Over the years, blockchain has been slowly penetrating different industries such as finance, energy, and retail. With emerging blockchain use-cases for age-old challenges, the art industry is now moving in the same direction.
Two important processes in the art industry are high-resolution image licensing and image distribution. Since there is no single image hub, it is difficult for art seekers to locate and access millions of artworks around the world. Therefore, their options are limited, and artists miss opportunities for global exposure. Additionally, the process to clear the rights for images is expensive, time-consuming, and often not achievable. With over 20 years of experience in this industry, Kirsten Söderlind recognized that these challenges, along with others, create a complex system that puts artists and their potential patrons at a disadvantage. Thus, Artériel was born.
Artériel, which is French for ‘artery’, is an AI and blockchain-enabled platform that facilitates the registration, management, distribution, monetization and marketing of licensed art content. For Söderlind, it is imperative that artists and collection holders are empowered by this foundation. When asked about the intersection between blockchain and art, she indicated that “it’s critical to ensure that artists and collection holders have complete control and get paid for their transaction and there’s no other system out there that does that as well as blockchain.” In the world of art, there are several worldwide stakeholders who need image usage to be tracked and reported so they are compensated for all uses . Blockchain technology provides the perfect opportunity for a high level of transparency and integrity that meets the market requirements and manages the complexities of all transactions conducted through Artériel.
So, how does it work? Artériel has a simple one-step process of uploading images into an online integrated asset management system, which consolidates the images and their rights into one location. The platform also entails smart contracts and data tracking, and it will facilitate immediate approval of usage requests for at least 80% of images, enabling real-time payments to the artists. In addition to the asset management system, Artériel is developing an image recognition app which allows art seekers to virtually walk through museums and exhibitions, learn about different works of art, and purchase or save images to their smartphone gallery. For artists, this offers a tremendous benefit. Söderlind highlighted that “by being in the art registry, [their] work is discoverable through the app. So, it’s particularly important for anyone who wants to make sure that their story is being told.”
In addition to exposure and the real-time payments for their licensed work, artists will benefit from color-correction of images to their approval, automatic connection of digital files to image and rights owners, control of how the images can be used, and access to extensive marketing and networking tools. Arteriel’s mission is to ultimately create “disruptive change that will benefit global artists, museums and collection holders to control and market their content and provide easy access to art for everyone.” It provides a new platform to solve long-standing challenges in the art industry and for artists to thrive as a community. To learn more about Artériel and keep up with their activities, stay tuned for their newsletters, blogs and user interaction features to be released in the near future!
by Odessa Elie
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