What is a DJ Biography?
A DJ's bio is a narrative weapon designed to explain an artist at a glance. Here, you can choose how to showcase your style, journey, and accomplishments. Making the DJ bio an essential tool for connecting with promoters and earning DJ gigs.
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ChatGPT Prompt
Why Have a DJ Bio?
Besides promoters and event organizers, your DJ bio can help build a connection with fans. Especially in the early stages of your career. If written the right way, a bio will be the quickest way to tell a person about you and what you are looking to achieve.
Keep in mind that you will likely use a version of your bio in promotional materials as well. Including on music platforms like SoundCloud, and social media like Facebook or Instagram.
How Long Should a DJ Bio Be?
Generally, your DJ bio should be 3 paragraphs at the most. The length can vary depending on what you are trying to do, but longer bios won't hold the reader's attention. Plus, some opportunities or collaborations may have space requirements. Often limiting you to one paragraph or up to 200 words.
To break it down, there are 3 common bio variations you will need:
A two-sentence elevator pitch is perfect for quick introductions.
A medium 1-2 paragraph bio is ideal for your Electronic Press Kit (EPK) and event profiles. This will often act as your main bio.epk
Then, if you want to share more of your journey, a 3 paragraph bio is the most effective.
“Terran is a riddim dubstep DJ that merges a high-energy stage presence with an intricate mixing style. Every second hand-crafted with meticulous timing to build suspense and subvert expectations. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he became obsessed with DJing at 17. His passion for music formed from the iconic drum patterns of 90s and 2000s hip-hop. Scrolling the depths of SoundCloud and Datpiff for the next hot track - until the day he found electronic music. Introduced by early icons like TheFatRat, Butch Clancy, and Flux Pavilion, Terran was just in time for the bass revolution.
Over the next 6 years, Terran would release a diverse collection of projects. Touching everything from dubstep and riddim to drum and bass, house, and more. Today, he is driven by the desire to curate memorable moments through music. Drawing inspiration from artists like Codd Dubz, Midnight T, and Aweminus to leave his mark on the scene. His relentless effort saw him releasing over 700 hours of content to promote the brand. Resulting in a strong foundation of supporters who eagerly anticipate his next milestone.
Looking to the future, Terran is set on continuing to innovate. He regularly releases DJ mixes and is diving into producing original tracks. With plans to host his first live event and spotlight the local electronic music scene. Most recently dropping Arcane, a 20 minute dubstep & riddim mix, on SoundCloud. Beyond the music, he is dedicated to turning his website, Terrvform, into the ultimate resource for DJs and producers.”
How to Write Your DJ Bio (in 6 Steps)
Start by collecting all relevant details about your music career into one document. Do your best to write down your entire story from start to finish. Answer questions like; what music influences you? What is your personal relationship with electronic music? How would you describe your artist branding?
Then, find examples from professional DJs and journalists in your niche to guide the structure. For example, Insomniac has an entire page dedicated to resident artist bios of all genres.
This will help you see how to balance sharing your story and bragging with class. After that, use them as a framework to organize the information in your rough draft.
If you do create a 3 paragraph bio, you have the opportunity to make it modular. Meaning you can have variations of your bio within the longer story, as seen in Terran's DJ press kit above.
Step 1: Introduce Yourself
As early in the bio as possible, introduce yourself. Then, describe your sound, genre, and style of music with engaging words that paint a picture of your brand. Compare your act to similar artists or mention your influences to give a better sense of your musical identity.
It can help to think about what your target audience would want to hear. Or, if you're a beginner DJ, what a similar artist's target audience would want to hear.
Step 2: Outline Your Musical Journey
After the introduction, add context by sharing your personal journey in music. Outline key transitions, such as how you went from a music enthusiast to a DJ, or pivotal decisions that shaped your career. Or, reflect on what your music aims to achieve for listeners.
You can also highlight any community-focused initiatives, such as hosting your own event. This will show that you are active and able to connect with fans.
Step 3: List Your Achievements
Next, detail your most recognizable achievements in your DJ bio. Mention the notable gigs you've performed at, including specific cities, states, or events. A common move here is to list artists you have opened up for or collaborated with. This can give the reader a better understanding of your history as an artist.
Describe any competitions, scholarships, or awards you have won that relate to your journey. As well as any tracks or projects that stand-out. If you have formal music education, save that information for the end of your DJ bio.
This piece of your bio will show people why you are qualified to perform in the music industry.
Talk About the Future
Always include a sentence about your upcoming performances, releases, or goals. This not only keeps your bio current but also informs readers about what's next.
For example, when your bio is used on digital event flyers, you can mention your upcoming release. Adding free marketing impressions, and letting new fans know that you work hard.
Step 4: Highlight Your USPs
For longer DJ bios, make sure to include and emphasize your Unique Selling Points (USPs).
These are the qualities that set you apart from the thousands of other DJs. At this point, reflect on your bio to check that you write each point in an organic way.
Write about your style of music, custom visuals, or impactful sound design. Either way, your USPs should showcase what makes you special without feeling forced.
Step 5: Choose the Tone of Your DJ Bio
The tone and cadence of your DJ bio should mirror your brand image and personality. If you are a riddim dubstep DJ, you wouldn't want a bubbly, peaceful bio. You'd want something that reflects the intense energy of your stage presence.
Here are a few examples of DJ bio tone-of-voice:
Vibrant, lively, full of enthusiasm
Subtle, introspective, personable
Passionate, friendly, loud
Step 6: Write an Engaging Introduction (Elevator Pitch)
Now that you've organized your ideas and drafted a bio, it's time to write your elevator pitch.
An elevator pitch is 1-2 sentences that defines the major selling points of your brand. Write as though you are explaining yourself to someone for the first time, and they have never listened to music. Your end result should be specific and, more importantly, memorable.
Getting this perfect can be the hardest part of the process, but is very important. The goal here is to optimize the essential information in the intro of your bio. Readers usually scan content, so the beginning is always the most likely to be read in full. This pitch should grab the reader's attention immediately, and set the tone for the rest of your DJ bio.
From here, adjusting the story in your main bio to fit this starting point should come much easier. If you need to fill space, or need inspiration for what to write next - check the first draft you wrote for more details.
First or Third Person?
Your DJ Bio should be written in the third person. This helps to maintain professionalism, and lets you separate yourself from the writing. Plus, it's the preferred style to incorporate into marketing materials by promoters.
Writing in the first person is what makes a biography feel self-promotion. With a third person tone, it feels like a journalist documenting a musician.
If you find it challenging to write about yourself this way, start by writing in first person. Then, use ChatGPT or a similar tool to help translate your narrative into a third-person story. It won't be perfect, but it can influence new creative writing ideas.
Where to Add Your DJ Bio
Your elevator pitch, or one-paragraph DJ bio is perfect for social media platforms. While a more detailed 2-3 paragraph bio is ideal for your Electronic Press Kit (EPK). As well as your website, and music platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify, and Mixcloud.
Then, once you get a booking, promoters will want it for digital event flyers. Or, if you earn a DJ residency at a night club, it'll appear on the venue website and social media.
Whether you're a DJ, producer, or musician, you'll want to add a version of your new DJ bio anywhere you can fit it!
18 Questions to Answer in Your DJ Bio
To help inspire your writing, here are 18 questions you can answer in your DJ biography:
What first made you passionate about music and DJing?
When did you get started as a DJ or musician?
What genres or performance styles do you specialize in?
Who are your major musical influences?
How has your style evolved over time? What have you learned?
What unique elements do you bring to each performance?
What are your most notable gigs played so far? How many people?
Have you released any original songs, remixes, or mashups?
If you produce your own music, are you self taught or formally educated?
What do you enjoy most about being a DJ or musician?
What challenges have you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?
How do you cultivate a fanbase?
What feedback do you often receive from your audience?
How do you balance your music career with other obligations?
What upcoming projects or gigs are you excited about?
What long-term goals do you have for your music career?
What achievements helped to define your career?
What message or experience do you aim to provide through music?
ChatGPT Prompt for Writing Your DJ Bio
With the goal of earning a booking, adding a personal touch to your EPK is key. ChatGPT is an excellent tool for organizing your bio, but the final version should feel unique. It should be influenced by insights from electronic music journalists so it can appeal to promoters.
Fortunately, we've designed a ChatGPT prompt for just this occasion:
You are a professional {Insert Genre} journalist and event writer. Your job is to create a professional DJ/producer/musician bio based on their story that appeals to promoters and helps cultivate a fanbase.
Here is your introduction to the artist you are writing for: {Insert Introduction}
For context, here is their musical journey: {Insert Musical Journey}
Here is their list of notable achievements: {Insert List of Achievements}
Here are their USPs, or what sets them apart from competitors: {Insert USPs}
First, pull all of the facts listed in the artist’s “musical journey” section that could potentially be used in their 3 paragraph bio. Please create an organized list of each relevant point.
Then, use the information about the artist presented above to write a 3 paragraph artist bio with around 250 words. Make sure to use their brand tone of voice, which is {Insert Tone of Voice}.
Start the first paragraph with “{Insert Elevator Pitch}”, and maintain short, clear sentences written at a 9th grade level.
If you provide enough information, you should end up with a result like this. Then, compare it to an industry standard example to finalize your information and tone.
DJ Bio Mistakes to Avoid
Lying or Exaggerating
Lying about achievements or exaggerating your experiences will damage your credibility and reputation. Stick to talking about the truth in an engaging way.
Name Dropping
It’s okay to mention collaborations or gigs played alongside well-known artists, within reason. Excessive name-dropping in your main bio can come off as disingenuous or trying too hard.
Overly Specific Sub-Genres
When explaining your musical style, using convoluted sub-genre descriptions can confuse readers. Instead, reference a common genre or use a combination of recognizable ones. Including, but not limited to, dubstep, house, techno, tearout, and electronic music.
Writing a Novel
Keep your DJ biography concise and to the point. Long-winded bios with run-on sentences and poor grammar will lose the reader's interest. Depending on what you are writing the bio for, aim to strike a balance between informative and creative writing.
Repetitive Content
It goes without saying, but avoid repeating the same information in different sections. Each part should contribute new information, ideally building upon previous points.
Technical Language
Using uncommon or oddly specific language will lower the quality of the content. Unless your specific target audience would understand and gain value from those phrases.
Examples of Professional DJ Bios
When writing your DJ bio, it's important to reference examples from professional DJs. They too have worked hard to craft the perfect message. Plus, many top artists work with journalists to write an effective story.
Here are a few examples of great DJ bios from the electronic music industry:
Excision
DJ, producer and festival creator Excision (Jeff Abel) resides at the epicenter of an ever-expanding realm of Bass Music. Hailing from Kelowna, British Columbia, Abel is a long-standing pioneer of the North American Dubstep scene, cultivating a huge, passionate community of fans over 17 years of relentless touring. His expansive discography traverses a wide range of bass sounds across five full-length studio albums, 17 fan-favorite mixes, and a list of countless EPs and singles, amassing well over 2 billion streams globally.
Rusko
Nearly a decade ago, Rusko demanded the world to wake the fuck up, and it did. Now he’s back to push the envelope further and prove that the UK sound that made him iconic is, as powerful now as it was then.
Armin Van Buuren
Whenever he’s not on tour or having a daddy day with his daughter Fenna and son Remy, Armin locks himself up in the studio. Giving meaning to his famous quote “Don’t be a prisoner of your own style”, he explores the boundaries of EDM through his originals and remixes. Some of his most beloved works, such as ‘Communication’, ‘Burned With Desire’, ‘Blue Fear’, ‘Shivers’, and ‘Yet Another Day’, have grown into highly revered classics, withstanding the test of time.
While popular acts have professional bios, they often don’t need them to appeal to promoters. Their achievements and impact alone is enough. For this reason, bios from smaller artists can be better since they are actively growing.
Levity
Levity is an electronic Trio composed of Chicago’s John Hauldren, Los Angeles’s PJ Carberry, and Minnesota’s Josh Tarum. Their colorful sounds, upbeat drums, and euphoric soundscapes coated with playful vocals will transport you to the beach no matter where you are. Having only started in 2019, the Levity boys have amassed over 3 million streams across all platforms and landed official remixes for some of the biggest names in music like Tinashe, Louis The Child, Quinn XCII, Chelsea Cutler, and Silent Child. Their live shows are known for their unique stage energy, crowd interaction, and artistic blend of electronic sub-genres, as they aren’t there to just DJ, but to put on a performance.
Deucez
Growing up in hard conditions in Michigan, Chris (a.k.a Deucez) found solace in music at an early age. Being his only source of comfort, music quickly became Deucez’ passion. Beginning with guitar at age 5 and moving to percussion at age 10, Deucez had an impeccable desire to gain as much music knowledge as possible. At age 12 Deucez focused his energies on digital music production due to a lack of peers to form a band with. Since then he has become consumed by his love for electronic music and his desire to be the best musician he can be. Chris has achieved some amazing accomplishments with his music, having 2 mixes featured on Electric Area on Sirius XM, and a #1 hit on Spinnin’ Records talent pool for 2 weeks! Deucez leaves it all out on the stage and puts every ounce of himself into his sets and original tracks. He is a highly experienced performer and is guaranteed to keep crowd energy high.
SCYQ
SCYQ is a self-taught experimental sound designer and DJ based just outside of Boston. With over 6 years of dedication, he has cultivated a diverse discography that ranges from funky hyper-pop to heavy trap and dubstep. The impact of his music is best showcased through his debut label release, “Rico,” which surpassed 20k plays on the legendary Head Bang Society. An energetic and bouncy style that he brings to every set.
Conclusion
Writing a compelling DJ bio is essential for booking gigs, enhancing your DJ press kit, and effective music marketing. Whether you're DJing a night club or are a producer looking to make your mark, a well-written bio will help your career.
It is a powerful tool for artist branding and self-promotion. Helping you stand out to journalists, promoters, and fans alike. Take the time to ensure your bio is as dynamic as your live performance.
By the time you're finished, you'll be the first person with a bio like yours!
