From the Founder
I would genuinely love to give away all of our venue information for free to artists — and give artists’ information freely to venues — so the whole matching system could operate without any cost to anyone. I would love to provide all of that benefit for free.
But I cannot.
The reason is the same reason you cannot give your art away for free. If you gave your art away, you might be able to share a few pieces at the beginning, but after that, you would not be able to continue creating. You would need a day job to earn a living, to eat, and to provide for your family. If you gave your art away for free, everyone would ultimately lose.
You would lose because you would lack the time and resources to create your best work. The hundreds of people who might otherwise own a piece of your art would also lose, because those works would never be created while you were busy working a day job.
Exactly the same principle applies to us.
If we gave venue information away for free, we could only do it for a short time before going broke. Once that happened, we would no longer be able to provide venue connections to anyone. If we cannot provide that access, the venues lose, artists around the world lose, and all the people who might otherwise discover and buy those artworks lose as well. The entire ecosystem suffers.
We charge a subscription for access to our venue network simply so that we can provide the service at all.
Some artists understandably wish the information were free. We have all become used to large companies like Google providing services—such as maps—at no cost. But those services are not actually free. There is always a cost. If you believe you are getting something for free online, you are usually paying in another way: either with your attention through advertisements, or with your personal data, which is collected and monetized.
We do neither of those things.
Our platform is completely free of advertising. Your data is not farmed, sold, or used in any hidden way. The only revenue we receive is the subscription fee paid by artists who choose to access the venue network. We believe that is a fair and transparent exchange.
If you decide that you do not want to pay that fee, that is completely fine. You are absolutely free to put on your shoes, walk the streets, and knock on the doors of venues yourself. There is nothing stopping you.
However, most artists know how difficult that process can be. Cold-calling venues is uncomfortable and involves constant rejection. I have done it myself dozens of times and experienced plenty of rejection along the way. It takes persistence, time, and emotional energy—many people find it extremely hard to sustain.
For roughly the price of a cup of coffee per month, our platform gives you access to a constantly growing network of venues without that stress and uncertainty. In my view, that is a very good deal. If you do not think it is worth it, that is perfectly okay; you can continue approaching venues yourself without any restrictions at all.
But if you want us to build and maintain the network, we need to charge for the service—just as you charge for your artwork.
There is one final point I would like to address.
Occasionally, someone suggests that we are not upfront about the fact that venue details are hidden during the trial period. That simply is not correct. During the trial, the platform clearly states what you can and cannot see. It explicitly notes that trial users can see the distance to venues, but adds in brackets: “no venue details for trial users.”
This information appears before you subscribe and again at the paywall. We make every effort to be transparent; however, like any platform, we cannot control whether a user reads the information presented.
At the end of the day, our goal is simple: We want to help artists place their work in venues around the world. We want venues to discover great artists, and we want more people to experience and own art. Charging a modest subscription allows us to build and sustain that ecosystem so that it continues to exist for everyone.
— Brian Carew-Hopkins
Founder