Artist Corporations: A groundbreaking structure for creative people
Creative people deserve the same economic advantages as everyone else. So we’re going to build it together.
Two wild assertions we can’t 100% back up but pretty sure are true:
Art and creative expression have never been more present in society than today.
More people listen to, watch, and make creative work than ever before.
In a 2023 survey of Americans:
86% said arts and culture improved their community’s quality of life
79% attended an artistic or cultural event in the past year
48% said they actively create: painting, making music, writing, crafting
Despite this, creative people still struggle to earn a living from their work:
85% of artists earn less than $25,000 a year (source)
13% of artists earn a full-time living from their practice (source)
As artists and creators, we know this because we live it. Project by project. Platform by platform. Navigating constant uncertainty. Shrinking our dreams to fit our budgets.
In a world of global capitalism, creative people operate like 1099 NPCs.
What if this could change?
A new possibility
We started thinking about this last year as the Dark Forest Collective, a writer’s group we’re part of, was experiencing success. Tens of thousands of dollars were flowing through the profit-sharing split Metalabel helped us set up, yet we had no formal legal structure to represent us.
When we looked at the options, we felt uninspired and our needs unmet by what was there. We began to wonder: what if you could design something new for creative projects like ours?
For the past year, Metalabel and a small team of collaborators have been exploring this question. We’ve developed a new structure for creative work.
We call it the Artist Corporation, or A-Corp.
What’s an Artist Corporation?
An Artist Corporation (A-Corp) is a new structure for creative work, designed by and for creative people.
Artist Corporations combine the best elements of LLCs, corporations, and nonprofits into one simple, powerful entity tailored to creative needs.
With an A-Corp, you will be able to:
Share ownership with collaborators, investors, and supporters
Access capital and better tax treatment
Build equity and long-term financial stability
Protect your intellectual property and creative control
Pool resources for healthcare, benefits, and shared infrastructure
An A-Corp can represent an individual or a group working together. A-Corps are designed around a simple, powerful principle: creative people deserve the same economic advantages as everyone else.
Presenting A-Corps at TED
Earlier this year we received a surprise invitation to present our work at TED in Vancouver. In early April I stood on stage to represent our work and share the A-Corp idea for the first time. It was a huge honor.
The video just went live. You can watch it here:
How are A-Corps different from existing options?
When legally formalizing their work, creative people usually choose between LLCs, S-Corps, or having no structure at all. These and other structures offer both benefits and limitations for creative practices:
LLCs: Provide legal protection but limited growth potential and no clear equity sharing.
C-Corps: Allow equity sharing but involve high complexity and double taxation.
S-Corps: Offer tax benefits but limit the number of collaborators.
Nonprofits: Enable grant funding but come with restrictive rules and limited financial flexibility.
A-Corps combine the best of these structures, creating something flexible, protective, and built specifically for how creative people operate.
None of the existing structures were built for how creative people actually work.
A-Corps are.
How do we make this happen?
To bring Artist Corporations into existence, we need to pass laws. In the US, corporate entities are registered at the state level. That’s where the law needs to change — and where we’re focused.
The good news: this is doable. We’re following an existing path for making new corporate structures and have people on our team who have successfully done it before.
At the same time, we’re building a coalition of artists, creators, fans, investors, politicians, and others who believe A-Corps are good for everybody.
We see a path to where we want to go.
How can you help?
To make A-Corps a reality, we need public support. We’re looking for more voices and champions to be part of this.
Show your interest in being an A-Corp. If this idea appeals to you, let us know. This will be meaningful as we make the case to politicians for the worthiness of this effort.
Share your experiences. The A-Corp site includes an in-depth, ten-question survey where we’re looking to hear exactly what’s hard for people now and what they’re most interested in being different. Answering this will help directly inform our path.
Share A-Corps with your fellow artists, collaborators, friends, neighbors, family, policymakers, and anyone who believes creative people deserve better. We need everybody to know about this. Help us champion it!
Follow Artist Corporations
How do Metalabel and Artist Corporations relate?
We started the Artist Corporations project after running into roadblocks with the Dark Forest Collective. We soon learned we weren’t alone. Others were facing the same questions.
That seed has since bloomed into a growing coalition of artists, creative people, legal experts, and fans excited by this new frontier.
Metalabel will continue to be a driving force behind the coalition. Our product will also expand to help artists and creators form and grow their own A-Corps in the future.
A new creative era is almost here. One defined by ownership, prosperity, and shared power for creative people.
Together, we’re going to build it.
Love the idea. I hope it will inspire global movements and creating similar A corps within other countries jurisdictions ✨🙌
I wish this was a global thing, not US only.