• All text on the artist pages, including the descriptions and the caption but not necessarily including the artist or band name and composition titles, must be in English.
• Use complete sentences in the descriptions and in the caption ("Tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman attended Berkeley High School and Harvard" rather than "Graduated from Berkeley High and Harvard").
• Artist/Band Names
  
  • Artist or band names may be lowercase. Make sure they are consistent.
  • Names in all-capital letters and acronyms (abbreviations for multiple-word band names) are acceptable ("cLOUDDEAD," "KMFDM," "N.E.R.D.," "T.S.O.L."). If the name is an acronym, decide whether you want to include periods ("N.W.A." vs. "SFNU"). If you use an acronym, it's helpful to include what the acronym stands for in the short and/or long description.
  • If the artist or band name contains profanity, mark the page as containing Explicit content.
  • Remember to include the if it is part of the band name ("The Bangs" vs. "Bangs"), but make it searchable without "the" in the Sort by field ("Bangs, The").
  • If possible, capitalize all the words in the name except articles ("the," "an") and prepositions under three letters ("but," "and"), unless the article or preposition is at the start or end of the name ("Moon Over Miami," "Boogie and the Woogies," "A Minor Forest").
  • If you have a legitimate right to your artist name, yet it is reserved or being used by another artist ("The Beat" vs. "the English Beat"), please modify the artist name in the following style: your band name (your city, your state abbreviation)--for example: "New Black (Austin, Tex.)."
• Composition Titles in Descriptions
  
  • Be consistent in your treatment of composition titles. We recommend putting quotes around all song titles and putting all album or EP names in italics. It's also helpful to include all song titles off 12-inches or singles; separate song titles with a slash ("Lace Wings"/"Saturday").
  • Capitalize all the words in a title except articles ("the," "an") and prepositions ("and," "but") unless the preposition is more than four letters ("from," "over") or appears at the beginning or end of the title ("Moon Over Miami," "And I Love Her So," "Cockles and Mussels").
• Instrumentation
  • Note the instruments an artist plays or his or her role in the band before or after the first mention "vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Elvis Costello" or "Elvis Costello (vocals, guitar, keyboards)".
• Lyrics
  • If you include excerpts of lyrics in the descriptions, capitalize each line and separate lines with slashes ("Got me lookin' so crazy right now/Your love's got me lookin' so crazy right now").

Artist Descriptions: We want you to create any artist description you wish. However, we encourage you to post one that will aid the listener in understanding you and your music. Try to make it as accurate and descriptive as possible, and avoid writing anything that would confuse the average music consumer. Remember, you're selling yourself.

Mandatory Description Guidelines:

• Descriptions in all-capital letters (apart from artist/band names) or all-bold/all-italicized/all-underlined letters are not permitted.
• A description should be at least one sentence, but remember, it's in your best interest to describe yourself and your music as fully as possible. We allow a maximum of 250 characters for the short description and a maximum of 8,000 characters for the full description or bio (including HTML characters).
• HTML tags are allowed in the full description. Listed below are the only HTML tags that we currently allow. To avoid having your description rejected multiple times, it is recommended that you use the HTML formatting tool provided in the "Artist Description" section. We also do not accept inline CSS tags.
  
  The following tags are allowed:
  
  
  • i/em - italics
  • b/strong - bold
  • u - underline
  • p - paragraph
  • hr - horizontal rule
  • blockquote
  • ol - ordered list
  • ul - unordered list
  • dl - definition list
  • dd - definition list definition
  • dt - definition list term

General Writing Tips:

• Clean, typo-free copy is important for a good description. We recommend that you write your description in Microsoft Word or another word-processing program. Take your time. Check for typos, grammar, and clarity. Spell-check and proofread (read it again) before copying and pasting it into the field. Finally, be sure to use the plain-text version of your final copy, as mentioned below.
  
  Important note: If you decide to compose in Microsoft Word or another word-processing program, it's important that you don't paste in curly quotes; ellipses (…), which will show up on your artist page as question marks; or any other formatting characters that are specific to that program. The easiest way to avoid this is to save the document as a text file and re-open it before pasting it into the description field, or edit the options in your word-processing program to instruct it to avoid these characters.
• Write your description in the third person (using "he," "she," or "they") rather than in the first person (using "I" or "we").
• To enhance credibility, it's best to steer clear of blatant superlatives and marketing-style language ("This is the most extraordinary band ever!!!").
• Describe your music as accurately as possible. To make sure the majority of readers understands your description, avoid technical, specialized, or obscure terminology. To discuss your music, perhaps touch on aspects of the recordings or performances. Look at influences or inspirations, genres (how they might or might not apply to the music), instrumentation, specific aspects of the songs (unique structures, tempos, dynamic shifts, lengths), lyrics, tone, mood, and other qualities.
• Include relevant information such as the names of band members, those present and perhaps those past. Discuss the origins or history of the artist or band and the work. Focus on instrumentation or techniques, particularly if unusual instruments, gear, devices, or approaches are used. Point out notable guest artists, friends, associates, and producers. If space permits, include a discography or list of recordings with release dates and labels (more detailed discography tools will be available in the future, but for now, the long description is the best place for this info). Select notable concerts, festival dates, and opening or headlining gigs. If available, include short quotes or excerpts from published reviews or features. Aspirations, goals, and ambitions are nice to include, but since those may change, it's best to concentrate on what already has occurred.
• Regardless of your writing approach, pay attention to simplicity, clarity, logic, and directness. This enhances the descriptions' readability and credibility.
• Avoid phrases such as "and more" and "and so on." Please be specific.
• Do not include abbreviations, such as "etc.," "i.e." or "e.g." Instead of "i.e." or "e.g.," use "for instance" or "for example."
• Do not start every sentence with the name of the band. Avoid repetition.
• Don't use "th" in numbers and dates. For example, use "March 25," not "March 25th."

Style Suggestions:

• Colloquial, casual language with a distinctive voice can make for a fun and effective description. How would you describe yourself, the artist, if you were talking to a stranger and wanted to catch his or her attention? If the spirit moves you, imagine how you'd tell someone unfamiliar with your work about yourself in five minutes or less and in the third person. Slang or obscure terminology should be used only carefully, if at all, to avoid confusing readers.
• In lieu of a casual, chatty description, consider an objective, informational approach. This can be appealing to readers and music fans who want to learn as much as they can as quickly and easily as possible. If you don't consider yourself an experienced writer, or if you prefer uncomplicated prose, this style is an effective, reader-friendly choice. Just remember to write about yourself and your work in the third person. Stick to the facts.

Short descriptions:

• These are 250 characters or less, and they are hopefully catchy descriptions of your music. These should serve to grab the eye of a visitor and offer a bit of flair. These should always be in the third person and attempt to convey a mixture of fact and creativity.
  
  Good: "Once the prime movers in the Williamsburg music scene, the Liars bucked fashion and moved to the New Jersey wilderness after Brooklyn became a tourist trap. Experiments in noise, dub, and drone recall Matmos, Can, and Public Image Limited."
  
  Not-so-good: "I've been playing and writing music for 20-odd years now and have played in nearly every town in the U.K. I enjoy making people's hair stand on end from my voice, which is classically trained."