7 Features Of A Perfect One Sheet

For artists reaching out for concert bookings or PR purposes, a one sheet in many ways serves as their industry resume, demonstrating no only valuable information, but also showcasing your level of professionalism. Here we look at the seven key features of the perfect one sheet.

Guest post from the ReverbNation Blog

When you’re reaching out to the media, having a one sheet is key. The one sheet shows not only your professionalism, but it’s also a great way to preview your profile in one page. A one sheet is often used in music publicity, for purposes such as media outreach, concert bookings, and business partnerships. It is also used by PR agents, distributors, and other industry professionals. 

Next to your music, a one sheet is one of your most effective ways to create a first impression of your band. In this blog post, I will outline the seven major components of the perfect one sheet for you:

1. Biography

Your biography on your one sheet should provide your story in a nutshell. In a few sentences, you should be able to provide a great first impression of yourself. You can think of this one like a 30 second elevator pitch. How would you explain your artistic identity, vision, and music in two to three sentences? Which artists do you sound like? (X meets Y meets Z).  Alternatively, defining your genre can also be really useful in this section, as it is easier for non-musicians to understand where your niche is this way. 

2. Photo

People do judge a book by its cover. Having a professional press photo or a headshot will be great to include in your one sheet, as it will give a great first impression of your vibe as an artist beyond the words. 

3. Quotes

If you have great quotes from the press about you and/or your music, you should definitely include them here. When it comes to impressing industry folks, quotes and testimonials from major media outlets might go a long way. 

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4. Peak Performance

This is the part where you should present your strongest selling points in terms of your greatest success. Did you have an award winning album? Did you have a song that got a lot of streams? 

You can also list things like:

• Peak or monthly streaming numbers
• YouTube views 
• Featured play on radio stations
• TV show appearances
• Sold out shows 
• Social media following/engagement
• Any famous artists you collaborated/recorded with 

5. Demographics

A great way to lead your one-sheet reader is by highlighting the top demographic(s) of your audience in terms of age, gender breakdown and by location (if applicable). The age demographic gives an idea about your target audience and gender breakdown, which matters to promoters and media outlets. A few years ago this information was relatively unknown unless you are a major artist. However, today many streaming platforms offer this data to artists not only for free, but on a daily updated basis. 

6. Tour Highlights

Another aspect of the one sheet you should include is your previous touring information. This one is especially important for event organizers and promoters, because it will include information such as how big of an audience you can draw to each concert, what are the types of venues that you can book, and what is your experience in terms of live performance. If you’re an act who is regularly on the road, you can also aggregate the numbers in impressive forms, such as “Has played 300 shows in the last 4 years in 4 continents and 35 countries.”

This section is by all means optional. If you are not a regularly touring act, or if you don’t play a lot of shows, you don’t have to include this section. By all means, you can absolutely be an act who regularly releases recorded music and who prefers to stay that way. This section is merely for acts who want to build their profile as a live performer. With that said, if you don’t have any big shows or venues worth mentioning, just focus on highlighting your recorded material instead.

7. Social Media Links

This one is especially useful for the digital copies of the one-sheet, as you can make clickable social media links. This way, people don’t have to search for your social media handles and links on the internet. You can make this section look better by putting clickable social media platform icons also.

Final Words

So there you have it, these are seven features of the perfect one sheet. I want to stress the importance of the design of your one sheet. The content is crucial, but you will take it to the next level if you have a clean and organized look with a nice photo. I highly suggest searching the internet for some artist one sheet examples to get some inspiration, and to get a good idea what it should look like. Always imagine that your one sheet will end up somewhere important and design it as such. After all, it might end up with a big time promoter to book a tour, or an executive of a movie studio to pitch your music to. People at these levels do not have a lot of time, so they will probably glance at your one sheet for about 10-15 seconds. Keep this in mind when you create yourone sheet, make it organized, to the point, and present the best version of your brand.