Axess Media Group, a publicly traded Internet production and multimedia company, has finalized an agreement with the Art Channel to launch of a new on-line business model for artists around the world.
The Art Channel is reported to hold first mover advantage in the on-line distribution of art using a highly secure electronic tool for protecting artists' original works.
Axess has scheduled a roll-out of vertical market content portals, and anticipates the launch of "nVault": an on-line safety deposit or electronic lock-box for the protection and distribution of art, music, film and other intellectual property over the world wide web.
According to the National Endowment for the Arts (www.arts.gov) expenditures of nonprofit art organizations during 2000 exceeded $36.8 Billion.
Nielsen / NetRatings and Harris Interactive reported that all online auction spending for May 2001 jumped 149% from the same month last year and that total on-line auction sales amounted to $ 556 million for the month; representing 10 percent of total e-commerce spending.
Online art currently represents only a small fraction of this growth to date.