🫣 The Best Romanian Music Playlist Comes From... Norway
Bjorn is the living proof that music knows no borders, especially in the digital age we're living in
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. Wait, this is another movie… Let’s rewind to our story. In our present time, in the Milky Way galaxy, on a blue marble like planet, somewhere in the Northern hemisphere, close to the North Pole, someone has a burning passion for Romanian pop music.
Maybe you’ll find it hard to believe, but one of the most popular Spotify playlists filled with Romanian music comes from…. Norway! Exactly, from the cold Scandinavian lands, the place where you’re least expecting to find people listening to mainstream music from a culture with no common points related to Norway!
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Bjorn Ove Mong is a young software engineer who started the Romanian Hits playlist a few years ago, driven mainly by the popcorn music phenomenon led by artists like Edward Maya and the likes. A strong supporter of Real Madrid and Arsenal, Bjorn is a travel passionate also, mainly hiking into woods or on mountains. Curious about the story behind the playlist, we had a nice chat with Bjorn, trying to discover his secrets on growing a strong followers count in the most organic way possible, regardless the language and culture barriers. Read below and don’t forget to follow Romanian Hits 2022 👇
Since when is music an integral part of your life?
I started listening to music when I was maybe around 5 or 6 years old. I always loved it: first it started with American Hip Hop (50 Cent, Eminem), I bought CDs so I built a serious collection of 50Cent albums. Then in 2004 I discovered O-Zone with Dragostea din tei and Despre Tine. I was listening to these songs every single day, but then in 2009 Edward Maya and Akcent became very popular. That was the moment when I started building my playlists. I was looking for more and more Romanian artists, because I liked the language and the vibe of the music. I also downloaded Spotify, and from that moment I started to listen only to Romanian music, and got more and more knowledge with Romanian music and artists like DJ Project, Akcent, Adrian Sina
How did you end up becoming a music curator?
I ended up being a music curator after I created my first Romanian playlist, back in 2009. I got tired of the playlist so I deleted it and created a new one, then after some years I decided I wanted to listen to all this good music from back those days so I recovered my old Spotify playlist, which counted 4000 something followers. I started working on making it better, tweaking on the finer details: 100 songs only (instead of 700 songs because nobody goes all the way down to 300 or 400 songs). It started growing more and more. Every week I put on new songs, and it looks like people liked it because it’s diverse, with all kinds of Romanian artists. I am searching deep for artists who are not so famous, because of I need to always discover new songs and artists.
A bit unusual, but you’re focused on music coming from Romanian artists? Where is this love coming from?
Like I said earlier, the love for Romanian music comes from Edward Maya, DJ Project and Akcent, from songs like O-Zone, Bun Rămas, Stereo Love and Dragostea din tei,. I really like the language and the vibe of Romanian music. I watch a lot of videos on youtube from Romania, because everything looks so nice there: nice nature and nice cities. Let’s just say I have a passion for music: I feel it, I don’t need to understand the words. This is actually the best thing when it comes to music: you can understand it regardless the language
What drives you to curating music playlists? What’s your motivation?
My drive to curating music playlists is that I always love to discover new music, especially from slavic countries, because, in my personal opinion, there is more passion put in the music and I love to dig for new music all the time. To be honest, I just got tired of the same standard American (English) music, that I listen all over the place.
Can playlisting be a full-time job? Is it for you?
It can be a full time job. Yes, it would be a dream, but I will take it step by step, first doing it only for the love of music and maybe in the future it will become a full time job.
What are you looking for in a track to add it to your playlist?
First of all I listen to it, just to see if it’s catchy enough for me. I also check if the melody and lyrics fit all together. I also like songs that tend not to repeat the words over and over again. I like most of the music, maybe except rock / heavy metal music
What tools and methods do you use to discover new music?
Spotify is the main channel where I just search for an artist. Alternatively, I go to youtube and check out different Romanian music channels to see what’s new, but mostly I use Spotify and check similar artists.
How many daily submissions do you receive and how do you handle all this volume?
I receive between 5 and 15 submissions per day. I check out my playlist to find a place for some of them. Some of the artists are always asking me for Top5 because of the streams, but most of them just want to be on my playlist. I always take time to answer to everyone (I work from home everyday so I always have time)
What is your strategy to grow the number of followers / subscribers for your playlists?
My strategy to grow followers on my playlist is to always have new songs in the playlists on a weekly basis. This is around 5-10 songs per week, so people don’t get tired of the same songs, especially when it comes to top 10 - 15. I rotate the top songs from time to time and also try to keep it to maximum 100 songs on my playlist, as I try to make every artist happy and seen.
Are you building or have you considered building a record label around your playlist activity?
No, I don’t think I will build a record label. I enjoy promoting music and offering artists a nice exposure… But you know what they say: never say never :)
Would it be better for the industry (not just for you) if Spotify and other platforms allow curators to charge for playlist placements? Who would this benefit mostly? The big spenders or the quality?
Yes it would be better. It would allow artists who are not signed at a record label and with a small budget, to get a bit of exposure and eventually increase the music quality. I see and listen to a lot of new and very good artists and all of them are fighting for listeners and followers. It’s sad, nobody gives them a chance to get listened to, so I guess it’s better if curators on Spotify can gain a small amount to promote them.
Apart from this, what do you do for a living?
I live in Norway, but I work with my online software company in Prague, Czech Republic :)
The song you have on repeat these days…
DJ Project x Lidia Buble - Ochii Tăi ❤️