TL;DR: Apply as a Label Member now, encourage your artists to apply as Artist Members and set up their pages, and hold off on workarounds. When label pages launch later this year, your artists' pages will be linkable to your label page, with releases living in both places. Below is the longer version.
Where labels stand on Subvert today
Subvert launched its marketplace as an Artist-first product. Label pages are coming later this year, and we're building toward a label experience that includes a full label page with your roster, a unified catalog, payment management for your artists' releases, bulk uploads, and admin tooling. We've been talking with labels through this process and the feature set is being shaped by those conversations.
For now, what a Label Member can do today is:
- Be a member of the Subvert Co-op with a vote in governance
- Receive member-only discounts on releases across the platform
- Receive the Co-op Member Guide
- Participate in the Subvert Forum and shape what label features look like as they ship
What you cannot do yet:
- Create a label page
- Set up artist pages on behalf of your artists
- Manage your roster's catalog from a single dashboard
- Receive payouts on your artists' sales (payouts go to the artist's Stripe account)
We are launching without all of the functionality built. We know that's not what some labels want to hear. We made the choice to go live as the cooperative we are, with the tools we currently have, rather than wait an indefinitely long time to launch with everything done. The roadmap exists; the timeline is "later this year" rather than a specific date.
What we recommend right now
1. Apply as a Label Member. Go to subvert.fm and select the Label path. Once approved, you'll be a co-owner of the cooperative and your account is set up to manage a label page when those launch.
2. Encourage your artists to apply individually. If your artists want a presence on Subvert right now, they should apply as Artist Members and set up their own artist pages. When label pages launch, those existing artist pages can be linked to your label page. Releases will be able to live on both pages simultaneously.
If your artists want to wait for label pages to launch and do everything together, that also works. There's no penalty for taking either path.
3. Don't try to work around the absence of label pages. Specifically:
- Don't create a single Artist Member account to upload all of your roster's music under. This will create real headaches when label pages launch.
- Don't upload the same release across multiple Artist Member accounts.
- Don't create artist pages for your artists yourself, even with their permission. Artist Members must apply and set up their own pages. (Co-management is coming, see below.)
4. Patience helps. Label pages are being built. Until they ship, the Subvert experience for labels is necessarily lighter than the experience for artists.
A few practical things to know
Up to six people can co-manage a label page. When label pages launch, one Label Member applies first. After approval, that member can invite up to five other people from the label to also become Label Members and co-manage the label page. Membership is held by the individual, not by the label as an entity.
Membership is tied to the individual. If you, as a person, are also in a band or have an artist project, you can be both a Label Member and an Artist Member. You'll have one personal account that manages both.
Collaborator invitations for artists are launching soon. Right now, an artist setting up a page can't yet invite their bandmates as co-managers. That feature is in QA and only weeks away. When it launches, an artist can invite up to five collaborators, and accepting a collaboration invitation will bring those people into the co-op as Artist Members automatically.
Audio formats supported are MP3, FLAC, WAV, and AIFF.
Payments go through Stripe. Each artist page has its own Stripe account for payouts. If you and your artists want a particular financial arrangement, that's something you'll work out together using the artist's Stripe account, since labels don't yet have a way to manage payouts centrally. We know this is awkward; it's part of what label pages will solve.
When label pages ship
Label pages will include:
- A landing page for your label with your roster of artists
- Releases linked to both the artist page and the label page
- The ability to manage payouts on releases your label is selling
- Bulk upload for catalog
- Admin and financial tooling for managing your label's presence
- Up to six co-managers per label page
We'll send a direct email to all Label Members when label pages are live, with a guide to migrating your existing presence into the new structure.
Getting help
For specific questions about your label's situation, write to info@subvert.fm. If you have a complex catalog, multiple territories, or unusual structure, mention that. We can work through it with you. There's no dedicated label support channel yet, but the email gets to a worker.
For broader conversations about what label features should look like as they ship, the Subvert Forum is where members shape the platform.