Cutcaster, a community-based online content marketplace launched last week in New York, promises a new way to buy and sell stock images and video. Co-founder and previous stock-trader John Griffin says Cutcaster takes after Wall Street, "where electronic trading platforms seamlessly helped buyers and sellers find one another, negotiate on pricing and cut out the expensive and inefficient middleman."

Griffin believes that the time for the stock industry's middlemen, which include both traditional agencies and newer Web-based distributors, is over. The NASDAQ-like Cutcaster offers an alternative to both. It lets visual content-owners control pricing, while allowing buyers to negotiate and even commission work through its ProjectRequest feature.

Creators can set their own prices for still and motion content. Cutcaster provides assistance, in the form of an optional patent-pending algorithm that helps determine the true market value of any piece of content. Buyers can make purchases at the listed price or submit a lower bid to the seller. In turn, the seller can accept, decline or choose to negotiate further.

Cutcaster is free to use, search, upload and store media. The company will generate revenue by keeping 50% to 60% of the seller's proceeds, rewarding exclusive content with a slightly higher commission.

Its launch comes after three years in development, with 2007 spent on testing and amassing an inventory of royalty-free content. Griffin, who finally took the plunge and quit his day job as a trader at Collins Stuart, says the company is beginning a serious marketing push to bring buyers and more sellers to Cutcaster.