From Music
Makers to
Music Lovers

Capitane
Coop

Capitane Coop is a music cooperative.
It brings together musicians, sound and image workers, and people who care deeply about music.
Built on a self-managed model, it supports the long-term development of independent artists and helps create the conditions they need to produce and share their work.

But Capitane Coop is more than a professional structure.
It is a concrete attempt to do things differently.

At a time when the cultural industries are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few large capitalist groups, when music mostly circulates through streaming platforms, and when the line between human creation and automated production grows ever more blurred, we want to stand for another path.

Capitane Coop offers an alternative: to rebuild short supply chains in culture, inspired by what has been developed in organic agriculture.

Fewer middlemen.
More direct connection.
More awareness of what music creation costs, what it demands, and what it can make possible.

The model

In a context where the cultural industry is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations, Capitane Coop offers an alternative: music makers and music lovers come together to create a cooperative music label and collectively build new practices for the production and consumption of music.

Shorter supply chains in culture, inspired by the models being developed in agriculture.

The context

The music industry is now built on the streaming model (Spotify, Apple Music…). This model undoubtedly offers real benefits for both artists and listeners, particularly as it facilitates the global distribution of works and encourages discovery. But it also presents a number of problems: extremely low pay for the vast majority of artists, privileges granted to the industry's major players, "fake streams" that disadvantage emerging artists, the rise of AI-generated music competing with human music, and increasingly passive listening habits.

Today, only a small fraction of artists manage to earn a decent income through this model, while most independent musicians find themselves in precarious situations. Meanwhile, the three "majors", which alone control roughly 70% of the market, rake in astronomical sums, largely from the works of the past century.

There is clearly a problem. Here, as in so many other areas of society, the time has come for a transition to models that are more respectful of both workers and the planet.

Music Makers × Music Lovers: the missions

For Music Makers, the cooperative provides long-term support: economic, logistical, strategic and social. It gives them access to shared tools: a record label, a management structure, a studio, shared resources, and spaces for work and circulation.

For Music Lovers, it offers another way of engaging with music: closer to artists, more participatory, and more aware of the realities behind cultural production.

In concrete terms, the support given to Music Makers covers both the production and the distribution of their work. Its aim is to allow a collective of independent, professional artists to practise and share their art in conditions that are dignified and respectful of themselves and of their audience.

For Music Lovers, this takes the form of concert nights and parties whose programming and organisation are participatory, of the "Rocket School", where artistic skills are learnt directly from Music Makers, and of access to content and events reserved for cooperators: records, parties, soundchecks, shoots… In the medium term, it will also include the launch of Capitane.Club, an alternative social network where Music Makers and Music Lovers meet to share and exchange.

Concerts, parties, content, encounters, learning experiences, objects, records, privileged access:
all of these are ways of making music circulate differently.

The tools — much more than a label

Capitane Coop equips itself with several tools to carry out its missions:

  • Capitane Records An independent record label. Established in 2020, it brings together bold and talented artists from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and beyond, all of whom practise their craft with integrity and an uncompromising commitment to their artistic vision: Turner Cody, JUICY, Adam Green, Great Mountain Fire, Nicolas Michaux, Lisa Li-Lund, Morefew, KAT, Under The Reefs Orchestra, Monolithe Noir, Robbing Millions, Twin Toes, Clément Nourry, Rodolphe Coster, Ben Chace, Solak, Fervents, Malou, The Soldiers of Love…
  • Capitane Music A music publishing house. The younger sibling of Capitane Records, responsible for managing its publishing catalogue.
  • The Rocket House Booking, management and event production.
  • The Free House A recording studio, a music services agency and a "Repair Shop" specialising in musical equipment, to fight obsolescence and bring old gear back to life.
  • Capitane Shop A record store in Ixelles. Not just a store: a local space where music, objects, ideas and people meet. A place where we try to bring meaning back to musical exchange.
  • Capitane Organic Ethical and organic merchandise collections.
  • The Rocket School An educational and socio-cultural division, currently in development.

Some of these divisions are already active; others are in research and development.

The objectives

An internationalist, mixed and constantly evolving structure, Capitane Coop has set itself a number of general goals. Among them:

  • To create "beautiful things". With everything that implies in terms of time, freedom of mind and independence.
  • To keep precarity at a distance and to be a tool of emancipation for its cooperators (Music Makers and Music Lovers) and its partners.
  • To help build a cultural world that is more supportive, less discriminatory and more ecological.
  • To build connection and to foster social inclusion.
  • To help shape a music ecosystem that is sustainable and socially responsible.

Capitane is a signatory and the Belgian representative of the global movement Music Declares Emergency — No Music On A Dead Planet.

The values

The cooperative's core values:

  • Buen Vivir Harmony between human beings, and between humans and nature. A community of mutual aid.
  • Empowerment Emancipation through art and community.
  • Autonomy A will to remain independent from the laws of the market. Rooted in the community.
  • Collective commitment Tipping the balance towards a cultural world that is fairer and more respectful of people and of all living things.
  • Reach A commitment to give our productions and artists the exposure they deserve, and to build bridges with kindred communities.
  • Quality With everything that implies in terms of time and freedom.

We believe that music is work.
That culture can be organized differently.
That proximity has value.
That autonomy, mutual aid, empowerment, ecology, quality and social connection are not luxuries, but necessities.

To create beautiful things.
To keep precarity at a distance.
To build connection.

To help shape a music ecosystem that is more supportive, more just and more sustainable. You can be part of it: the cooperative is open to Music Lovers and Music Makers alike.

Become a cooperator