Twenty years ago, your music collection consisted of whatever CDs or records you could cram into your bedroom. Now, anyone with an internet connection has access to more music than they could listen to in one lifetime. In October 2022, Apple Music boasted its catalogue had reached 100 million songs .
Since then, an average of 120,000 new songs have been uploaded every day, making the current total around 176 million tracks. But here’s the thing: There are still huge gaps. You can’t stream Ray Charles’ 1977 album True To Life.
Charli XCX’s debut single, !Franchesckaar! has been swallowed by the digital void. Most important of all, there's no way to hear 1993’s Christmas number one: Mr Blobby by Mr Blobby. In fact, one survey by the US Library of Congress suggested that less than 20% of all recorded music was available on the internet.
Sometimes, those recordings are tied up in complex contractual agreements. De La Soul spent two decades clearing the samples on their landmark debut album, 3 Feet High And Rising, before it finally arrived on streaming services last year . But hundreds of other songs have simply been forgotten.
That’s where Rob Johnson comes in. By day, he's a 41-year-old working in business development for a London law firm. By night, he’s a music industry crusader – digging up obscure gems and persuading record labels to make them available online.
Over the last six years, he’s been responsible for 725 releases, including tracks by Sting, Cher.