Even before private equity, it was very difficult for indie musicians to get their songs played on the air, due to collusion with the recording industry. These

Even before private equity, it was very difficult for indie musicians to get their songs played on the air, due to collusion with the recording industry. These days, running AM or FM radio is inefficient and a waste of power. It doesn't take kilowatts and microwave links to blanket an area with coverage. I think the failure is not coming up with a viable digital replacement that works on cell towers. I know that streaming works fine, but there's no centralized system, or parallel representation that's freely broadcast from cell towers. This would have been a prime opportunity for the FCC to force cell companies to provide a certain number of free broadcast channels (that work even without cell service) to serve the community. Just like how they force TV and radio stations to play community service shows on Sunday morning.