Every music artist should have a One-Sheet and know the importance of it. A One-Sheet is a one-page informational graphic summarizing your artist career and music. This is important when pitching yourself for press coverage and gigs.
A One-Sheet contains multiple components including: a brief biography, description of your music style/genre(s), career highlights, performance highlights, socials, your website, your music, your logo, and pictures of yourself.
This article will be going over each component of a One-Sheet and walk you through how to create your own. There will also be examples to help you when crafting yours.
How to Create a One-Sheet as a Music Artist
Design
Depending on how you like to work, you can create the design first or create it after gathering all of your information. This can be created in programs like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, but if you don’t have graphic design experience I recommend using Canva.
Canva has dozens of templates available to use for free. Search “press kits” and choose a template you like. You will probably need to change it up a little to fit all of the information necessary.
Change the colors and fonts to match your artist brand. Canva also offers many free clip art elements. Consider using ones that match your brand. For example, if you use butterflies often in your content, you can add a butterfly clip art to your design. Definitely do not go overboard though.
If you have a logo, make sure to also include that as well.
Images
Make sure to include 1-3 images of yourself. These images should be professionally shot and represent your artist brand. Aim for at least one headshot and one shot of you live in action, preferably at a live performance. You should not include images with other people unless it is at a live performance or you’re in a band.
Don’t make these images too big as you will want enough room for the rest of the information. You can even add an image in the background and lower the opacity (or put an overlay on it) so that you are able to put text on top.
Biography
Your biography and music description can be in a one summary paragraph. If you would like to put them seperate, that also works. If you put it together in one summary, you should also put a brief 1-2 sentence summary at the top for those just glancing.
Your biography should include where you are from, what specific musical talent you have, and anything else about you that is relevant to music. You can even add career highlights if you need to fill more space.
An example of a summarized biography (specifically catered for getting gigs) would be,
DJ & Producer from Barcelona living in the NYC area with experience DJing all around Manhattan, mixing top 40 & hip-hop with feel-good & groovy house music.
Description of Music
A description of your music is even more important than your biography. This includes the genre(s), musical elements prominently used throughout your discography, your inspirations, and similar sounds. Make sure your description makes sense and reads fluidly. Try not to use basic words or phrases but rather get creative and be descriptive.
Career Highlights / Accomplishments
The career highlights section can include a number of things. Think about what makes you stand out or what shows that you are successful or growing. This can include follower counts on socials, streaming numbers, being featured on prominent blogs, collaborations with well-known artists, or artists who have supported you. This section is extremely important and may be the first place that the viewer looks. Try to put at least 5 bullet point highlights.
You can even split this up into two different sections, music highlights and social highlights.
Performance Highlights
This is similar to your career highlights but focuses on live performances. If you are yet to perform live you can either leave this out or use highlights from live streams (if applicable). Your performance highlights should include your top 3-5 performances.
You can judge which are your top performances based off of attendance and how well known the venue is. Each bullet point should include the venue, location, and approximate amount of attendees. Make sure to include if you have opened for any artists.
Socials / Website
It is extremely important to link your socials on your One-Sheet. If someone reads through your whole One-Sheet and is still interested in learning more about you, they will want to go to your socials.
Start with adding the icons for each social platform you would like to feature. It is not necessary to include platforms that you aren’t active on. If you are using Canva, you can search for each icon in the element tab.
From there you can either type your handle next to it, or even better, hyperlink it to the logo. For this hyperlink to work you must save this as a PDF optimized for web. Don’t forget to also link your website.
Music
You should include your music on your One-Sheet. This can be presented in various ways. You can include an icon next to your social icons that hyperlink to your music. I recommend having it link either to Spotify, Apple Music, and/or SoundCloud.
You can also just use a basic music note or play button clip art and have it direct to a link tree for streaming on multiple platforms. Though I recommend linking your music on a streaming platform, if necessary you can also have it link to Google Drive or similar.
Example:
Optional:
Performance Clips
This isn’t necessary but can definitely help if you’re specifically using this One-Sheet for booking gigs. You can present these as a cover image of the clip and put a play button icon on top. Hyperlink the icon to a Google Drive where they are able to view it. You can also present this just through a hyperlinked play button icon. Make sure the Google Drive allows access for anyone with the link.
Recomendations
Recommendations are not necessary but adds credibility. Especially if you have worked with well-known people. Depending on how much space you have left, aim to add at least one recommendation and up to three. These recommendations should be very brief. They should only be about one to three sentences.
Quotes
Quotes are not necessary but also adds credibility, sometimes even more-so than recommendations. If you have blogs or other forms of media saying good things about you, you should show this on your One-Sheet. If you have been covered by a well-known media publication, it can help greatly for you to take one to three sentences of what they have written about you and quote them. Make sure to cite your source.
Now you have learned the importance of having a One-Sheet and exactly how to make one, step-by-step. Having a One-Sheet officially takes you to the next level as an artist. First, it makes you look a lot more professional. But most importantly, it showcases your whole artist career and music in one place. All of the most important details in one easily consumable format.
For more questions about One-Sheets or Press Kits, please reach out directly to us via email at info@respectmyregion.com.
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