Thirty major recording artists - including Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and Michael Stipe - have signed a letter to the chairman of the US's Federal Communications Commission warning him further de-regulation of the radio industry in American "will have a negative impact on access to diverse viewpoints and will impede the functioning of our democracy."
Moves are afoot in the US to remove remaining media ownership rules essentially allowing less companies to own more media (providing they're US based companies). But the artists argue that previous radio deregulation has backfired, resulting in "reduced marketplace competition, reduced programming diversity and the homogenization of playlists, reduced public access to the airwaves for local programming, and reduced public satisfaction with listening options."