Pandora, a US streaming and music discovery service which recently generated headlines on the back of an IPO that valued the company at $2.56bn (?1.56bn) on its opening day, has 48m active users in the US but has yet to break even.

Westergren said this was due to excessive royalty demands. "We pay too much in royalties," he explained. "I say that as a musician who is supportive of it [the royalties system]. But we pay too much in absolute ...