The Law
The Colorado Artist Company Act (Senate Bill 26-133) creates a new type of business entity designed specifically for creative people. Here's where it came from and what it does.
Why a new business structure?
Today's business structures — LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps — weren't built for creative work. Artists lose control of their catalogs, take investment that overrides their vision, or watch their work go to creditors when a company folds.
Most of what the A-Corp offers is technically possible today — with the right lawyers and operating agreements. But that costs money and knowledge most artists don't have. The A-Corp makes these protections standard.
This has happened before
New business structures emerge when existing ones don't fit how people actually work. Each time, a small legal change unlocked a massive shift.
Co-operatives
Took what was possible through lengthy, custom operating agreements — shared ownership, democratic control, equitable distribution — and made it a standard form anyone could use. Sound familiar?
Public Benefit Corporations
Created a new lane for companies that wanted to pursue social goals alongside profit — without the legal risk of violating shareholder duties. One statutory change let thousands of companies operate differently.
Limited Partnerships
The Uniform Limited Partnership Act of 1916 created a standardized structure that separated passive investors from active managers. Investors could provide capital without taking on unlimited liability or management control. One structural change became the legal foundation for venture capital.
What the law does
Artists keep control
Artists must own at least 51% of all voting power at all times. This is locked into the statute and cannot be changed by an operating agreement. The people making the art always control the company.
A stated artistic mission
Every A-Corp has a stated artistic mission in its founding documents. The company can specify that the mission has primacy over financial objectives, that they're equal, or define its own balance. The mission has legal weight.
IP stays with artists
Artistic work can never be transferred to non-artist investors or third parties. If the company dissolves, all artistic work reverts to the artists who created it. These “reversionary rights” are not available to creditors.
Investors without control
Economic rights can be separated from governance rights. Investors can hold rights to distributions, royalties, and revenue participation without getting any voting power or creative control.
A new kind of share
The A-Corp creates a new type of ownership unit — the A-Corp Share. Unlike traditional equity, A-Corp Shares can separate economic rights from creative control, be issued to artists in exchange for their creative contributions (not just cash), and be structured as fractional units that let collaborators share in the upside of work they helped create. An artist's creative work is recognized as a capital contribution with real value, not just sweat equity. This makes it possible for a band, a film crew, or a game studio to build shared ownership that reflects who actually made the work.
Easy to form
By July 2027, Colorado will provide long-form articles with check-box and fill-in-the-blank provisions covering ownership, governance, IP terms, tax treatment, and more. No expensive lawyers required for standard setups.
The bill
Senate Bill 26-133 was introduced in the Colorado General Assembly's 75th session, sponsored by Senators Bridges and Catlin and Representatives Martinez and Taggart. It creates a new Part 12 under Colorado's existing LLC statute, meaning A-Corps inherit all the flexibility and legal precedent of LLCs while adding new protections specific to creative work.
The bill is designed so that anyone — from any state or country — can form an Artist Company in Colorado, just as startups incorporate in Delaware regardless of where they're based. If the bill passes, the law takes effect in August 2026, with standardized formation documents available by July 2027.
Read the Annotated Act
Read the full text of the Colorado Artist Company Act (SB 26-133) with plain-language annotations explaining what each section means.
Read the full act →