A well-crafted musician’s portfolio attracts clients and helps you develop your career. This is an instrument that sells your talent, whether you're a brass player, a double bassist, or a drummer. In this article, we will explore what to include in your portfolio and how to present it to make you look pro.
Building a Musician’s Portfolio: Why You Should Care
Knowing how to structure and use a portfolio properly is a valuable skill for both musicians who are beginning their careers and those already established. A strong portfolio shows who you are, what you’ve achieved, and why clients should work with you. Ideally, it should combine creativity with professional clarity. A musician's portfolio is more than just a list of achievements. It tells a story about you through facts, sounds, and visuals.
CV and Visual Portfolio
Typically, you should have two types of portfolios: a CV and a visual portfolio. Let’s explore what you should put in each of them.
CV
This is the place to tell your potential clients or partners where you come from, who you are, and what your experience is. It’s useful to include some points of your musical education, the bands where you played, the festivals and venues where you performed, and any awards you won in competitions. Include the exact years when you engaged in those activities. If you don’t have a list of venues, mention private events you specialized in.
In your CV, you can also tell about styles you like to play and music that inspires you in your personal journey. Whatever list you create, ensure that it’s readable and informative. If you play with some celebrities or work on TV shows, do not forget to mention it too.
- CV is more like an introduction, so try not to make it too long and complicated. The shorter and catchier, the better.
- Your CV should also include a paragraph about what you can offer. This may feature music styles you perform in, availability to collaborate in duos or trios, the equipment you can provide and the availability to perform overseas.
- You can also add some stage photos of yourself.
It’s useful to mention tracks that represent who you are at their best. Ensure you feature your best work. This is where quality beats quantity. Provide links to 3–6 tracks or performances that represent your sound and skill. It’s better if you can include studio recordings, live videos and collaborations.
How to make a CV? Use Canva as it’s a perfect tool with many colors, styles and drafts to choose from.
Visual Portfolio
This where you add links to your Instagram, Youtube, or TikTok. To make this part of portfolio work, it’s useful to post stage photos from gigs where you perform. But what’s more important is videos where your potential clients can see you in action. Videos provide a perfect chance to see how you play your instrument, how you move and how good your makeup is.
Your videos do not necessarily need to be all about performances on the stages. You can also include moments from your rehearsals, songwriting sessions, preparations for concerts or some backstage moments. Videos of moderate quality can be used for Youtube Shorts or Instagram Stories, while videos of higher quality work better for Reels. Make sure you choose a nice corner of your room or any place outside that will work fine as a background for your videos.
- Learn to take each moment to make content when you have such an opportunity. For beginners, it’s all about posting consistently.
- Think about your personal hashtag to set yourself apart and use it under every video that you post on your social media.
As you see, these two kinds of portfolios complement each other, where CV provides facts about your experience and who you are, while visual portfolio evokes emotions.
Things to Consider When Building a Musician’s Portfolio
- Do not put too much stuff. Try not to overload your CV with every demo, jam, or photo as it makes your portfolio feel messy.
- Ensure you create a clear identity. A booker or label may feel confused if your style, branding, or genre isn’t obvious. Looking at your CV and visual portfolio they should instantly understand what you do.
- Avoid ego dump. You’re not writing a Wikipedia entry. It’s better to avoid both walls of texts and extremely short CVs. Your bio should be clear and personal.
- Double-check links. Test every link and button before sending your portfolio out to avoid broken or missing ones.
- Make sure that the materials you provide represent who you are right now. Old material may not only fail in representing your current sound but also make you look inconsistent.
Test Before Going Public
To avoid any technical issues, awkward phrasing, or cluttered design, share your portfolio with people whom you trust. Ask them the following questions:
- Does my portfolio reflect my sound and brand?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Is it readable?
- Would you book me after seeing this?
This will help you identify what needs improvement and increase your chances of getting a job of your dreams.
Final Thoughts
We hope that our tips helped you figure out what you should include in your CV and visual portfolio. A well-crafted musician’s portfolio combines professionalism with creativity. It looks catchy, sounds great, and tells your unique story. Your portfolio is a backstage pass to greater opportunities and interesting collaborations — one that may open new doors for you.
Would you like more useful information? We have plenty of other tips in our blog. Make sure you haven’t missed our article featuring The Best Ways to Promote Your Music Online.
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