On September 19, 2026, Subvert held its first annual general meeting.
We passed quorum early. Voting opened during the meeting and stayed open for a week after, so members who could not attend still had a say. About 1,000 ballots were cast. Four resolutions passed. Members elected three board representatives, and we will announce who won those seats shortly.
The replay is at subvert.fm/agm.
What an AGM is
We opened the co-op in October 2024, after Bandcamp was sold and then sold again. The idea was simple: music infrastructure should be owned and controlled by its artists and its community.
One of the defining characteristics of a co-op is that they govern based on one member, one vote. Everyone at the meeting had the same voting power, whether they joined that morning or on the first day. We are a multi-stakeholder co-op, so four classes of members co-own and co-govern it: workers, artists, labels and supporters. The structure is laid out at subvert.fm/pages/model.
An AGM is one of the few times all members come together to decide things only members can decide. Who sits on the board, and changes to the bylaws, which work as our constitution.
This is an experiment, and plenty of people do not think a community can co-govern a music platform. This is how that question gets answered.
What we covered
- Where we are
- State of the platform: Members, countries, releases, tracks and transactions since launch.
- The books: Required by the bylaws. Financial condition at the close of FY2025 plus 2026 to date. Where revenue comes from, where it goes, headcount and burn.
- Challenges
- The roadmap: What shipped, what is in flight, what is further out.
- The next phase and how to fund it
The four resolutions
We voted on four resolutions for bylaw amendments and all four passed. Each was a bylaw amendment proposed by the board and ratified by members.
2026-01, no new fees for artist and label members. The bylaws let the board require extra capital contributions, and members kept raising it. That is now closed. Artist and label members cannot be charged any mandatory fee or contribution beyond what their member agreement said the day they joined. Those terms are fixed at admission and cannot go up without written consent. Optional products and services are not affected, and voluntary contributions still work as before. Removing this protection takes a two-thirds member vote.
2026-02, updating policy references. The bylaws pointed at "community guidelines," a document that no longer exists under that name. What members actually agree to is the Terms of Use and the policies inside it: community standards, AI, payment and privacy. This points every reference at the right documents and makes the membership and expulsion articles consistent with each other. Housekeeping, but the kind that matters when something gets enforced.
2026-03, worker members admitted by worker vote. Admission used to run through the board after a six-month candidacy. Directors who do not work alongside a candidate have little basis to judge them, which showed up as abstentions in past votes. Now a majority of active worker members approves. The board is notified within five business days and can veto within thirty by a two-thirds vote. With fewer than three worker members, the board decides.
2026-04, meeting timing. The bylaws required the annual meeting by April 30. That does not match how we work. It is now once per calendar year, within fifteen months of the last one. The resolution also ratifies this meeting.
The board election
Three seats were open, one each for the artist, label and supporter classes. Forty-two members were in the running on the ballot for the seats. We will announce the results shortly.
First, the candidates. Forty-two people put their names forward in public for three seats.
Artist class
Candidate | Where | What they do |
|---|---|---|
Abigail Toll | Berlin | Sound artist and composer working in experimental, drone and noise |
Andrea Cichellero | Vicenza, Italy | Guitarist and vocalist in Jaguero, innovation PM, supporting an emerging hardcore label |
Andrew Kaiser | Nashville | Band Hayloft; works at NICE, a Nashville music nonprofit |
Atticus Mitchell | Johnson City, TN | Two projects: Celebrating, and A Letter For Ashley |
Ava Mirzadegan | Philadelphia | Ava Mirzadegan, Pen Palindrome and riyl doves; product and project management in the music industry |
Benjamin Borowski | Vancouver | Makes music and DJs as Hacynth; software designer and educator |
Bernardo Resnikowski | Berlin | Musician and DJ (DJ Quien), label owner, former gallery and festival manager |
Cora Am | São Paulo | Music as numa gama; sound systems and curation with Campo Esquerdo; former label manager at Voodoohop |
Danielle Michaele | Minneapolis | Songwriter, vocals and bass in full catholic |
George Arubi | Washington DC | DJ and producer (DOGHOUSE), software engineer building tools for artists and labels |
Gorf (Michael Duncan McArthur) | Toronto | Gorf, Denseware, SSATCY; twenty-five years in product design; now running 4th Culture |
Harpie | London | Session guitarist for three bands, releasing independently as Harpie |
Jaimin | Calcutta | Debut album Cutting Loose; next release is the first triple album out of India |
Kadhja Bonet | Toronto | Producer, songwriter and recording artist; The Visitor and Childqueen on Fat Possum, singles on Ninja Tune, now fully independent |
Laura Bird Burhenn | Los Angeles | Mynabirds (Saddle Creek); CEO and producer at Our Secret Handshake; toured with Postal Service and Bright Eyes |
LM Bruce | Highland, Scotland | Songwriter, novelist and marketing strategist; founding editor of Modern Scot |
Mike Borgia | New York | Songwriter, producer, career artist, tech VP |
Mitch Mankin | San Francisco | Songwriter and bandleader of Mitch Rocket; radio DJ; affordable housing policy analyst |
Monty Luke | Berlin | Founder of Black Catalogue, a dub-influenced house and techno label with 30+ releases; DJ and producer |
Robert Baker | Dublin | The Crayon Set and Reluctant Bob & the Lonely Lovers; media strategy, data analytics, cultural entrepreneurship |
Sam Rae Sidwell | Charleston, SC and Ericeira, Portugal | Independent artist; contracted cellist and backing vocalist for Brandi Carlile, Gregory Alan Isakov, Andrea Gibson |
Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi | New York | Performs as SoSaLa; touring bandleader and documentary film composer; president of Musicians for Musicians |
Taylor Brown | Detroit | Project sock jock; mechanical product development engineer |
Tess Roby | Montreal | Tess Roby and Dawn to Dawn; runs micro-label SSURROUNDSS and teaches emerging artists |
Zoe Keating | Burlington, VT | One-woman cello orchestra and composer; formerly cellist in Rasputina |
Label class
Candidate | Where | What they do |
|---|---|---|
David Glasebrook | Oakland | CEO and executive producer, Royal Oakie Records |
Jackson Gittings | Melbourne | Founder and director of Mouthfull, an online independent radio station, arts organisation and label |
Javier Reyes | Paris | Co-founder of Influenza Records, a Parisian indie rock label running since 2013 |
Jerry Dee | Oklahoma City | Owner and operator of Arctic Soul Records; writer and producer |
John Jordan (JJ) | Atlanta | Oblong Square Records, Acid Nation, Academy of Staring Daggers; DJ OddFellow |
Nathanaël Havez | Brussels | Runs Tempest of Noise (agency and label); indie artist agent, ten years in cooperative music |
Punks Against Apartheid | International | Punk label and mutual aid network of more than 50 artists |
Remy Boccalatte | Brisbane | Founder and label manager, False Peak Records |
Sergey Shirokolov | Milan | General manager, TECHNO Records |
Supporter class
Candidate | Where | What they do |
|---|---|---|
Andrew Marczewski | Detroit | Operations manager at The Crofoot, an independent concert venue; former GM of community radio WXOU |
Benjamin Geyre | London | Singer-songwriter with a debut EP this year; founder of Lissen, a user-centric streaming platform |
Emily White | Brooklyn | Partner at Collective Entertainment; founder of Impact Data & Events; music business podcast host |
Jey Flores | Seattle | Senior engineering director, with a career across media, arts, education and nonprofits |
Kieran Adair | Melbourne | Data engineer; convened the Melbourne Subvert group; runs Beautiful Noise poster archive and Disco Not Disco club night |
Michail Stangl | Berlin | Curator at CTM Festival, chair of DISK e.V., co-founder of Community Radio Index, DJ as Opium Hum |
Robin McNeill | Sebastopol, CA | Sysadmin and operations engineer |
Zoë Creighton | Nelson, BC | Co-op development consultant and instructor; governance chair on a credit union board; music programmer at CJLY-FM |
Thank you to every one of them.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who showed up, asked a question, stood for a seat or cast a ballot.
See you on the forum.
Sincerely Ours, 🌐