A “secret” songwriter who has released music under hundreds of different names is believed to be the most listened to Swedish artist on Spotify, with more streams than Britney Spears or Abba.
Stockholm musician Johan Röhr has been revealed to be behind more than 650 different artists on the streaming service, which have been streamed 15 billion times, making him Sweden’s most-streamed artist right now artist.
According to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN), the 47-year-old Röhr has created more than 2,700 songs on the platform, with names including “Maya Åström,” “Minik Knudsen,” “Mingmei Hsueh” and “Csizmazia” Ettel ”.
The newspaper said that even by international standards, Rowe’s multi-faceted success puts him among Spotify’s 100 most-streamed artists, above Michael Jackson, Metallica and Mariah Carey.
Much of his success is believed to be related to his appearances on Spotify’s more than 100 official instrumental playlists, which are all curated by the company itself.
Such piano-focused playlists, with names like “Calming Piano” or “Stress Relief,” are particularly popular among users looking for background music while working, eating, or relaxing. Being on one of these very popular lists can make or break a musician’s career.
Last year, Spotify celebrated paying a record SEK 90bn (£6.7bn) to the music industry. “Many new and up-and-coming artists are now breaking through on Spotify and can finally make a full-time living from their music,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said at the time. “We’re very, very proud of that.”
But critics say the success of a few anonymous artists like Rolle who quietly dominates the market goes against the spirit of the company’s commitment to helping small independent musicians, labels and songwriters.
It’s unclear how much money Rohr, who has performed as a conductor on pop stars’ tours and television shows, made from his deal with Spotify. However, his private company reportedly achieved record revenue of SEK 32.7 million (£2.4 million) in 2022.
He declined to comment to DN and did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. But Overtone Studios, the label that released the music, said Rolle was a “pioneer of the emo music genre” and confirmed he went by multiple names.
Niklas Brantberg, CEO of Overtone Studios, said: “Johan Röhr was the first artist to work with AP Records (now Overtone Studios). Röhr has released music on many different artist profiles and has become a leading figure in the emo music scene that is very popular today. Pioneers. Many of these are now historic, inactive music projects, and we have significantly reduced the number of artist profiles that are actively releasing music.
“We believe that talented artists should be able to release music under different artist names – as is common in the industry – across different genres and vibes, with different collaborators, and at different stages of their musical journey. This allows them to Realize your full creative potential, and Overtone Studios is committed to providing an equal partnership through a 50/50 royalty split that helps so many of our artists make a living in this industry.”
Spotify said it did not comment on its agreements with publishers, which are tied to royalties but allow artists to use pseudonyms.
A Spotify spokesperson said: “There is growing interest in functional music designed to enhance daily activities such as relaxation, concentration or learning, and these playlists are created to meet listener needs. This type of music often Exists in Spotify’s Focus hub, which limits competition with artists in traditional pop music genres.
“As listeners’ demand for functional music for relaxation, concentration, or learning continues to grow, more artists and labels are choosing to produce this type of content. Like all other music on Spotify, this music is sourced from Licensed from rights holders, we pay royalties based on agreements with publishers. Each agreement is unique, but we do not comment on any details, nor do we prohibit artists or bands from using their own names or various pseudonyms create music.”
