After the publication of its regulated press release of 5 August 2015 entitled “Artprice confirms the successful generalised deployment of its multi-payment multi-currency platform”, Artprice has received numerous questions from the market, its shareholders and Art Market professionals concerning the differences between Artprice and Artnet in terms of pricing and database contents.

These recurring questions are all the more legitimate as the tariff schedules of the two firms are now (since 5 August) standardised and thus instantly comparable.

In order to enhance transparency on the matter and in full compliance with deontological standards in the database industry, Artprice has decided to publish a Transparency Drive on the respective tariffs and databases of Artprice and Artnet.

In order to faithfully illustrate the tariffs and terms of the two firms, Artprice has used a very simple and unequivocal methodology consisting of capturing screenshots from the two companies' websites, a method that avoids any misinterpretation.

Tariffs and terms
After a strict comparison of the two price schedules, Artnet's offer might seem somewhat anachronistic. In the era of the web 2.0, Artnet's offer is restrictive both in terms of the number of searches you can launch and the contents available. This strategy appears to be ten years behind the times and cannot seriously hope to satisfy users accustomed to unlimited internet browsing without any volume search limitations.
Below: screenshot of Artnet's tariff schedule
https://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/transparency-drive-concerning-artprices-and-artnets-tariffs-and-databases/
The prices are not only high; for comparison, see Artprice's tariffs in the screenshot below
https://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/transparency-drive-concerning-artprices-and-artnets-tariffs-and-databases/
Note that all the tariffs indicated in Artprice's schedule include all taxes, whereas Artnet's schedule clearly indicates that all its prices are excluding tax.

Contents
According to Artnet's information board, its database is «The largest archive of auction results online»
https://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/transparency-drive-concerning-artprices-and-artnets-tariffs-and-databases/
In view of the two companies' legally binding official documentation, Artnet's statement seems to contradict its own documentation.

Again, according to Artnet's official communication, its database covers roughly 300,000 artists and auction results from roughly 1,600 auction operators. However, their database is not exclusively focused on Fine Art, which, by definition associates each artwork with a listed artist's signature, whereas pieces of furniture and works of decorative art are only very rarely signed by their creators.

Below: screenshot from Artnet's website
https://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/transparency-drive-concerning-artprices-and-artnets-tariffs-and-databases/
In comparison, Artprice boasts an index de 597,446 artists exclusively within the confines of the Fine Art category. (Le Monde defines Fine Art as painting, drawings printing, lithography, sculpture, installations, photography and video).
https://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/transparency-drive-concerning-artprices-and-artnets-tariffs-and-databases/
According to the information available on the approved website Autorités des Marchés Financiers AMF Actusnews, Artprice posts auction results from 4,500 auction operators, whereas Artnet claims to base its analyses on results from 1,600 operators.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Artnet's offer - with a database containing roughly 300,000 fewer artists and auction results providing only a partial picture of the reality of the global Art Market - is substantially less convincing than Artprice's offer.

And… its prices are substantially higher, and its searches limited in number.

It is therefore perfectly uderstandable that Artnet is incapable of producing exhaustive global Art Market reports. Artprice, on the other hand, as can be seen in the official documentation on the approved AMF website and in its certified reference document (243 pages) registered with the AMF on 24 July 2015, is perfectly capable of producing a variety of credible global Art Market reports. See below an extract from the official text registered with the AMF:

« About Artprice :

Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, srd long only and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Atprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 30 million indices and auction results covering more than 592,000 artists. Artprice Images(R) gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world: a library of 118 million images or prints of artworks from the year 1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians.

Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 4,500 auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press publications. For its 3,600,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art."

It is worth remembering that the Art Market and its players is essentially dependent on the artists it represents. Likewise, the ergonomics of Fine Art Market databases are constructed around individual artists' data records.

About Artprice:
Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Artprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 30 million indices and auction results covering more than 592,000 artists. Artprice Images(R) gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world: a library of 118 million images or prints of artworks from the year 1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians.

Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 4,500 auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press publications. For its 3,600,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art.

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The 2014 Art Market report contains the famous Artprice ranking of the world's 500 most sought-after artists, the top 100 auction results, market breakdowns by country and by city, by period and by medium, Artprice indices and 21 chapters that provide an uncompromising analysis of the Art Market. It is available free of charge in PDF format at http://imgpublic.artprice.com/pdf/rama2014_en.pdf
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