Good afternoon. We’re taking a slight break from the Live Nation trial this week to bring you another legal drama, this time out of Chicago’s Cook County Courtroom. If there’s a lesson to be had in Chance the Rapper’s six year legal battle with Pat Corcoran, its always get an agreement in writing. Check out our coverage below.

When Pat Corcoran filed a lawsuit against his former client Chancelor Bennett (Chance the Rapper) in November 2020, the case attracted immediate attention across the global music industry. For nearly a decade, the Chance-and-Pat partnership had been celebrated as the defining model of independent artist success in the streaming era — a Grammy-winning artist who had never signed with a major label, managed by a scrappy, innovative partner who built everything from scratch.

But instead of flourishing, the pair spent as much time breaking up as they did breaking ground. Their six-year-long split was finally adjudicated earlier this month in a two-and-a-half-week jury trial in Cook County, Illinois. Corcoran claimed he was owed $3.8 million in unpaid commissions, including payments under a three-year post-termination "sunset clause" he says was part of the pair’s original 2013 oral agreement. Chance denied the sunset clause ever existed and countersued for over $1 million, alleging Corcoran had breached his fiduciary duties and leveraged the Chance brand for personal gain.

In March 2026, a Chicago jury sided with Chance on Corcoran's central claim, rejecting the $3.8 million demand. However, the jury awarded Chance just $35 on his countersuit — a symbolic figure that reflected both sides' failure to fully document their professional relationship. The outcome was technically a win for Chance, but proved tto be a financial wash for all parties involved.

Jay Scharkey, Pat Corcoran's attorney put it this way: "The message to music managers is clear: Get it in writing. The jury award of $35 speaks to how seriously the jury viewed Chance's case."

Fair enough. But there’s plenty more lessons to mine from this messy divorce. Here are six takeaways from the pair’s split.

Love him or hate him, its hard to deny that when Kid Rock speaks, President Donald Trump listens. That’s why it was notable earlier this month when Kid Rick came out against the DOJ settlement brokered with Live Nation at the White House just four days into the historic trial.

“I don’t understand why they would negotiate a settlement,” he told Noah Shachtman, a contributing New York Times Opinion writer and former editor in chief of Rolling Stone. “Why not just let it see its course? Let’s see what 12 people decide.”

Rock was there in the Oval Office when Trump signed an executive order to crack down on price gouging by scalpers, a decision Kid Rock said “going to lose some money” for Ticketmaster. Rock also testified before the Senate earlier this year that he wanted the DOJ to push forward with a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation that was filed in 2024 by the Biden administration and ultimately joined by 39 states and the District of Columbia.

“Now there’s this settlement,” writes Shachtman, “which offers so little to fans, it calls to mind those internal Live Nation messages. ‘Robbing them blind,’ one of the company’s directors told another. ‘That’s how we do.’”

Read The Trump Administration Just Gave Live Nation the Gift of a Lifetime

The Outlaw Music Festival will return in summer 2026 for its 11th anniversary, led once again by Willie Nelson. But this year’s outing will be notably scaled back, hitting just 12 markets compared to last year’s 35-date run, making it a more limited and potentially more in-demand experience for fans.

A rotating lineup of artists will join Willie Nelson & Family across the tour. Stephen Wilson Jr. appears on nearly every date, while The Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Wilco and Lukas Nelson will rotate throughout the run. Additional performers include Margo Price, Sierra Hull and Robert Randolph.

Notably absent this year is Bob Dylan, who co-headlined the festival in recent years but is pursuing his own tour plans in 2026.

The tour launches July 3 in Irving, with a trio of Texas dates before resuming in August for a run through the Midwest and Northeast, wrapping Aug. 30 in Saratoga Springs. With fewer stops and a stacked, rotating lineup, the 2026 edition is being positioned as a rare chance to catch one of music’s most enduring live acts in a more intimate setting.

Britannia Row and FOH engineer Jamie Pollock, recently appointed an L-Acoustics Artisan of Sound, deployed a flagship K Series system for NIN’s sold-out arena return across 22 North American dates including their final stop at the Golden 1 Center, March 16, in Sacramento.

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