Building the Perfect Artist Bio – using Björk as an example

An amazing artist bio opens doors. For every public appearance there's always the pesky "photo + bio" request from the marketing person. The bio is essential for applications, press releases, submissions, and every online platform, including DSPs and social media.

It matters more than anything that it's relevant and paints a full picture of the person it's for. If our name alone is not already a calling card, the bio is there to establish credibility and ideally excitement for the artist's project. Overstating its importance is not possible. For me, I tend to re-write and update bios every time I'm asked for one. It's not a one and done, due to how important it is to get right every time.

I always start with the long bio first to capture all the important information. The shorter bios, used for social media and web, are a synthesis of the longer bio. Since it's almost impossible to talk about it in theory alone, I'll build out the perfect bio using Björk as my example. Please don't focus on her specifics – the point is showing how to frame a career concisely. Finally, you’ll find my checklist for crafting the perfect bio every time.