The Walled Garden Co-op

Walled Garden is not only a streaming service. It is an institution designed to give artists transparent revenue, real voice, and shared power, built to stay independent of major labels and extractive investors.

Artist-guided. Mission-locked.

How membership works

Listeners

Subscribe for $10/month, stream everything, and get a monthly receipt showing exactly which artists your money reached. Listeners are supporters; governance belongs to the artists.

Approved Artists

Vetted and approved by humans. Publish freely, receive user-centric payouts, and access the artist dashboard.

Member Artists

Hold governance rights: one artist-member, one vote, never weighted by streams, revenue, or audience size. The largest artists do not control the co-op.

Founding Member Artists

Early artists who help establish the culture, curation standards, and public trust of Walled Garden. The founding cohort will be announced when it is complete.

What members vote on

Payout formula changes, the operating reserve cap, AI music policy, artist admission standards, grant programs, transparency report standards, catalog curation principles, and member charter amendments. Routine product decisions stay with the operating team. Constitutional decisions require supermajority and founder approval.

The Charter

Version 1 · effective 7/9/2026. These principles are non-negotiable. They exist so the mission cannot drift, no matter who joins, invests, or knocks on the gate.

1.Walled Garden exists to increase artist dignity, transparency, and direct listener support.
2.Listener subscription money should follow listener behavior through user-centric payouts.
3.Walled Garden should remain independent and not be captured by major labels, extractive investors, bots, fake catalog operators, or political factions.
4.Walled Garden should remain curated and human-led.
5.No open-upload slop model.
6.No unauthorized cloned voices.
7.No fake artist farms.
8.Core governance and ownership changes require founder approval.
9.No sale, merger, or transfer of core assets without founder approval.
10.Founder reserved powers exist to safeguard these principles.

Constitutional decisions, such as a sale or merger, transfer of core assets, or changes to the payout model, follow a stricter approval process than everyday policy votes; the full mechanics are part of the member charter every artist reviews before joining. If that process is ever used, Walled Garden publishes an explanation to artist-members unless legal, security, or privacy reasons prevent disclosure. Exact legal structures are being finalized with attorneys before full co-op launch.