One of the most important music towns in the world warns against the Corporate SuperEntity, a frequent and recurring theme in this administration. Of course, there are so many battles to fight against the Republicans and the damage they have inflicted on this country over the last 6 years simply cannot be corrected in short order. But this issue wrangles into a broader, immediate problem plaguing our government - the free, unchecked reign of corporate power to dictate policy and leadership.
Now famed musicians George Jones, Porter Wagoner, and Dobie Gray are getting into the act:
Media consolidation doesn't play well here in Music City, USA as a roomful of singers and songwriters, from the famous to the unknown, gathered Monday to criticize government policy easing the rules that say who can own what media outlet where.
Music impresarios like George Jones, Porter Wagoner and Dobie Gray lined up to warn the Federal Communications Commission against allowing single entities to buy up more local outlets during the commission second field hearing on the issue.
"The days of an artist receiving regional airplay or breaking as a new act on radio are gone, and you are now considering making the situation even worse by letting some broadcast dynasties become even bigger broadcasting dynasties," Wagoner told the commissioners.
Democracy is predicated upon the concept of multiplicity and division; that is the fundamental notion that society works best when all are empowered to speak, act, work, and contribute, while at the same time no single entity (or group of entities) can uniformly dominate and subjagate another. A free market capitalistic economy furthermore insists that competition and investment (that is for continually funding new and different bodies) are necessary for growth and prosperity. Therefore, a Democratic, Capitalist population is hurt and hampered by consolidation:
"Dumbed-down news is not helping our democracy any more than homogenized music and national play-lists are giving us entertainment truly reflective of the creative genius of this diverse nation," Copps said. "We are paying too heavy a price for the lack of diversity, localism, creativity and competition that so much consolidation has visited upon us. The bottom line here an its this -- the people don't have enough say as to how their airwaves are being used and it's time to do something about it."
There is something very encouraging when country music stars are out there fighting against this kind of Mega-Corporatism and promoting the Democratic ideals of fairness. It's certainly a good sign for our 50-state strategy and red-to-blue campaigns. In summary:
One regulation to raise a single company's audience-reach ceiling to 45% of U.S. households, instead of 35%, was taken off the table that year when Congress set the audience-reach ceiling at 39% by statute.
Media companies contend that existing ownership rules were outmoded in a media landscape that has been altered substantially by cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the Internet. Critics disagree, arguing that easing restrictions likely will lead to a wave of mergers, handing a few giant media companies control of what the public sees, hears and reads.
As an aspiring music journalist and media professional, this issue is something I am going to be watching very closely, especially as the 110th Congress takes office in a few weeks. I will be discussing some of these issues in more depth on my music journal - Above the Din.