MyArtInfo - A Social Network for Artists
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007;
-- Janet Meiners |
Every niche needs a network. With that, a Canadian publisher and philanthropist has launched a new social-networking site for artists. The name doesn’t sound like a social network - you’d think artists could be more creative. The site is called MyArtInfo and the woman who started it does have a properly artistic (or should I just say French) name, Louise MacBain.
MacBain looks like a piece of art herself. She’s dubbed an art-cult entrepreneur and runs LTB Group, She also just launched Culture & Travel magazine, among other things.
Not only for artists, the site is also for art galleries, art collectors and art enthusiasts. Artists of all types can showcase their work, exchange ideas, chat with each other online, and blog. The site is for the performing arts, film, poetry, sculpture, fashion, architecture, and design.
Along with the new social network the company relaunched artinfo.com, which is an online guide to art and culture, and includes auction prices and other records for more than 200,000 artists.
Not to wear out the trite but the site aims to be what MySpace is for bands, but for artists. The site has attracted 810 users from around the world in its first few days. There are more than 5,000 works on the site. Not only is it for artists to display and perhaps sell their work, but artists can communicate with each other.
The site is going after the long tail - art that may not do volume big enough for galleries or art that isn’t as commercially viable. It also gives artists a way to reach a larger, global audience.
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November 13th, 2007 at 10:04 am
HollywoodPrize.com offers the same thing and has far more users (since 2003). Not sure they really add anything new to the mix.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I have other news. There is a website where you can search for information. It’s called Google
No, seriously …, the Internet has seen its first social networks and communities for artists in the late 1990ies. Even with the art auction prices there are already great websites out there since many years.
So …, congratulations Louise for your name and the clone of thousands of clones
November 13th, 2007 at 11:48 am
It is odd that a network for artists couldn’t come up with a more creative name or a more creative look for the design of the site. It almost makes MySpace look pretty.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:48 am
If you’re looking for a social network for artists, check out http://www.artbreak.com, a thriving and fast growing community of artists.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You wrote: “the man who started it does have a properly artistic (or should I just say French) name, Louise MacBain.”
Louise MacBain is not a man. She is very much a woman…
November 13th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Bob, you are right. I will correct that!
-Janet
November 13th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
The problem for social networks is escape velocity. Anyone can build a social network site, but until it has a few thousand loyal fans and users, nobody wants to go there. A classic chicken and egg problem, but a very hard one to overcome. If I was an investor, i wouldn’t think art lovers had enough passion to push this over the edge, for their sake I hope I’m wrong.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Hmm… doesn’t sound terribly original.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Hmmm…I think MacBain sounds pretty Scottish, not French. Plus, if I’m not incorrect, I believe it’s the name of the character who the Schwarzneggar (sp?) clone on the Simpsons plays.
November 14th, 2007 at 9:58 am
AdviceNetwork
Good post. The problem I see is that incumbent sites like HollywoodPrize (mobile marketing & lead gen for indy artists) and artbreak (e-commerce for indy artists as Zach just mentioned) already have built-in tools around their social networking plaform as well as a larger audience. If you are going to launch a similar site in a crowded field, why not find a technology niche? Perhaps an indy fine art auction site? Allow the users to be the art specialists or whatever. But at least attempt to create differentiation.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Why not create your own art network at http://OnMyCity.com
November 27th, 2007 at 5:22 am
[...] about a new social networking website for artists called MyArtInfo.com. I first read about it here, and then on several other tech websites which must have picked up the same initial press [...]
June 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Hey Zack, I see that you are pushing http://www.artbreak.com here as well. Why not harvest some more emails off of other art sites like my email that you harvested? I was already signed on to your site with a different email, idiot. I make a new email for each art site that I join.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:20 am
I have to say that http://www.myartinfo.com looks kind of lame compared to http://www.myartspace.com. Myartspace is already a thorn in the side of Saatchi Online and http://www.artnet.com according to some of tech blogs I’ve visited. Oddly enough, they have not had much press. You might want to look into them.