A bio does one job. It gives a stranger enough to write about the artist, and enough to decide in a few seconds whether to keep reading.
Write two lengths
- Short: 50 to 80 words. This is what fits a festival website, a ticket page and a line-up post.
- Long: 200 to 400 words. This is what a journalist works from.
Write both, keep them in one voice, and make the short one stand on its own rather than read as a trimmed version of the long one.
What goes in
Where the artist is from, what it plays, what it has released, where it has played, and what is happening now. Third person, present tense. Facts a reader can check: venue names, release titles, years.
What to leave out
Adjectives about the music that any artist could use, and invented genre names. A promoter who reads 'genre-defying soundscapes' learns nothing and writes something else instead.
Keep it current
Bios go stale faster than photos. Review after every release and every tour.