WE'RE WINNING: Backed by Indie Venues, Portland Says No to Live Nation
Months of fighting pay off for local musicians and independent venues
Independent music fans rejoice: After three hours of public comments and literally months of public debate, the Portland, Maine City Council last night voted in favor of land use changes that will effectively kill a plan to build a 3,300 seat Live Nation venue in the city.
The vote is a major win for independent venues that, for years, have been victimized by Live Nation’s domination of the live music industry. When Live Nation comes to town, it tilts an entire concert ecosystem in its favor, shutting out indie venues that serve as crucial hubs for fans and a home for emerging bands and musicians. The folks at the Maine Music Alliance — a coalition of artists, promoters, and independent venue owners — immediately understood the threat a Live Nation venue would pose for the vibrant Portland music scene, and stepped up to fight it at City Hall, leading to the council’s monumental vote yesterday.
By a 5-4 vote, the council approved an ordinance that would bar any new 1,000-seat music venue from opening within 750 feet of an existing venue in the city. Since the proposed Live Nation venue was planned to open across the street from the existing Merrill Auditorium, the ordinance quashes Live Nation’s plan to build there. There’s still a chance Live Nation will try to fight the ordinance, and it might look for another location to build in the city. Monopolists don’t give up easily. But at least for now, the good guys won.
The Maine Music Alliance and others fighting Live Nation’s invasion of Portland suddenly had a major legal ruling on their side. Earlier this month, a federal jury found that Live Nation had used its power to illegally monopolize major parts of the live music industry. Since Live Nation’s plan to move to Portland first surfaced, venue owners, musicians, and fans have been sounding the alarm about the company’s monopoly and the harm it inflicts on everyone else in the live music world when it comes to town. Now there’s a major jury verdict to back up those claims.
Council chambers overflowed with speakers and residents last night opposing the Live Nation venue. One speaker, who identified themself as Jules, a “born-and-raised Portlander,” said off hand that they were not speaking “on behalf of any corporation or criminal enterprise” and that “personally I have never been found guilty of a crime by a jury” — a nod to Live Nation’s newly legal monopoly status.
“I’m here just to be counted as a drop in the bucket of Portlanders who choose local flavor over corporate slop,” Jules told the council. By the time all of those drops in the bucket were counted, Portland had killed Live Nation’s invasion plans, for now.
We’ve covered Portland’s resistance to Live Nation in the past; If you want to catch up on the story, you can read more here.