and some salivate at the idea that your music is along the lines of Scandinavian pop or EDM (electronic dance music). Make sure that if you reference other artists that you fit into those genres or have a similar sound.
Mention some of your new songs and if you are particularly proud of your lyrical prowess, feel free to use some song quotes if it fits in with the context of your bio. When in doubt, leave it out. If something sounds or reads wrong, it most likely is. Read the bio aloud to make sure it flows well, isn’t dull or has run on sentences.
Your key objective here is to captivate the reader enough to give your album a spin. Of course its other important purpose is to tell your story and provide angles about you or the band, but the primary goal is to get media to listen to you. Competition is massive and as the adage goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Bearing that in mind, make that bio as fabulous and sharp as you are. There should be absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors nor should it be too long or clichéd. Nothing shouts amateur more loudly than typos, errors or over played text in a bio.
Next time we’ll discuss other elements in the press kit.
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