The man behind Pandora Internet Radio will share the story of the music streaming offering next week in an ADMA Google Hangout held in conjunction with B&T.

Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategy officer at Pandora Radio, will chat with B&T’s associate editor Brooke Hemphill about Pandora’s beginnings, how the service connects brands and fans through music, and the Music Genome Project which powers the service.

Westergren, a former musician, created Pandora in an attempt to group songs together by familiar characteristics. Last month Jane Huxley, Pandora’s Australia and New Zealand managing director, told the audience at ADMA’s Data Day that she considers Pandora to be a “data company”. Huxley is currently trying to monetise the service locally.

Westergren was in Australia earlier this year to address users of the platform in a series of town hall meetings. He currently spends most of his time traveling around the world acting as the chief evangelist for Pandora.

Pandora has recently made headlines after Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group Corp accused it of copyright infringement from not paying licence fees for songs recorded before 1972. Locally the platform pays royalties to APRA/AMCOS.

The Pandora Google Hangout is the first in ADMA’s new ‘unplugged’ series of Google Hangouts and webinars featuring marketing, media, advertising and creative talents from around the globe.

Register for the free, half hour Google Hangout, taking place on Wednesday 21 May at 1pm AEST. Head to: http://www.adma.com.au/attend/upcoming-events/adma-unplugged-tim-westergren-pandora-radio/