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If we judge current music by its popularity, the great star of the moment is Johan Röhr, a Swedish musician who this year has generated more than fifteen billion views on Spotify (almost double the current world population).
However, his identity is a complete mystery thanks to the new economic model of streaming music, where algorithms and playlists seem to shape our habits and consumption, gravitating them toward “melodies of anonymity.”
Without the glamor of his compatriots Abba or Roxette, Röhr does not give interviews and He is only known from a photo which appears in a brief Wikipedia note.
It is not easy to find him in music apps either, since he uses more than 650 pseudonyms, including Maya Åström, Minik Knudsen and Csizmazia Etel, with whom he created at least 2,700 songs.
All of their songs are instrumental and have unmemorable titles like Peaceful Piano o Relax Music. They appear on over 144 official Spotify instrumental playlists and They are usually heard in offices, bars or at home, when studying or working. Sometimes the lists even have several of their songs, but with different names.
Johan Röhrt uses more than 650 pseudonyms, among which Minik Knudsen stands out, with whom he created at least 2,700 songs.
Although the popular composer, who is listened to more on streaming platforms than Michael Jackson or Elton John, prefers not to tell details of his profitable business, an investigation by The Guardian managed to reveal some data. For example, in 2022 he earned almost two and a half million dollars in royalties and his label presents him as “a pioneer in the ambient mood music genre.”
“They are songs that I definitely don’t like. In fact, I start to feel choked after about twenty seconds. but these banal and anonymous melodies of unknown artists are permeating our culture.
It’s like going to the channel YouTube ‘Lofi Girl’, where there are tens of thousands of people listening to what appears to be the melody of anonymity”wrote critic Ted Gioia when analyzing the phenomenon.
These are melodies of anonymity that we previously knew as “elevator music,” but that have now become massive and among the most listened to. The phenomenon began in a pandemicwhen many of us began to listen to relaxing songs in our homes, and today that habit spread to more spaces.
In a world where almost no one buys music in physical format, with the exception of the rare and limited phenomenon of vinyl records, the new idols seem to be anonymouswithout anything that makes them memorable or even without songs that leave marks on our lives. In fact, in 2023 more than a thousand people earned at least a million dollars in royalties from Spotify without having a hit, but simply by appearing on popular playlists.
In 2022 he collected almost two and a half million in royalties and his label presents him on the web as a pioneer in the ambient mood music genre.
This is a scenario that can be very attractive for independent musicians, since You can succeed without the machinery of a record company behind youbut above all it is ideal for streaming platforms, since it is not necessary to deal with big egos or demands.
But we still do not know what this resounding change will mean in the production and consumption of cultural goods.
