佳士得CEO：亚马逊卖艺术品不足为虑

    周二，电子商务网站亚马逊（Amazon）宣布推出艺术品交易平台Amazon Art。这个平台和美国150家艺术品交易公司和画廊建立了合作关系，目前可供交易的有4,500名艺术家创作的约4万件艺术品。

    在Amazon Art上出售的一幅莫奈画作标价145万美元（894.65万元人民币，浏览者对它进行了犀利吐槽：“买家注意：这件作品用法文作为说明文字。没有英文版。买它的人一个字也看不懂。”）另一幅诺曼•洛克威尔的作品标价485万美元（2,992.45万元人民币），是目前为止该平台上最贵的一件艺术品。

    周三，《财富》（Fortune）杂志记者采访了佳士得拍卖行（Christie's）首席执行官史蒂芬•墨菲。要评价亚马逊进入艺术品市场的意义，墨菲无疑是个特别合适的人选。

    墨菲于2010年进入佳士得，此前从事音乐和图书发行工作——最初他在西蒙与舒斯特出版社（Simon & Schuster）工作，接着又在百代唱片（EMI Records）担任总裁，最后的职务是Rodale出版社首席执行官。因此，他亲眼见证了这家电子商务巨擘给出版行业带来的巨大冲击。编辑后的采访摘要如下：

亚马逊的消息让你感到担心吗？

    所有这些都让我感到担心！为了缓解焦虑，我都开始食疗了。我为什么不应该认真对待亚马逊涉足艺术品市场这件事呢？我都能听见他们的卡车来拉货的声音了！（笑）这件事动静很大……它打着亚马逊这块金字招牌。这项业务有个完美的名称，而且规模巨大！不过我要告诉你，就像《绿野仙踪》（the Wizard of Oz）里奥兹国的巫师所说：“我们有他们没有的东西。”我们有的就是佳士得这个品牌。

以前也有人这么说过。虽然不完全相同，但图书发行商、图书销售商和唱片公司都说过这样的话，然而亚马逊最终完全占据了他们的市场。

    对，没错，我同意你的说法。这是件大事，我们很担心。这个问题很复杂，让我说的超前一点：他们能在艺术品市场占据一大块地盘。这毋庸置疑。但佳士得和那些图书、音乐品牌之间有很大差异。说实在的，大家买埃里克•克莱普顿的唱片绝不是因为他和华纳（Warner）签了约。除了极少数的那么几个品牌……

当然，的确，大多数人并不知道Knopf或FSG出版社……

    但《纽约客》（New Yorker）杂志的读者可能知道。

对，但绝大多数人，还有亚马逊的用户都不知道。

    这种情况非常罕见。佳士得的价值和某些特许品牌经历了250年的积淀。亚马逊为交易商建立了一个市场，其中一些交易商有很好的品牌。我的第一反应是：这对艺术品行当来说这实际上是件好事。鼓励人们在网上购买艺术品对佳士得有利，因为我正在为佳士得建立网上平台。我认为自己有可能亲自抓住一些商机。我们的工作将是确保我们独家拥有那些人们想买的艺术品。这个行业的实质仍然是委托，而在这方面我们非常、非常在行。

    On Tuesday Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Art, a partnership with 150 U.S. dealers and galleries that currently features some 40,000 works from 4,500 artists.

    There's a Monet selling for $1.45 million (user reviews are appropriately snarky: "BUYER BEWARE: THIS ITEM IS IN FRENCH. There is no English version. I purchased this product and couldn't understand a word of it.") and a Norman Rockwell for $4.85 million, the most expensive piece on the site, so far.

    On Wednesday Fortune sat down with Christie's CEO Steven Murphy, who is especially well-suited to consider the magnitude of Amazon (AMZN) entering the fine art space.

    Before arriving at Christie's in 2010, Murphy worked in music and book publishing -- first at the publishing house Simon & Schuster, then as a president at EMI Records, and finally as the CEO of Rodale. So he's seen, firsthand, his industries hugely affected by the online retail Goliath. Edited excerpts follow:

Does this Amazon news worry you?

    All these things worry me! I'm on the anxiety diet over here. Why shouldn't I take Amazon going into the art business seriously? I can hear the trucks! [laughs] It's the big rumble ... it's like: AMAZON. It's perfectly well named. It's huge! But, I'll tell you, like the Wizard of Oz said, "We have something they haven't got." We have the Christie's brand.

There's a similar argument, which is not completely analogous, but it's something book publishers, and book sellers, and record companies have made before, and Amazon completely ate their lunch.

    No, no, no I agree with you. This is a major event, something to give us concern. This is a complex point, let me jump ahead: They can take a big chunk of the art world. That's a given. But there is a big difference between Christie's and brands in the books and music. Frankly, no one is buying Eric Clapton because he's on Warner. And except for very few but a couple publishing imprints ...

Sure, sure, most people don't know Knopf, or FSG ...

    But if you read the New Yorker, maybe.

Right, but the vast majority of people, folks on Amazon don't.

    It's very rare. Christie's does have 250 years of a value and certain imprimatur. Amazon is creating a marketplace for dealers, some of whom have a good brand. My first pass is: This is actually good for the art world. Encouraging people to buy art online is going to be good for Christie's, because I'm building an online platform for Christie's. I think I'll have an opportunity to grab some of the business myself. Our job will be to make sure we have the exclusive on the art that people are looking for. The name of this game is still consignments, and that is a game we are very, very good at.