Art Store is an e-commerce site where artists can buy and sell application specific software. Currently, the market for software used by artists is fragmented and inefficient. Many artists are not proficient in the software they use to create, selling their work at a loss or not selling it all.
Thanks to Art Store’s innovative technology, this will all change. The site will host a database of applications developers can bid on to create new and improved products with the highest grade of quality. Artists will pay a monthly subscription fee to receive these applications and the discounts provided by Art Store will allow them to sell their works at a profit.
Art store is my idea for an e-commerce site where artists can buy and sell application specific software. The art store will act as a business incubator for software that is used by artists. The art store will be able to help the software become more useful and desirable to artists by helping artists provide feedback on what they want in their software.
The art store will also have an online community where users can communicate with other users and upload tutorials. Artists will also be able to share their work and gain exposure through the art store platform.
Artists will also be able to learn new techniques and master new skills by watching tutorials uploaded by fellow artists or leading experts in the field.
Artists will be able to sell their software and get paid for the work they do on it, while only having to focus on developing the software. This will allow them more time to focus on their work as opposed to learning programming language which takes much longer than using pre-existing libraries or platforms.
Our vision is to build a new e-commerce site, where artists can buy and sell application specific software. The store will be open sourced, so that anyone can contribute to it.
This site would be an online store where artists can buy and sell their own application specific software. The site will be a place for artists to make money from the software they create.
A B2B e-commerce site that sells application specific software to artists.
We’re talking about a space with no clear leaders, no clear market definition, and no clear value proposition. All we know is that there’s a market for the tools that would be sold here.
A startup like this could either be an e-commerce company or an SaaS company in the long run. I’m inclined to think it’d do better as a revenue based business, but at the same time, I recognize that the gross margins of this business are likely higher as a B2B than they would be as a recurring revenue business. So while I lean in one direction, I’m open to any other way of thinking about it.
I don’t think it’s possible to build this business without having a content strategy. So much of the value will come not from what you *do*, but from what you *teach* (in videos and writing) about how to use your software effectively. The challenge is that most people don’t read blogs or watch videos about art or software applications. At least not yet…
I’ve talked previously about some of the challenges with building an art software business (1 2 3), and have also written some stuff on why
With the rise of application specific hardware in fields like AI, many software developers need specialized tools that are not available to them from off-the-shelf packages.
A platform that allows artists to sell these tools can become a new marketplace for software, allowing independent developers to monetize their work and opening up entirely new categories of tools for creative professionals.
I started Art Store to solve a problem I was having. I was an artist at the time, and it was hard to find tools that worked for me. I had a lot of idea for software that would have helped me work better, but there was no way for me to get money to create it. So I started this site as a way to let other artists sell their own software creations, and raise money to support themselves while they did it.
In the long term this will also be a good place for programmers to find ideas they want to develop. And by matching artists with developers we can create some really great applications.
Art Store has just launched, so we haven’t sold anything yet. But if you are an artist who wants your software idea realized, or a developer who wants source code you can extend and sell, please get in touch!