It looks really interesting. Only US though :( It would be awesome if they could create not only Artsquare for art digitization, but also a database (or online-shop) of artists' works.
@alexstrvinsky We're working on the database part! We don't want to sell art, but we want a central repository artists can access their files from that plays nicely with online sales platforms. Imagine if you can create or update their entire portfolio on Ziibra, Vango, Saatchi, or Society6 with the click of a button! I bet a lot more artists would participate and keep their portfolios up to date. That's the world we imagine, and the one we're working to build.
@thomasle0n That is a nice decision, Thomas! By the way, how did you come up with an idea of Artsquare? It would be great if you could share your experience with a community :)
@alexstrvinsky back in college I helped artists find gallery representation, sell prints, get their artwork online, etc. But I noticed that virtually none of the artists I worked with had the art files that they needed, so I learned art digitization and started serving artists in my community. I realized this was a systemic problem that kept artists stuck, so I decided to build a solution.
This is a great idea. @thomasle0n it looks like that your pricing model is tailored for single artists, what about a subscription option or a different pricing for larger clients? I could totally see museums, art galleries or art book publishers wanting to use a service like this.
@robertoscaccia We've fiddled around a bit with different pricing strategies. We actually used to have variable pricing based on the number of artworks-- artists and art groups said it was too confusing!
We're rolling out a referral campaign soon to give artists free digitization when they refer other artists. We think this will be great for facilitating 'group booking events' for universities, galleries, art co-ops, etc. since artists find services like these primarily be recommendation within their existing communities.
We're definitely open to the idea, @frankdenbow!
1) We're considering subscription plans that have reduced digitization rates for consistent customers, and provides photographers with a bit more stable revenue. We'll run some tests and see if this is viable.
2) We also are launching a referral campaign intended to reduce the costs further for artists who are vocal about their experiences with us.
3) Finally, we're considering partnerships with other platforms to provide organization wide discounts to our services. If you have a lot of users uploaded digital photos of physical works, get in touch and we can discuss (thomas@artsquare.com) how best to serve your audience.
Hi fellow Product Hunters! I'm one of the founders of ArtSquare. Happy to answer any questions :)
We made ArtSquare because it needs to exist. The online art world is exploding (doubling by 2018) but artists are stranded because they don't have the image files that they need!
Art digitization is expensive (sometimes $150/artwork), image files are a nightmare to organize (store, resize/reformat), and artists are spending hours uploading their artwork to dozens of platforms-- all without the promise of any results. We're solving these problems by connecting artists to vetted photographers, automatically updating their portfolio with the new files and making those files easily downloadable in the sizes and formats they need.
There's a lot of work to be done in the space, but it's really exciting to work on :)
@whoisadi Not currently. What's most valuable to us right now is making sure artists have the best way to securely store their art files that they already have or that have been digitized by our network-- this is something that's been a massively overlooked in our industry so it's important that we get this right. Eventually we may build something that makes these files publicly viewable, but the public portfolio space is already really crowded and not something we are explicitly interested in.
This is a clever idea. I know a creative podcast host who'd probably want to record an episode with the founders. I'd be happy to make an introduction.
@paul_s_kemp Hi there! Would love the chance to connect for a podcast. Send me a quick note (thomas@artsquare.com) and let's get some movement on this :)
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My rep at TurningArt had heard of ArtSquare and suggested I try them. I've been looking for a service like this- one that facilitates connections btwn me and local photographers, while also offering a place to access and store images- and I found that with ArtSquare. They also have great customer service!
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