National Independent Venue Association Releases New Data Showing Maine’s Live Performance Industry Drives Over $550 Million in Economic Output
Calls on Portland City Council to Pass Moratorium Today to Protect Local Jobs, Culture, Nonprofits, and Small Businesses from the Live Nation Monopoly
PORTLAND, MAINE –The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) today released new economic impact data showing that Maine’s independent live venues, promoters, and festivals are a powerful driver of the state’s economy - contributing hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year.
NIVA warns this locally rooted, high-impact industry is now under direct threat from a proposed Live Nation–backed 3,300-seat venue in downtown Portland, and is urging the Portland City Council to pass a moratorium at its meeting this afternoon to protect Maine’s live performance economy from monopoly control.
Today, NIVA’s leadership is in Portland alongside Maine’s independent venues, promoters, and artists to deliver a united message to City Hall: don’t let Live Nation destroy what makes Portland’s music and live performance culture exceptional.
Allowing Live Nation into Portland’s market, they warn, will put the city’s small and mid-size venues in direct jeopardy, siphon economic benefits away from Maine communities, and hand unprecedented control of the local live performance pipeline to a corporation already facing an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice and 40 state attorneys general.
“Portland already has a rich and self-sustaining music ecosystem. The Live Nation project would strip value from this community and send it to shareholders across the globe,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA. “City Council has a clear choice today: protect Main Street, or hand it over to a monopoly.”
FACT SHEET on Maine’s State of Live economic study and the harmful impacts of a Live Nation on Portland’s cultural ecosystem
Maine’s Independent Live Performance Industry by the Numbers
According to NIVA’s newly released economic impact report, Maine’s independent venues, promoters, and festivals:
Contribution to Maine’s GDP: $273.25 million
Total Economic Output: $550.26 million
Maine State & Local Tax Impact: $24.68 million
Total Jobs Supported in Maine: 4,057
Total Wages & Benefits Paid to Mainers: $178.26 million
Non-Venue Tourism Spending Impact: $47.18 million
How Portland City Council Can Preserve the Economic and Cultural Impact of Maine’s Live Performance Community Today
Maine state law authorizes municipalities to enact a moratorium when “the application of existing comprehensive plans, land use ordinances, or regulations is inadequate to prevent serious public harm from residential, commercial, or industrial development.” NIVA says this standard is clearly met:
“Portland’s music scene is part of the city’s identity. It’s been built show by show, venue by venue, to benefit Maine artists and Maine fans,” said Lauren Wayne, President of State Theatre Presents. “A monopoly-operated venue would put that legacy at risk and erode the local character that makes this city unique.”
“We’re prepared to fight every step of the way to prevent Live Nation from having the opportunity to inflict harm on what has taken us decades to build,” said Scott Mohler, Executive Director of the Maine Music Alliance.
Passing a moratorium would give the City of Portland and Maine’s music community the time to collaborate with the developer on a project that supports, rather than undermines, the state’s cultural infrastructure.
“This is not cultural development - it’s cultural strip mining,” Parker said. “Once it starts, the damage will be permanent. City Council must act now to protect Portland’s economy, culture, and the livelihoods of thousands of Mainers.”
ACTION: The Portland City Council meets this afternoon. NIVA calls on every councilor to vote YES on the moratorium and keep Portland’s live performance economy in local hands.
ABOUT NIVA
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is the national trade association representing thousands of independent live entertainment venues, festivals, promoters, and more. NIVA works to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of live entertainment. NIVA empowers members and their teams with member benefits, advocacy on the state, local, and federal levels, an annual industry-leading conference, and more.
NIVA led the Save Our Stages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the largest arts investment in U.S. history.
NIVA is committed to equity in its support of independent stages. It seeks to create and encourage opportunities for venues, promoters, and festivals owned, operated, and staffed by people of color, women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities.
CONTACT
Lucky Break PR
Kris Ferraro, Kris@luckybreakpr.com
