Will the Subscription Economy Disrupt the Art World?
The art world is still indissolubly linked to the “myth” of ownership, which is the basis of any collecting activity. However, will the changing habits of the new generations — tending to share and focus more and more on experience rather than ownership — ever influence the future of the art market?
Subscription Economy and The Art World
The Subscription Economy has been disruptive across a large variety of industries precisely because of this changing consumer behaviour. Gartner predicts that by 2023, around 75% of all companies will offer subscriptions with direct sales. Despite several attempts, in the art market the Subscription Economy hasn’t yet had the great results it had in other creative industries. The platform Drip, for example, a subscription-based funding platform for visual artists, launched by Kickstarter in 2017, was shut down in late 2019 due to financial unsustainability. Or the well-known Membership platform Patreon, which introduced a subscription model for creators — applied later also on Youtube, Soundcloud, Mixcloud and even Instagram has just announced its launch — never had relevance in the art market. The fact is that an artwork has its own uniqueness and can’t be experienced simultaneously by multiple people like a movie or a song, and besides, it has delicate and expensive transport. Also, since the strong financial component of the art market, buyers generally seek the ownership of the work more than the experience. However, the lockdown and the lack of art events has emphasized the importance of the experience-based art consumption. As Philip Kennicott notes, the lockdown has led to a rediscovery of the solitary and profound private experience of art as it was considered by earlier generations, a “solitary communion”. Are we getting back to the old romantic view of the relationship with art? Asked whether the art of the future is an object or an experience, Marc Spiegler, the global director of Art Basel, says “I don’t think it should be overstated, but it should be taken into consideration,”.
How the art consumption has evolved throughout history
The way humans have dealt with art has always been a reflection of the existing culture. If in Ancient Greece sculptures had the function of exalting the cult of the Gods, in Roman times had a more aesthetic and decorative role, while in the Middle Ages, art wanted to facilitate the spiritual connection of the faithful. Over time, the accumulation of works takes on more and more political purposes, as a demonstration of power. The Medici family made its patronage an instrument of consensus in Florence, as well as Napoleon considerably increased the French art collections obtained by military victory (or archaeological expedition e.g. the Rosetta Stone) to celebrate its history and importance. It was only in the 19th century, with increasing capitalism, that the combined action of public museums, dealers and collectors created and developed what we know as the art market. The postwar era of the 20th century saw the growth of the influence of art dealers and led to the contemporary art boom with the rise of the art fairs (such as Art Basel) and million-dollar auctions of contemporary works by the various Andy Warhol or Frank Stella. Art became not only appreciated as such but also viewed from an investment perspective. Nowadays, the digital revolution has speeded up and expanded the market even more, with an increasing share of the market taking place online. Social Media has democratized access to media channels, and more and more collectors are opening private museums (71% of which have opened in the last 15 years), showing a rising willingness to make the art experience accessible to everyone.
The Future of Art Consumption
We live in a state of perpetual movement, changing jobs and moving to new cities every time and then, and also the way we deal with art will evolve accordingly. As stated by Deloitte’s Adriano Picinati di Torcello “especially new generations behave in a way that it’s difficult to think that they will buy art for ‘forever’, but rather they would rotate their collections based on their tastes and where they live ‘’. If art ownership is an essential element for the art market, the experience-based consumption of it will create a much more fluid market with an increasing trade within buyers also of emerging art — this would give to more artists the opportunity to emerge. In this direction, the Subscription Economy aims to play an important role in making the art market more accessible and suitable for the future art collectors.
About Pasquale Marino:
I am the Founder & CEO of Mæcenarte — we are building a platform where artists and art lovers can connect in mutually beneficial relations, aiming to shape a better society where not only the word Art and World are close to each other.
If you want to be notified of our launch first and see how you can test Maecenarte even sooner visit: www.maecenarte.com
