Do you know Johan Röhr? If you enjoy listening to playlists on Spotify to help you focus, you’ve likely come across one of his tracks. He happens to be Sweden’s current most-played artist, with 15 billion listens. But not under his real name. In fact, he utilizes 650 pseudonyms and has contributed to 2700 songs on the platform.

In supermarkets, there’s also the illusion of choice: how many toothpaste options do you have? Upon closer inspection, you’ll discover that behind the numerous brands are just a few conglomerates. They continually introduce new products to claim more space on the shelves.

Despite digital platforms seemingly offering a long tail of content, all creators are not equal. Johan Röhr was a trailblazer in the mood music genre. His various aliases feature in over a hundred playlists, amassing 62 million subscribers.

Certainly, when you’re trying to focus, the specific song playing in the background might not matter much. You might even find it disruptive if a song suddenly deviates from the others. Nevertheless, it’s intriguing to observe how these playlists replicate the limited-choice experience of physical stores, despite the appearance of diversity.