Nobody needs a beautifully written artist bio. They need three of them — a 50-word version, a 100-word version and a 200-word press version — sitting in one document, ready to paste. Below are all three as fill-in-the-blank templates, plus the rules for filling the blanks without sounding like every other press release.

What an artist bio has to do

A bio has one job: let a stranger decide, in a few seconds, whether you are worth their attention. That stranger is usually a playlist curator with forty submissions to get through, a promoter checking whether you fit a bill, or someone who just heard a song and wants to know who made it.

None of them are reading for pleasure. They are scanning for three things — what you sound like, where you’re from, and whether anyone else has taken you seriously yet. Everything else is decoration, and decoration is what makes bios long, vague and interchangeable.

Which is why you want three lengths. The same paragraph cannot serve an Instagram bio and a festival application, and rewriting from scratch each time is how artists end up with an out-of-date bio in six places at once.

Have these five facts written down first

  • Where you are based. City and country. Curators and promoters filter on it constantly, and it is the fastest bit of context you can give.
  • Your genre in words a stranger would use. Not the one you would defend in an argument — the one someone would type into a search box.
  • Two or three concrete things about the sound. An instrument, a production choice, a vocal quality, what the songs are about. Concrete beats poetic here.
  • One credential you can evidence. A venue you played, a playlist that added you, a station that spun it, a support slot, a release count, a producer’s name. One real thing is worth five adjectives.
  • What is next, with a date. A bio that doesn’t mention anything upcoming reads as a bio nobody has touched in a year.

Three lengths, three jobs

Copy all three templates below into one note. Fill in every bracket, then delete any bracket you could not fill honestly — a shorter bio always beats an inflated one, and a curator spots a padded claim instantly.

Write in the third person, and put your name in the first five words: press copy-paste bios wholesale, and both search engines and streaming profiles reward the name being early and unambiguous.

The 50-word bio

For social profiles, your front page, gig listings, and any submission form with a tight character limit.

[ARTIST NAME] is a [GENRE] [artist / band / producer] from [CITY, COUNTRY]. [He / She / They] make [TWO OR THREE WORDS FOR THE SOUND] songs about [WHAT THEY ARE ACTUALLY ABOUT]. Since [YEAR], [ARTIST NAME] has released [NUMBER] singles and played [VENUE, FESTIVAL OR SUPPORT SLOT]. New single [TITLE] is out [DATE].

The 100-word bio

For your streaming profiles, playlist pitches, blog submissions, and the short field on festival applications.

[ARTIST NAME] is a [GENRE] [artist / band / duo] based in [CITY]. [He / She / They] write [DESCRIBE THE SONGS IN PLAIN WORDS], built on [MAIN INSTRUMENT OR SOUND] and [SECOND ELEMENT — a texture, a production choice, a vocal quality]. If you like [ARTIST A] or [ARTIST B], the ground will be familiar.

Since [YEAR], [ARTIST NAME] has put out [NUMBER] singles and [EP / ALBUM TITLE], picked up support from [PLAYLIST, STATION, BLOG OR ARTIST], and played [VENUE / FESTIVAL / TOUR SUPPORT].

New [single / EP] [TITLE], out [DATE] on [LABEL / self-released], was recorded [WHERE, OR HOW] and [ONE LINE ON WHAT IT IS ABOUT]. Listen at [YOUR LINK].

The 200-word press bio

For press releases, your EPK or one-sheet, radio pluggers, and enquiries to venues and promoters. Keep the contact line at the bottom — journalists look for it first.

[ARTIST NAME] is a [GENRE] [artist / band] from [CITY, COUNTRY], making [ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION OF THE SOUND — the sentence you would say out loud to a stranger].

[He / She / They] started out [WHERE THE STORY BEGINS — a bedroom, a covers band, a choir, a club night] in [YEAR], and the records since have [WHAT CHANGED OR DEVELOPED]. The songs sit somewhere between [ARTIST A] and [ARTIST B], though [WHAT KEEPS THEM FROM SIMPLY BEING THAT — an instrument, a subject, a way of singing] stops the comparison from settling.

Since [YEAR], [ARTIST NAME] has released [NUMBER] singles and [EP / ALBUM TITLE]. Support has come from [PLAYLIST / STATION / PUBLICATION], and live [he / she / they] have played [VENUE] and [FESTIVAL], and supported [ARTIST].

New [single / EP / album] [TITLE] arrives on [DATE] via [LABEL / self-released]. Recorded [WHERE] with [PRODUCER], it [ONE SENTENCE ON WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS ABOUT]. [ONE CLOSING LINE — the tour, the plan, or why it matters now].

Press enquiries: [EMAIL]. Photos, artwork and streaming links: [YOUR FRONT PAGE URL].

Filling in the blanks without sounding like everyone else

Swap adjectives for facts. “Hard-hitting, atmospheric production” tells a curator nothing. “Recorded live in a village hall with one microphone” tells them everything, and it is checkable.

Delete the phrases everyone uses. An eclectic mix of genres, genre-defying, up-and-coming, emerging, passionate about music, needs no introduction. Every one of these appears in thousands of bios and none of them describe anything.

Pick comparisons a stranger could name. Two artists, no more, and not the biggest act in your genre — comparing yourself to the household name reads as ambition rather than information.

Be careful with numbers. Any figure you put in — streams, followers, release count — is a promise to come back and update it.

Say what is next. A dated upcoming release is the difference between an artist who is working and one who was. Update that line at the start of every campaign, alongside the rest of your release admin — see how to release music independently.

Read it aloud first. If you would be embarrassed saying a sentence to someone in a pub, it does not belong in a bio.

Where each version goes

The 50-word version goes on your Playloudr front page, your social profile bios (trimmed to fit), gig listings, and any submission box with a character count. If someone is browsing rather than researching, this is the one they see. What to put on an artist landing page covers what should sit around it.

The 100-word version goes on your Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists profiles — updated inside those tools, not here — plus playlist pitches, blog submissions and the short field on applications.

The 200-word version goes in your press release, your EPK, and any email to a promoter, venue or plugger who has never heard of you.

Keep all three in one document, dated at the top. When something changes, you update one file and paste from it — rather than discovering a two-year-old bio on a festival listing the week you are due to play it.