How Incubator Works
Incubator can be described as a techno-democratic collectivist record label because that sounds cool.
But labels suck, so here’s a detailed explanation of how Incubator will works and you can put your own label on it if you want.
Who is in the Incubator community?
Anyone who comes to events or is involved in anyway (even online) is part of the Incubator community. There’s no barrier for entry.
Who owns Incubator?
Right now, there are 7 owners of Incubator. 6 are in the Accelerator program, the professionalized wing of Incubator. I’m the seventh owner. Together, the seven of us own 1/7 of Incubator.
How can one become an owner of Incubator?
In February 2026, the current owners will vote to select 6 more people to offer ownership to. Their selections will go to Incubator Committee for approval.
On March 1, 2026, 6 more people will become owners of Incubator.
6 months later, we’ll offer ownership to a lot more people. Every 6 months, we’ll bring in more owners to get an equal share of Incubator.
We’re going to need set designers, costume designers, makeup artists, videographers, and many more non-musicians to succeed. The bigger we are, the powerful but we need to grow responsibly. That means starting slow but rest assured, the idea is to bring on many more owners.
Who runs Incubator?
I (Russell) run the day-to-day for now until committees can be formed to take on my duties.
Incubator Committee is the oversight committee that approves pay, expenses, performance requests, Accelerator membership and rules.
What is Incubator Committee?
Incubator Committee is a 6 person committee that meets monthly to provide oversight over the community. Members of Incubator Committee are chosen at random from Incubator’s mailing list. Every month, a new member joins Incubator Committee and the most senior member rotates out.
Who decides how much money people make?
Everyone sets goals for themselves every 6 months. If they achieve their goals, they receive their share of Incubator’s profits.
More specifically, they set 3 goals.
- Individual Goal
The individual goal, if achieved, earns a member 80% of their share of the profit.
So if at the end of a 6 month period, your full share comes out to $2,000 each, achieving your individual goal would earn you $1,600 (80% of $2,000).
To incentivize higher output, each individual goal is assigned a level 1-5 (1 being easy and 5 being a lot of work). Payment for goal completion is adjusted based on the level of the goal.
Level 5: +25%
Level 4: +10%
Level 3: no change
Level 2: -10%
Level 1: -25%
2. Crew Goal
Everyone will be on a 6 person team called a crew. Each crew will set a collective goal. If they achieve it, each member gets another 10% of their share of the profit.
As a crew, they’ll also vote to approve each member’s individual goal and its corresponding level.
3. Incubator Goal
The last goal will be set by every owner of Incubator. If it’s achieved, the entire organization will get the last 10% of their share.
Payout Breakdown
Individual goal – 80%
Crew goal – 10%
Incubator goal – 10%
Benefits of a goal-based compensation system
- It rewards increased output with increased pay
- It gives autonomy to the worker by letting them determine how hard they want to work
- It prevents workaholism culture from taking hold because it necessitates an equal amount of chilling (level 1-2) and girl bossing (level 4-5)
If someone doesn’t achieve their goals
Whether it’s an individual goal, crew goal or Incubator-wide goal, if a goal is not achieved, the money is not paid out. This is vital to keeping everyone accountable.
If a goal is not achieved, the money that would have been paid out to members will be considered revenue for the next 6 month period.
How to reward seniority
The last piece of this compensation plan addresses how to reward seniority without doing it so much that people who’ve been around a while get a disproportionate amount of power or influence.
Everyone will have the opportunity to defer their Incubator goal payment (10% of their share) and keep it invested in Incubator. As the profit grows, the deferred money grows too.
Example
Someone’s Incubator goal payout is worth $500. They choose to defer it 6 months. In 6 months, Incubator makes a bigger profit and the new current Incubator goal payout is $600.
This person can collect $600 and cash out their $500 deferred payout at $600, making $100 more than they would have if they cashed out 6 months earlier.
Benefits of a deferment-investment system.
- Members keeping their money invested helps Incubator grow
- Members keeping their money invested gives them an incentive to help the organization succeed
- People who keep their money invested in Incubator long term have the chance to passively grow their money over time
To be clear, deferment of the Incubator goal payout will be completely voluntary.
The Incubator System is designed to have as few rules as possible
We need an organized system of rules to grow into a large, long-lasting, community. This system of goal setting, shared ownership, internal investment structure and democratic decision-making is designed to create an environment where freedom of expression and cooperation can flourish without permanent leadership.
It’s a new, untested system that we’ll put into place together. We’ll figure it out together over time because we all have the same goal: to create a place where musicians and the people who support them can make a living doing music all without losing our community feel.
