Shauk

Seriously every bio I come across is written in 3rd person narrative.

Most of them are poorly done, in the case of DJ's basically saying "so and so has played before/after the likes of <insert famous dj here>" as if it pertains to them somehow. I've played after paul oakenfold.... no seriously, it probably wasn't even in the same country, or venue, or month, but I've played after him too

So do you think people seriously have to write this way about themselves to get noticed? I'm seriously thinking about taking a tongue in cheek approach to this whole "self marketing" thing. So lets see, every DJ Bio i've seen of the big names seems to have the obligitory "landmark" photo. For seattle, it's posing with the space needle, for new york, seems to be like, blurry subways or something,

If I gotta go outta my way to do this i'm thinking of just putting a flight case over my head and holding up a sign that says "Obligatory flight case/landmark photo"


I understand the idea behind hyping yourself to people who have no idea what or who you are, you're selling an image, and this image pushes a service, you're selling your service as an aspiring musician/dj/performer of the sort, and in turn selling some cd's as well.

I just feel like, if I have such an inability to even manage writing in the 3rd person, the rest of this doesn't look good for me. I guess this is why people try to hire managers, I dunno.

thoughts? ideas for alternate routes?

roachboy

yeah...you're right.
there are two different things mixed up in your op, shauk, in my opinion--there's what this sort of press stuff is when you read it just to read it--and then there's the question of how much latitude you have to screw about with the form in the context of a press kit--which is not about what these things *are* but rather about what you want them *to do for you* as a musician.

1. what they are:

bios/puff pieces are written in a kind of icky passive voice, mostly in order to obscure the simple fact that they are written by the people they are about.

you can't just do the anti-thing because, well, it's not a new idea in itself--so if you screw around with this format, and it's part of your press kit, unless it's really slick at the levels of form and content, you're basically saying:

"hi there...don't hire me. i'm an amateur. i think i'm funny. so i'm likely to irritate you too."

there are a ton of musicians in the world, and this sort of stuff annoys everyone, so don't imagine you're the first to notice something kinda fake about it. just saying. i've learned this over time....i still dislike this level of the game. but i've resigned myself to it, because its a means to an end.

you could make an artist's statement--they're a bit less obnoxious versions of the same thing--but they are written in the first person. the point behind them is basically "I'M INTERESTING!" but the fact that they're less goofy at the level of writing makes them feel and read as less obviously false documents. there are lots of types of artist statements--you can tweeze about the web and find lots of examples. some are shorter, some longer, some biographical and others about the conceptual underpinnings of the work being done, etc etc etc.

whether this makes sense is a function of the kind of spaces you want to play: if you're after a more recital=hall type gig, then they're functional--if you want to spin sets in a club, they don't help. for my collective, playing clubs is not really an option, so we have to present ourselves in a way that positions us in between being musicians and sound artists--so we have a package that we send out shaped by that.

the aspect of all this that annoys me more is the list of reviews--but that's i think mostly because we're outside the normal run of music and critics tend to work inside rigid genres--they know the form, but are not necessarily musicians themselves and so there's no reasons to expect that they will know what the fuck they are talking about when it comes to something new or that they aren't exposed to on a regular basis. there are exceptions, of course, but in the main, it's a pretty annoying thing. but if you're working inside a straighter or more mainstream form, it might look differently to you, so chock this one up to my own experience.


2. on what you want this to do:

anyway, you have to remember what all this crap is about:

a. providing some idea for the person who books a club that you are a plausible draw
or:
a.1) that if you're starting out, you're professional enough that you won't drive out people who are there just because.

but the main thing is that:

what any of us who does this sort of thing wants
is for the person who books the venue
to listen to the demo.
that's where the real evidence is about what you do and how you do it--you dont want to create any pretext for bookers not to listen to it.

there are alot of bands, alot of djs out there. there are alot of people looking to get gigs.

behind this is the rather pathetic reality of the situation---ESPECIALLY when you're first starting to take your stuff out:

if you're looking to play clubs, in a way the gigs aint about you.

you fit into the picture as a way for a club to generate revenue for itself: so
it's about selling drinks and getting the percentage off the door.

so don't get all confused and imagine that any of this is about your music in itself.

it isn't.

that's maybe why the publicity aspect has so little to do with what you actually do--they're separate from each other in fact.

you'll have more options in terms of how you present yourself as you build up a profile through playing out, building an audience or whatever.

but remember this (i have to remind myself about it too, because i get irritated by the same kind of thing..)

folk have to know you exist to like your music.
i would imagine that you want folk to like your music.
so dont do things that will reduce the possibility of this win-win situation happening.

but all this applies mostly at the level of the material you send out.


3. on the list of performances:

so far as this "artist's resumé" or list of gigs is concerned, i think you just have to suck it up and deal. i wouldn't suggest putting pretend gigs on it.
i dont know why. karma maybe.

with my collective, it took us five years of arranging EVERYTHING about performances in philly--before there was an experimental music scene of any coherence in the city--to build up a resume solid enough to start working for us. when the scene did take shape, we found ourselves--to our shock--kinda important within it, and we started getting asked to do alot of work. but then we left.

here in chicago, i had a residency that gave us both support to work and a lot of publicity, but its still not obvious after that how to go about breaking into the scene here.

it's a project.
it's possible that you can release a demo cd and it opens up alot of stuff for you--but it's more likely that you just have to decide to go through the grind of making this a priority for you and doing the grunt work required to get the experience and exposure you need.

hell, everyone would like to be "discovered" in the way columbus "discovered" america--everyone would like to quit their day gig and just do music.
maybe that's why its so rare that it happens--the pool is full of people swimming about waiting to be discovered.
it's like playing the lottery, except it's more likely you'll win the lottery.

but hey, maybe you'll be the exception and all this will turn out to be wrong.

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aberkok

Thanks for sharing your experience, roachboy. Very helpful. The little bits I can add: I looked at a lot of bio information and copied the best parts for my own. Not the actual facts, but the phrasing.

Adjectives are important!! Don't use anything ambiguous. The big one that people misuse is "unique." Stay away from that one... of course you're unique. Saying it is treating the reader like an idiot.

My favourite resource for stuff like this is Beyond Talent, my Angela Myles Beeching, who was career counselor for Boston's New England Conservatory, a top school for jazz and classical (the bottom feeders of the gig-getters' ladder). I just found most of it here.

Good luck...well... actually I don't believe there's really any luck involved. Learn to write a decent bio for yourself and remove one obstacle to getting booked.

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Shauk

eh, welL i'm not NEW to this self promotion thing, I did it half assedly 7 years ago when I wasn't really sure of my ability to perform and I quickly realized that promoters and venue managers don't care if you're good or not, they only care if you have a following.

They perk up a lot more when you say "i can bring in 500 heads" vs "I have been playing for 5 years"

one of those puts $$$ in thier pockets and no matter how nice you are, thats what they care about when filling out a lineup.

That, that I understand....

I'm dealing less with the intricacies of dealing with owners and managers, they're easy, money talks.

it's the aspect of how you appeal to the average joe.

Theres all sorts of ad methods that people use. Sex appeal (female dj's enjoy this one more than males) Bandwagoning (omg i'm just like Tiesto: who is engaged to a 19 year old btw, hes 38, not that it matters) Peer Pressure (hey, i'm 6'6" and if I show up on your doorstep saying listen to my music, you better!) Incentivizing (Buy my cd and get tickets to my next show for free!)

so on and so on... I just don't really know where to start. I don't think the online methodology works starting out. Look at Ron Paul for instance. Too many eggs in the online basket. People want something tangible in their hands, they want to meet artists, they want signatures that are worthless but might mean something some day eh? They want cool logos and branding, they basically want you, as an artist, or self promoting act of any kind, to do all the work, you gotta work towards the people, and you gotta work towards the managers/owners.

I just still sit here going "huh" over the bio bit though.

and aberkok, yes, I hate those people who are like like "I sound like nothing you've ever heard before!" and you know it's a bunch of crap. ho hum, broken beat or 4/4 beat, i've heard it, sorry, bassline? synth riff? vocal track? it doesn't matter. You sound like something someone has done at least once. You just don't know who.

In my opinion it's probably better to fill out that "sounds like" field with as many artists as you can that you actually drew inspiration from. It's how people will find you online when they're looking for that similar influence.

anyways I'm ranting off my rocker here.

vanblah

The reason bios and press kits are written in 3rd person is so that when you send it to someone who may want to print it in a newspaper, magazine or blog all they have to do is cut-and-paste.

You want to make it as easy as possible for someone to write about you or talk about you. If you do it in first person then you are asking them to re-write what you wrote.

Actually, that's what separates the professionals from the amateurs. What you want to do is embrace the things you sound like and your influences. Call attention to them. Most people want to have an idea of what you sound like so that they have a frame of reference. You don't want to admit ripping off a sound ... but you should always be able to describe your influences. It's called "Unique Familiarity."

PulpMind

I threw a party in Seattle a while ago, and this was the bio we came up with for our headliner, Shitmat :

"Since the release of "Suck My Cock You Pretentious IDM Music Critics [ this took one minute to make mix]," Henry has set a world-wide precedent in hardcore which has made him the most sought after personality of our time. Always pushing boundaries, mocking taboos, and by remixing the likes of Eminem, Ace of Base, Snoop Dogg, The Bengals, and Motorhead, he has been rightfully elevated to a legendary status! And you ain't got shit to say!"

All of it is true, but hot damn if that doesn't make some obscure breakcore artist from the UK sound like he's fucking Moby.

Bios serve no purpose but to inform the ignorant and entertain the informed.