by Tom Knapp

Created on: September 28, 2007

People love stories, and your biography is a great way to tell yours. If you're a musician - and we're assuming here that you're not a multi-million-dollar performer, in which case you have someone else to do this for you - you'll want to have a website so people can find your performances and buy your music, and you'll want to post a biography that tells a little bit about yourself, if you're a solo performer, or the members of your band.

Fans will read it because they're curious. Journalists and reviewers will read it because they want background information about you for any articles that might feature your work. So you need to write something that's creative and interesting, for the former, while still being straightforward and factual, for the latter.

I've read my share of bios that were a great exercise in fiction. A band comes up with a gimmick, perhaps involving some mystical genesis of their music or a flamboyant tale of the meeting between musicians, and the creative juices start to flow once they sit down to put it into words. Well, don't make that mistake. Restrain yourself, no matter how fun it might seem. After all, a reporter might want to know that you met your guitarist at a karaoke bar or a church sing-along; that same writer will be less impressed if he checks your bio and sees that you met while surfing a tsunami or repairing the international space station. (If you're the Beatles, you can craft a story about a flaming pie, but I'm assuming you're NOT the Beatles.)

First, gather your basics. Who's in the band, what instruments do they play, what kind of music do you make together. (It's a good idea for people who stumble onto your site by accident to be clear whether you're a bluegrass banjo picker or a death-metal ensemble.) Make the facts clear and easy to find.

Individual factoids about each band member are a good idea, too, but these should be further down the page, or even linked to another page entirely.

Beyond that, a short tale about how you met or a vivid description of your performance style can only spice up the page. But again, don't go wild. After all, you're selling yourself as a musician, not a creative writer. And, because this is a website, be sure to decorate the page a little with photos. But don't overdue it so much that it takes five minutes to load your page. (And here's another hint: don't look bored in your pictures, because if YOU'RE bored with your music, why would I want to hear it?)

Finally, spare a thought for presentation. A bio should be easy to read, so don't place it over a busy background or use an eye-straining font. Make sure you use something basic - Times and Helvetica are always good, safe choices - and make the font size large enough to read easily on small monitors. Keep the background plain; shift the photos to the top, bottom or sides.

Cheers!

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