You know the rap crew OFWGKA right?

One of the many interesting things about the group is that their best rapper, Earl, has not been seen since the hype about the group broke. And as hype goes, all of the blogs want to know where he is. The rap crew won’t say… this of course, only fules the fire.

Being mysterious (not revealing everything about your world) isn’t a new idea in music. David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Daft Punk, all created big musical careers with their mysterious music and image. In our internet age many old farts thought that it would be impossible to create mystery due to all the touch points fans have with artists. But as with most things, it’s not the size, it’s how you use it.

Just because your band has a Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc, doesn’t mean that you can’t cultivate mystery. But how do you do it? I believe first off you need these 2 critical elements:  Truly awesome music and a unified image.

If you have mediocre music many people won’t stick around long enough to find out how your track ends, let alone try and find out more about your image. If you don’t have a unified image then your brand will get diluted and become difficult for people to understand.

I don’t think that OFWGKA are necessarily trying to be mysterious, but circumstances have led them to embrace that world, if only by simply not talking about it. Shutting up about a member, a song, not posting photos, etc, will all get people asking questions, and when you can give people a little more to think about than just your music, you’re on your way to gaining fans who are more invested in you and will stick around longer.

Music Consciousness
Voyno