From the backseat of a Volkswagen van to a billion-dollar business, Chuck Surack’s path to success continues to serve as an inspiration in Indiana and beyond. In this episode, Gerry Dick sits down with the founder and chairman of Sweetwater Sound as he shares the ups and downs of transforming a one man music business into the nation’s largest online music instrument retailer, all while keeping the company's roots firmly planted in Fort Wayne. He also reflects on what success means today, the legacy he's building beyond business, and his next big thing: what could be a $250 million project in northeast Indiana.

For years, Live Nation’s executives told anyone who would listen that they weren’t a monopoly, just a very large, very successful company with a lot of satisfied customers. On April 15, a federal jury in Manhattan saw through it.

A 1,500-seat performing arts center in Indiana’s Amish Country is once again competing for one of country music’s most prestigious venue honors. The Blue Gate Theatre has been nominated for Theater of the Year at the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards. The nomination places the Shipshewana venue alongside

Tennessee’s Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium, The Franklin Theatre and State Theatre in Portland, Maine — juggernauts in American live entertainment history. It marks the second ACM nomination for the Blue Gate, which was first recognized by the organization in 2022. Winners will be announced and honored at the 19th Academy of Country Music Honors, held annually in August in Nashville.

With an encore sure to include appeals, calls to sell off Ticketmaster and more, Live Nation on Wednesday was deemed an illegal monopoly by a federal jury in New York City.

In a case brought to court by California and dozens of other states during a five-week trial, the Michael Rapino-run Live Nation wasn’t helped by the release of internal correspondence about taking “advantage” of consumers with high prices and “robbing them blind, baby.” The promoter and events giant claimed those statements were simply ill-considered remarks by individual staffers, but the stink was on both in and outside the Manhattan courtroom of Judge Arun Subramanian.

Owners of independent music venues are pulling back the curtain to speak candidly about their financial struggles, a move that gives audiences a chance to support small stages before it’s too late.