A booker opens your link between two other names. A journalist needs two lines about you for tonight. Someone who just heard your track wants to know who you are. In each case your bio has a few seconds to work.
Most bios fail the same way: they say a lot and tell nothing. Here is a simple formula that fixes that, three lengths you will actually need, and examples you can borrow the shape of.
The formula: five parts
Every good bio answers the same five questions, in roughly this order:
- Who you are. Name (exactly as people search for it), what you do, where you are based.
- What you do, specifically. Not "music" — deep house and minimal. Not "art" — ink illustrations of city life.
- What makes you different. One thing only: your background, your sound, your method, your story.
- Proof. Releases, shows, clients, publications, numbers — two or three, the strongest ones.
- What is next. A new EP, a tour, an exhibition. It shows you are active and gives people a reason to follow.
That is all. If a sentence does not answer one of these questions, it can go.
Three lengths you need
- Short (1–2 sentences, under 160 characters) — Instagram and TikTok bio, event listings, the line under your name on a flyer. Who you are + what you do + one proof.
- Medium (one paragraph, 60–100 words) — press kits, booking emails, festival line-ups. All five parts, one sentence each.
- Long (300–600 words) — your own page: your website or your profile on Unveilgenius. The five parts, each with room for a story.
Write the long one first. The shorter ones are easy to cut from it — the other way round never works.
Example: a DJ
Short: Alex Rivers — deep house & minimal DJ from Gdańsk. Club resident in Kraków. Debut EP «Night Ferry» out now.
Medium: Alex Rivers is a DJ and producer from Gdańsk, Poland, playing deep house and minimal sets in clubs across the country. He started on two second-hand turntables and his father's disco records, which still shape his warm, groove-first sound. Since 2022 he has held a club residency in Kraków and hosts a monthly radio show for new local producers. His debut EP «Night Ferry» came out in 2025; the second is on its way.
(Alex and the people below are made-up examples. The shape is what matters.)
Example: a model
Short: Mira Holm — editorial and runway model based in Copenhagen. Campaigns for Nordic fashion labels, editorials in print.
Medium: Mira Holm is an editorial and runway model based in Copenhagen. Scouted at 19 at a flea market in Nørrebro, she has since walked shows in Copenhagen and Stockholm and shot campaigns for two Nordic fashion labels. Clients describe her as calm and precise on set — she studied dance for ten years and it shows in movement work. This year she is focusing on editorial projects in Paris and Milan.
Notice what is missing: measurements and "passionate about fashion". Measurements go in your comp card; passion is assumed.
Example: an illustrator
Short: Taras Melnyk — ink illustrator from Lviv drawing city life, one street at a time. Work in newspapers and travel magazines.
Medium: Taras Melnyk is an illustrator from Lviv, Ukraine, known for dense black-ink drawings of ordinary streets and the people in them. He draws on location, never from photos, and finishes each piece in one sitting. His drawings have appeared in newspapers and travel magazines, and his series «Tram 2» was shown in a group exhibition in Lviv. He is currently drawing his way through the cities of the Danube for a book due next year.
Mistakes that make a bio forgettable
- Clichés. "Passionate about music since childhood", "pushing boundaries", "unique sound". Everyone writes them, so readers skip them. Replace each with a fact.
- A list of adjectives. "Creative, talented, hardworking" proves nothing. One concrete achievement does more.
- Everything you ever did. Pick the strongest two or three proofs. A long list hides the best one.
- Old information. A bio that ends in 2021 says you stopped in 2021.
- AI-written text. It reads smooth and says nothing specific — and readers and search engines both notice. Use AI to check your grammar if you like, not to invent your story.
- No location or genre. People search for "techno DJ Berlin", not just a name. Say where you are and what you do.
First person or third person?
Third person ("Alex is a DJ…") is the standard for press kits, line-ups and anything other people will copy. First person ("I am a DJ…") feels warmer on your own page and in social bios.
Pick one per version and stick to it. Mixing them in one text is the only real mistake here.
Where to put the long version
The long bio needs a home that people — and search engines — can find when they type your name. If you do not have a website, a free profile on Unveilgenius does exactly that: your text, photo, facts and links on one page at unveilgenius.com/artist/your-name. While you write it you see a live preview of the page.
Then put that link in your Instagram and TikTok bio, and use the short and medium versions everywhere else. More on getting found: How to get your own page on Google.
