On June 2, 2026, Governor Polis of Colorado signed Senate Bill 133 (SB26-133) into law which created a new type of Limited Liability Company (LLC) called an ARTIST COMPANY. This bill, now law, recognizes artists as a labor group and formalizes their work under the law to expand both fiscal and legal protections for their creations and their work product.

The structure and framework of an Artist Company also has other potential uses, such as a holding company which owns a collection of works, or a creative commercial business.

One significant piece of this legislation is that the artwork can be treated like a capital contribution instead of a generic asset…..short version: Artists can use the value of their art on their balance sheet of the LLC for financial reasons such as using it as leverage for a loan.

The law is broad in its definition of “artistic work”, and it could cover visual artists, of course, but also writers, dancers, musicians, and more. The legislative intent was meant to be flexible enough to allow for art and media that has not yet been invented and doesn’t yet exist.

I’ll post a link to the bill’s language for all to read, as there are interesting tax and ownership protections included and are things that all creators should be concerned about and that should be kept in mind.

One critical piece I will mention, in the event of the dissolution of the Artist Company, the rights to the artistic work(s), along with all revenue and royalties, revert back to the member artist who originally assigned the work(s) to the Artist Company. It’s a protection, enshrined in the law, that provides automatic rights without negotiation.

Instead of creators having to negotiate, fight, and create language in to protect and retain and control their IP rights, the law places the template and the rights upfront including enforceability. They have something in their corner that balances the meeting with the large businesses seeking to option or utilize their IP.

There are some potential issues of implementation that, for residents of Colorado and for those in other states who would organize their Artist Company in Colorado to them be recognized in other sates, they should discuss with their attorney’s or tax representatives to ensure they are adequately following the law and availing themselves to its protections.

Read more about the Bill and the Law it was signed into, here: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-133