The band's drummer, 72, said that it was an "unspeakably difficult" situation for aspiring bands, with funds cut and little way of making money from record sales.

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The Dark Side Of The Moon stars are celebrating 200 million record sales with a retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) next year.

But Mason said: "The landscape for young musicians in particular now is unspeakably difficult compared to 50 years ago.

"The biggest problem is for them to monetise anything they do, particularly recording."

He told the Press Association: "Fifty years ago if you made a record, people bought a record. There was no possibility of even taping it at that point.

"Whereas now it's almost impossible to sell any recorded music. And everyone has to rely on live work to pay and that only happens if you're an established band.

"So it's really difficult. I'd describe it as the ladder of success where half the rungs are missing at the bottom of it."

Mason said that "you can't just start with the government" but said: "There's no grants, no funding, no nothing."

But he added: "The great thing is with artists, whether it's music or not, they tend to be so committed to what they want to do that somehow or another some of them will break through."