Is Metalabel, From the Former CEO of Kickstarter, the Cure for the Ills of the Creator Economy? | Artnet News

Every metalabel shares four core elements that shape their behavior and output. There’s (1) a core purpose why they exist; (2) a squad of collaborators who operate and release projects with the label; (3) public releases they put out into the world to express their worldview; and (4) rules for participation, like how they make decisions, who owns w... See more

Today we associate the label form with major record labels and their legacy of rent-seeking, corporate sterilization, and shady accounting. But projects like the Wide Awakes are distinct from the 20th century labels we’re used to.

While 20th century labels exist to maximize profits, a project like the Wide Awakes exists to promote ideas.

While 20th c... See more

Twentieth century labels are focused on selling products and maximizing financial returns. A metalabel exists to promote ideas and encourage new ways of seeing according to the values of the label itself. Twentieth century labels are focused on owning a creator's intellectual property and exploiting it financially until the end of time. A metalabel... See more

metalabels are startups and institutions for culture.

We’re building Metalabel with these primitives because it’s hard for us to see why we would, in 2022, make a web product that would trap a creator’s work in a walled garden, that wouldn’t offer utility beyond our walls, and that wouldn’t share value with the people who create it. These are radical and important goals — radical in a way that many cr... See more