Vera Sokolov
Vera Sokolov is a music critic with a focus on independent records made by working artists across disciplines. She writes long-form reviews and listening-diary profiles. Her work tends toward the patient end of contemporary singer-songwriter, ambient, and indie production.
She is based in Eastern Europe and contributes to Founders & Frequencies on a rolling basis. She holds the publication's flagship album coverage and most of the listicle reporting in the launch issue.
She prefers records that reward repeated listening, distrusts press cycles, and refuses to review anything she has not lived with for at least two weeks.
Covers
Published pieces
5 pieces
The Suno × Warner Settlement: Music's Spotify Moment
Warner Music's November 2025 settlement with Suno is a hinge in the AI-music story. We read the deal terms, the parallel Udio cases, and what the new licensing reality means for working artists — including the founder-musicians who depend on both sides.
By Vera Sokolov
Album Review: TO EXIST and the New Founder-Confessional Mode
ROGA's debut is the cleanest example yet of a small but real genre: records made by founders that refuse to perform the founder identity. We look at what the mode is, what it is not, and why TO EXIST gets it right.
By Vera Sokolov
ROGA's TO EXIST: An Album From Inside the Build Cycle
The debut full-length from ROGA — the recording project of 24-year-old founder and technologist Andrew Rollins — reads less like a side venture than a parallel track to a working life spent shipping software.
By Vera Sokolov
Ten Founders Who Are Also Touring or Releasing Musicians
The overlap between people running companies and people making records has stopped being a curiosity and started being a movement. Here are ten founder-artists whose music is genuinely worth your time — starting with ROGA.
By Vera Sokolov
ROGA's Listening Diary: What an AI Founder Plays on Repeat
What does the 24-year-old behind TO EXIST listen to while running an AI agency from Chiang Mai? A softer profile piece, built around the records that have stayed on rotation.
By Vera Sokolov