How to Write a Bio that Doesn't Suck!

A bio can be a tough nut to crack for independent artists. So how do you write a good bio?

First of all, proper spelling and punctuation are imperative. Don’t have errors in your bio! Have other people proofread your bio, especially if this isn’t one of your strengths. (I’ve been guilty of spelling and grammatical errors plenty of times myself – just make sure you don’t let yourself off the hook too easily. Proofread. Care. It matters)

Structure your paragraphs in a way that’s easy to read. Be digestible. Giant paragraphs and run-on sentences are amateur and make your bio difficult to read – not what you want!

As for the content, there are many ways to approach it. Here’s one of them:

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How to Turn Your Mailing List Into Money and Enthusiasm

The mailing list is one of the most important tools that an independent artist has to market themselves. Hopefully you make it a priority to capture email addresses at every opportunity.

Here’s one way that you might turn those email addresses into money while helping to establish and sustain a win-win relationship with your fans.

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Luck?

I’ve had a number of people say things to me like, “well that’s all great, but you’ve got to be lucky” and “sadly, it’s all about who you know”. Well, I think those statements are right… except that there’s nothing sad about it. You need to be lucky and you need to know people. The good news is that you create your own luck, and if you are who you need to become and you do the things you need to do, then you’ll meet all the people you need to know.

Have you ever known someone who always seemed to get in trouble and could never seem to get out of their own way? No matter how hard they seemed to try they seemed to be the victim of circumstances conspiring against them? Well…

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Does posting up flyers really get people to go to shows?

Remember the first time you ever put up flyers for a show? I’ll bet you were probably pretty excited.

I know I was. I felt that if we put up enough flyers that even if half of one percent of all the people who saw the flyer went to the show then we’d be pack the venue and be well on our way to being famous within a few months. So we posted flyers everywhere. Big ones. Eye catching flyers that everyone would take notice of. How could it not work?! We were going to be huge.

So what happened? All our friends showed up for the first couple of shows and we had a great time. So we kept putting up flyers. More, bigger, better etc. After a while we realized that we weren’t getting anyone coming to our shows from our flyers, so we started to lose interest in putting them up. There were conflicting opinions as to whether or not they served any purpose. We never really got the whole thing worked out.

So what’s the deal? Do flyers work or not?

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How Much Money Do You Make With Your Music? Why?

The following was originally posted on IndependentRockstar.com: Are you making as much money with your music as you’d like? I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this that you’d probably like to become more successful and make more money with your music. So my questions to you is, “What is your story about why you’re not as successful as you want to be?” Is it because of the economy? Is it because club owners are greedy? Is it because the music business is going to Hell? Is it because the general public doesn’t know good music when they hear it? If you actually believe that any of those justifications are true then I challenge you to consider another way of looking at things.

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Pay to Play?

So I was at a record store recently and a girl came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a ticket to see her band at the Knitting Factory (Hollywood) for $15. I politely declined and she continued asking people around the store. She was freaking out because they needed to sell 70 tickets or they were going to get “blacklisted” from the club…..

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Are You a Beggar or a Rockstar?

What I’m going to write about is what I consider to be the biggest fundamental difference between artists who thrive and artists who struggle to survive. It’s a mindset, a paradigm, a way to view the world. Most bands out there are looking for support. They want you to help them out. Vote for them in a contest. Go to their show. Buy their CD. By you contributing to their cause you will get them far enough to get their big break. When they get their big break then they will have made it and other people will be there to give them all the resources they need and they’ll live happily ever after. There’s just one small problem with that model: It’s an illusion that will keep you trapped until long after all of your dreams are gone. It’s a fundamental misinterpretation of the way that money and value work. This strategy will no sooner make you successful then it will a beggar….

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We're All Sales People. What's Your Style?

You may not identify yourself as a salesperson, but rest assured you’re doing some selling. Whether it’s selling tickets, selling downloads or selling your drummer on the idea that he needs to start taking showers - you are in the business of selling.

The approach that you take says a lot about how you view the world. What you believe about yourself, your product and the people who you are selling to, will determine your level of fulfillment and success.

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5 Online Marketing Essentials for Musicians

With so much noise and confusion in the world of online marketing I thought it might be useful to lay out some basic starting points to form the foundation of a successful campaign. Here are 5 things that, in my opinion, are essential to maximum online exposure.

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