Crowdspring develops a virtual marketplace for artists

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

May 23, 2008, 6:15 PM

The Web 2.0 concept has impacted the creative sector yet again with Crowdspring, a marketplace for graphic design, illustration, and art professionals.

Users of the site can be categorized into "Buyers" and "Creatives," and the former group posts projects that they need to have completed, and how much they will pay for the results. Once posted, the "Creatives" can then see what is needed, and work on providing it. From there, the buyer can choose from the submissions which product best suits his needs, and pay the creator the advertised sum.

Rather than proposals or mockups, buyers are presented the actual completed product.

Since the site's launch two weeks ago, there have been about 50 projects listed, ranging from $100-$1500 in awards, and the number of designer profiles has reached over 1000. The distinction between buyers and creatives is not concrete, and a firm that is an artist on one project may be the buyer of another -- somewhat like eBay accounts that allows both buying and selling.

Delivery-wise, the site actually works a lot like eBay. There is a countdown timer for project deadlines, but instead of bids, there are entries, and instead of a bidding price, there is the award for the winning entry. Entries are rated by buyers as well as "the crowd," who also have the ability to leave comments (or criticism).

In terms of service, Crowdspring is similar to SonicBids, a marketplace site for musicians. There, musicians make bids for spots in shows and festivals, on compilation albums and the like. Both sites let artists put profiles up with portfolios of their work, and projects in which they are participating. The main difference between the two is that SonicBids charges the artists for membership and every application submitted.