Spotify's Most-Famous Musician You've Never Heard Of

US Swedish composer Johan Röhr and 2,700 tracks 19/03/24

Getting your music heard on Spotify can be a tricky process, with 60,000 new tracks released every day. One Swede has gone to the top of the class, with multiple aliases which places him among Spotify's top 100 most-streamed artists – above Michael Jackson, Metallica, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears and ABBA. His success clearly has multiple factors, but the inclusion of his music on many piano-heavy playlists, popular among listeners seeking music to play in the background, may be a big one. A quote from his label Overtone Studios states:

Niklas Brantberg, the chief executive of Overtone Studios, said Röhr was a "pioneer in the mood music genre" and confirmed that he had used multiple names. He continues "Johan Röhr was the first artist AP Records (now Overtone Studios) worked with. Röhr published music across many different artist profiles and became a pioneer in the mood music space, which is hugely popular today. Many of these are now historical, inactive musical projects and we have already significantly reduced the number of artist profiles actively publishing music.

"We maintain that diversely talented artists should be able to publish music across different artist names – which is commonplace in the industry – spanning various genres and vibes, with different collaborators, and at different points in their musical journey. It allows them to unleash the full range of their creative potential, and Overtone Studios' focus on providing an equal partnership through a 50/50 royalty split helps our large roster of artists to make a living in the industry."

Spotify have also commented:

"There is an increased interest in functional music created to enhance everyday activities such as relaxation, focus, or studying, and these playlists are created to match the listeners' demand. This type of music typically exists in Spotify's Focus hub which limits competition with artists from traditional genres of popular music.

"As listeners' demand for functional music for relaxation, focus or studying has grown, more artists and record labels are also choosing to produce this type of content. This music, like all other music on Spotify, is licensed from rights holders, and we pay royalties according to the agreements we have with the distributor. Each agreement is unique, but we do not comment on any specifics, nor do we prohibit an artist or band from making music under their own name or under various pseudonyms."

Fascinating! Read the full article in the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/19/swedish-composer-johan-rohr-becomes-spotifys-most-famous-musician-youve-never-heard-of

And while we're on the subject of Spotify:

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.