Websites ending in .art will cost $19/year, plus $299 charge

The story of my quest to get a domain that ends with .art

Ever want your domain to end with “.art” instead of “.com”? Now’s your chance! The domains ending with .art are available now. In fact, some sites are already live using .art

Who is using .art already

[twocol_one]

• aesf.art
• bolshoi.art
• brafa.art
• cahiersd.art
• canesso.art
• davidlevy.art
• didierclaes.art
• exhibit-e.art
• expochicago.art (Yay, Chicago!)
• fitzandco.art
• fondationbeyeler.art
• francisbacon.art
• hauserwirth.art
• ikonotv.art

[/twocol_one] [twocol_one_last]

• lovewatts.art
• magritte.art
• mai.art
• meyeroceanic.art
• mucha.art
• para-site.art
• pissarro.art
• shenwei.art
• stedelijk.art
• stevemiller.art
• theartnewspaper.art
• tsangseymour.art
• vanabbemuseum.art
• whitewall.art

[/twocol_one_last]Those are the .art websites that are already live. There’s also a good amount of sites that are signed up, but haven’t launched yet. Art.art is calling them “early adopters.” Some big guns are on the list with up-and-coming sites, like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim, the Tate, and Kickstarter. This .art domain is serious!

Submit your request

You can submit a form to see if they will allow you to get an .art domain. This must be really exclusive, because on the form they state, “The registration process will be open to members of the art world only.” OH MY!

Last week, I submitted my request for spud.art. In the form, they ask for an explanation. Even though the text box allowed for a large amount of text, I kept it simple:

Hello, I am a public spaces artist that currently owns spudart.org and spudart.com since 1999. I would like to own spud.art. Thank you.

I really don’t know if I’d use spud.art, because I really like spudart.org. But heck, if the domain is like $12/year, I’ll get it. Especially since all these top institutions are getting the .art domains. What would the larger art domains do with this domain? Replace their .com, .org, or .edu website?

The .art people sent an automatic reply to my form stating:

You’ve taken the first step towards owning the definitive digital domain for the arts. We’re pleased to announced that our exclusive ‘art world’ registration period runs for three months from 8 February to 9 May 2017.

Look! They are so fancy using the European date structure, putting the day of the month before the month name. They even go so far to use the British spelling of enquiry in the subject line! (Which, actually does make sense, since the company is based in London. I shouldn’t be making fun of them for that)

Getting accepted into the .art domain exlusive art world group

I submitted the forms on January 30th. Nine days later, they accepted me for spud.art!

Does that make me an official art institution? Will I open up doors next to the Art Institute of Chicago? Art.art granted me a special access token to reserve the domain from them.

However, I couldn’t get to their site, because their service was down for a couple days. Curiosity hung in the air as to how much this will cost. A couple Google searches showed other domain services pre-selling .art domains for $19 or $20/year.

Cost of an .art domain

Then finally, today the art.art website was back up. Let’s see how much this will cost!

Momma mia! $299 to initially reserve the domain. Boy howdy, well, they certainly are gearing this towards higher-end art institutions that can afford this.

Official clarification on price from Art.art customer support

To clarify the cost, I started a chat with the little “Chat now” box on their website.

.ART Support:

• Hello. How may I help you?

Me:

• Hi. I recently signed up to get early access. I received an email with the token. I went to get spud.art, and I see that it costs $299, renewal $18.99/year. Is $299 just the initial one-time charge?

.ART Support:

• The price of a typical (standard) .ART domain registered in the preferred access period is: 1st-year registration fee: $299 Annual renewal fee: $18.99
• so yes, the higher fee is one time

[Please note my sarcasm here]

Me:

• Wow.
• I’ve never heard of a first year registration fee for a domain.
• I guess makes it more exclusive.
• I love exclusivity
• It’s like .art is only for those who are serious
• Get all those fakers outta here!
• .art is only for the serious art community

.ART Support:

• higher pricing during a preferred access period (such as this one) is quite common when launching new TLDs like .ART – normal, general availability begins in May at the lower pricing
• and yes, the Preferred Access Period is an exclusive domain registration phase running from 2 pm on 8 February to 1:59 pm on 9 May 2017 (UTC). During this period, only established members of the art world are eligible to register .ART domains.

Me:

• Ooohhh, so when normal access arrives after May 9th, there won’t be the $299 charge?

.ART Support:

• that’s right

[More sarcasm]

Me:

• Oh wow. So then, it’s not really exclusive after that point.
• I wanted to be in the exclusive club for longer!
• If i’m paying $299, I want it to last for a long time.
• but after may 9th, it’s like everyone is in the party.

.ART Support:

• sure, the idea is to have the chance to register your preferred .art domain before the extension begins to operate as normal and domain investors and all comers start snapping them up in bulk

[And now I’m not really being sarcastic anymore. I’m actually happy that Art.art is doing something about bulk buyers]

Me:

• AHHH
• those bulk buyers
• booo!
• I’m glad you are keeping those bulk buyers out.
• For now
• 🙂
• Ok! that’s all. I hope you have a wonderful day
• thank you so much for answering my questions!
• Ya aaay!
• .art rules!
• You go art.art
• so fun to type that
• art.art
• Ok, goodbye Mr. Art
• Oh wait. Maybe your first name is Art
• And your last name is also Art
• Then you’d be Art.Art

.ART Support:

• ha! thanks for chatting, you have a good one – please give a big thumbs up and a glowing comment before you go!

Summary

If you wait until May 10th, then you don’t have to pay that $299 fee. You might not get your domain, but you won’t get charged that large fee. I’ll be waiting until May 10th.