As streaming continues to make a huge impact on the music industry, Pandora has not been as fortunate as companies like Spotify. The board thinks former Chief Executive Brian McAndrews, with no music industry experience, was not effective in securing deals with the labels even garnering some criticism from label execs for an offer that he made last year that paid far less than the labels are getting from the other major streaming services. Pandora currently has 80 million subscribers but has been unable to expand the services because it needs to secure licenses from the major labels. The company is betting on Westergren’s charisma and music industry experience as the new CEO to woo the labels.
