Well, it’s official.  Sistino will be no more.  ArtistRising, merging Sistino’s good points, will be the venue for beginning indie artists and wannabes over at the Art.com empire, and Art.com itself along with AllPosters.com will be limited to artists whose sales or content are proven to be lucrative.  Makes good business sense.

The 10% royalty payments are rising to 15%, but there will no longer be a royalty paid for framing, making a potential net loss of 5% income on sales for artists who regularly sold framed work instead of just prints. 

Artists still won’t set their own prices, a downside to Art.com, AllPosters, and ArtistRising as “sell-your-art-here” dot coms.

Art on art.com which hasn’t sold as of June 30, 2007, will be expunged from the art.com database.  This means an artist with no sales who has work on art.com will lose their place in that venue.  Artists who have sold will remain.  In order for new artists to get on board art.com, they will have to have a good sales record or their images be considered content that would sell well on the art.com market — trendy in home decor.

Does this make sense for art.com?  Yes. 

Is this making indie artists unhappy?  Yes and no.  At least they know where they stand, though many are very unhappy with what they consider to be the high-handed methods art.com has employed towards them during this transition period.  Some are rather upset that they are losing the framing royalties.

What do I think?  I think that artists are much too focused on someone else’s business model rather than on their own.  …And, remember, there’s always ImageKind.com, an up and coming online market venue which, so far, at least, is very “artist friendly” in its attitude.