Digital photo sharing on social media started as a quick and easy way to share pictures with friends and family. It has since evolved into a creative space for artists and photographers to showcase their work and even build a brand. Now the game is changing, and Tom Oswald, the CEO of Clickasnap, is leading the charge.

Oswald noticed many creatives posting their work across various social media platforms and saw an opportunity to help them boost engagement and monetize their art. With those values in mind, he worked to create Clickasnap, an app inclusive to a full spectrum of experience levels, from seasoned photographers to beginners looking to hone their craft.

Most importantly, Oswald wanted the user to maintain ownership of their photos instead of giving social media platforms rights to profit off their copyrighted material.

According to media lawyer Adam Weissman, when you post to social media, you “grant [them] the right to use your copyrighted work in whatever way they see fit,” per their terms and conditions. Weissman adds that the terms allow the sites to “sell or sublicense their license to a third party to use, and, as each one specifies that the license is ‘royalty-free,’ you would never receive any part of the profit.”

Clickasnap will never own the rights to anything you post on your account or collect royalties from your photos. In fact, they go a step further, with a marketplace allowing you to sell your photos as downloads, physical prints, earn money per view, private art galleries, and the ability to license your images.

“Many platforms, you can sell your content, but all of them overprice your work by up to 30% for their royalties. We charge no royalties,” Oswald says.

Offering users even more protection against image theft, Clickasnap has a feature that disables the print screen button to prevent lifting images from the site. To maintain brand integrity, Oswald says they are “extremely strict” on website rules, with “any content not uploaded by the owner” being “removed and the uploader banned.”

With artist exposure being a primary value, it was important for Oswald to design Clickasnap to avoid similar algorithms that other social media sites use. Instagram and Facebook use algorithms that stifle the organic reach of their users’ posts.

“It can be very disheartening seeing your imagery receive little or no interaction,” Oswald said. “[The Clickasnap] feed has no reach restrictions, and it has sharing options to images that are guaranteed to be seen by any uploader’s followers. For on-site audiences, our front page refreshes every time it is hit, constantly exposing new content to visitors.”

Clickasnap believes in full transparency, making it so you define how much control you want the site to have. Signing up requires minimal personal information to get started and only asks for further personal info depending on the service you’re using. In these instances, their privacy policy explains in-depth how the information will be used.

Users can begin with a free account, allowing them to share, browse, and upload unlimited photos. From there, users can upgrade to an ad-free version (£2.00/mo.), a seller account (£4/mo.), or a pro account (£6/mo.) to unlock valuable benefits. These include unlimited cloud storage, unlimited uploads, publicity for their work through website store credits, opportunities to get featured on the website’s front page, and further protection for artist content with a watermark option.

Clickasnap continues to look for even more ways to innovate and keep improving while growing users on their site. They recognize the need for artists to represent themselves and promote their work in a safe space and will keep working to change the game positively.

Visit Clickasnap for more details about their great features and sign up for free.

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