How to Create an Artist One Sheet

What is needed in an artist one-sheet. This article will describe each element necessary in a one-sheet for a release book, A&R pitch, radio, and publicity.

Instructions

How to Create an Artist One Sheet

1. Open Microsoft Word (or whatever program you are using) and split your page into two columns.

2. If you are writing one sheets for a marketing plan, write at the top of the first column the kind of one-sheet you are writing (release book, publicity, etc.) We will start with the release book one-sheet.

3. Under where you wrote "release book" at the top of the first column, write the name of the artist. Make it stand out by making the font one size larger than the rest and bold. Underneath the name of the artist, write the title of the album. I like to make mine italicized.

4. The next thing in your first column should be a picture of the album. It should be fairly small, but so you can still make out what it looks like. Just make sure the picture of the album doesn't take up the majority of the space on the page.

5. Underneath the album cover, write (in bold) the street date followed by the last order date on the next line. The street date is the date that the album will be released. The last order date is the last day for retail to order the album so that it gets to them by the street date.

6. The last thing you need in the first column is some facts about the artist that is valuable to someone who may be looking to sign an artist, to book an artist, etc. Some good information to put would be what demographic and region is the artist most popular, how many records have been sold so far (including albums sold without label support), has the artist sold out any major venues/what kind of audience to they draw for live shows, what kinds of artists are similar, will co-op money be provided in retail, will any special promotions be used?

7. The second column should include the track listing. You may have to center it to the middle of the page so that it looks neat and professional.

8. The next one-sheet we'll be making is the A&R pitch one-sheet. It should include the same exact top portion as the first one we did. You could just copy and paste the artist name, album title, album art, street date, and last order date. Include information that would be relevant when trying to pitch an artist to a record label. Some of this information will be the same as what you used in the release book one-sheet. (demographic, albums sold, live ticket sales, genre), Also include things like what sort of image the artist has and what sort of story he/she has behind his music that an audience can relate to. The track list should be the same as in the release book.

9. Now we'll make the radio one-sheet. Again, include the artist name, album name, album art, street date, last order date. Also include some info used in previous one-sheets (demographic, albums sold, ticket sales, genre, similar artists). New information will include the add date and whether or not the artist is open to promotions and/or concert ticket giveaways. The add date is a crucial component in the radio one-sheet because it says when a radio station can add the music into rotation. It is illegal for a radio station to play music before the add date. It is also good to tell the radio station if the artist is available for things such as interviews. Track list is the same as others.

10. The last one-sheet is for publicity. Once again, artist name, album title, album art, street date, and last order date are exactly the same. Include things like how many albums the artist has made, quick artist bio, does the artist have a story that the audience can relate to, what kind of image does the artist have? Track list is the same as the others.

11. These are just suggestions for basic artist one-sheets, do not feel limited to these suggestions. If there is a piece of information you feel is important to include, definitely put it in.