Where Were The Artists in The Live Nation Case? (DOJ Postscript on Antitrust Case) + What's A-Peel-Ing About A Banana Costume At A Punk Show?

Who killed the artist testimony in the Live Nation antitrust trial? In Episode 22 of the Decibel & Docket podcast, veteran music business journalist Dave Brooks and entertainment attorney Michael Seville break down a rare, candid conversation with the former DOJ lawyers who tried USA v. Live Nation — and what their comments reveal about the Ticketmaster divestiture fight, the remedies phase, and the future of concert ticket prices. Courtesy of our friends at the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), Dave and Mike review footage from the NIVA conference in Minneapolis, where former DOJ lead trial counsel David Dahlquist and former antitrust official Roger Alford sat down with Wall Street Journal reporter Dave Michaels to discuss the government's landmark monopoly case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. In this episode, we cover: — Why no major artists testified at the Live Nation trial. Dahlquist says the DOJ asked dozens of artists and all declined — proof, he argues, of Ticketmaster's grip on live music. Dave offers a different theory: artists stayed quiet because they don't want fans looking too closely at who actually sets ticket prices. — What a Ticketmaster divestiture would actually look like. Selling off amphitheaters is the easy part. But if Live Nation is forced to spin off Ticketmaster, what stops them from signing an exclusive licensing deal the next day? Mike puts on his attorney hat to walk through the legal mechanics of structural remedies, the lessons of the failed 2010 consent decree, and why breaking up a monopoly rarely works the way the public expects. — The four-part Supreme Court test for antitrust remedies — end the violation, prevent recurrence, restore competition, and deny the violator the fruits of the violation — and whether the rejected DOJ settlement, or even full divestiture, can actually satisfy it. — Those infamous Slack messages. Dahlquist responds to claims that "salacious" internal chats won the case, and Mike explains why the judge's pretrial ruling on that evidence makes it unlikely the verdict gets thrown out. — Will ticket prices ever come down? Dave and Mike deliver a reality check on why no remedy — not even breaking up Live Nation — is likely to make concert tickets cheaper, and why artist guarantees keep driving prices up. Plus: Dave quizzes Mike with a round of James Dolan trivia — JD and the Straight Shot, the MSG facial recognition ban list, dark money in Inglewood politics — and the guys react to the Knicks' wild Game 4 NBA Finals comeback. Then, in the B block, Dave and Mike return to their hardcore punk roots to break down the viral banana costume incident at a Baltimore hardcore show in Toronto — where a frontman ordered the crowd to tear a fan's costume off mid-set. Who's legally liable when a band incites the pit: the singer, the crowd, the venue, or the promoter? And what does it say about hypocrisy in a scene built on unity and community? The Decibel & Docket podcast sits at the intersection of the music business, live entertainment, and the justice system. Hosted by Dave Brooks, longtime touring and concert business reporter, and Michael Seville, practicing attorney and former journalist, the show delivers expert analysis of the Live Nation Ticketmaster lawsuit, ticketing industry news, music law, and the economics of live events. Chapters:00:00 – Knicks vs. Spurs: Game 4 reaction03:06 – James Dolan trivia: MSG's most controversial owner10:12 – Show intro12:02 – Former DOJ lawyers on USA v. Live Nation (NIVA)21:44 – What Ticketmaster divestiture could really look like29:00 – The four legal requirements for antitrust remedies34:50 – Why ticket prices probably aren't coming down36:52 – The Slack messages: did they win the case?45:17 – Hardcore punk B block: the banana costume incident Subscribe to Decibel & Docket for weekly coverage of the Live Nation antitrust case, Ticketmaster news, and music industry law. Read more at Decibel.news.