"The remit was not simply to pay out lip support to the apparent names, nor winner the unsung or boost the next era but to make a playlist of astounding new music irrespective of age or genre. A collection of songs which you'd like to listen to no matter its geographical birthplace."

PEL was put in place by Tommy Griffith, a mechanical engineering graduate from Galway Mayo Institute of Technologies, in 2005. The idea to the business was encouraged by a nightclub operator complaining…