Name: Society6
Quick Pitch: Society6 is a platform for emerging and established artists from every creative discipline to showcase their talent as it unfolds.
Genius Idea: Society6 doesn't bill itself as a business or a website, but rather, "a movement set in motion by a clear and relentless pursuit to empower the world's artists." Society6, as simply as I can put it, is a platform for artists to showcase their work and for those who wish to fund them to provide grants to fuel this artistic creativity. It does all of this with an interface that is social by design.
Society6 is based upon charts, grants, posts, and studios. Combined, they help promote and connect aritsts. The Chart, which is the default start page of Society6, basically provides a feed of popular activity (posts) over the last day, week, or month. These posts can be anything from a grant offer to a new piece of art. Popularity is determined by user vote via the "Promote it" button, similar to the functionality of social news websites like Digg.
Grants are a central part to the Society6 platform and movement. Anyone is welcome to offer a grant or apply for one via the website. Grant offerers can set the terms of the offer as well as the reward. It has some similarities to online marketplaces, but is clearly not about making money, but about sharing art. Whether this is an ideal way to get artists and organizations involved is tough to answer.
Society6 is also offering a micro-patronage support system starting next week, which allows the community to help decide the recipients of grants based on their work, which is another way Society6 relies on its social aspects to grow.
The last important part of Society6 is studios, which is essentially your presence on the website. Users can create studios and bring in friends and team members. They can then use their studio presence to promote work and offer grants. What makes Society6 most useful, though, are the social aspects, specifically the ability to follow specific studios, to create profiles, to add subscriptions, and to provide feedback and support via comments.
Society6 is unlike most startups, because its doesn't seem to have a focus on monetization, but rather on art as a platform. It combines aspects of social media and non-profit sentiment to create a budding community of creative talent. Society6 is ideal for artists looking for a new community or even some grant money. We're interested to see how this community and its movement evolve.
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.