The Shifting Anti-Monopoly Landscape

Fights over data centers and music venues show that resisting corporate power will have to go local in the age of Trump.

by Ron Knox September 2, 2025

With live music venues open and thriving in Portland, Maine, Scott Mohler didn’t expect to have to help with another rescue operation.

Mohler founded his organization, the Maine Music Alliance, in 2020, as live music venues in his hometown struggled to remain afloat amid the industry’s COVID-induced collapse. The Alliance’s work helped Portland’s scores of venues and event spaces remain alive until the pandemic abated and bands once again took to the stage.

With the scene’s vibrancy restored, Mohler largely mothballed the Alliance, until word broke last December that Live Nation, the most powerful and ubiquitous presence in live music, had set its sights on Portland.

Live Nation’s plan to open a 3,300-seat live music venue in the heart of downtown triggered a visceral reaction from local venues, musicians, and fans worried about the company’s long history of shutting out smaller venues from popular artists and tours, and forcing fans to use its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-09-02-shifting-anti-monopoly-landscape/