A new player in the photography industry, ClickASnap, offers YouTube-like payments for creators who simply upload their images. The business model is simple: take everything that’s good about photo-sharing platforms and make it better by adding features photographers long wanted.
They market themselves as the world’s first platform for sharing, managing, selling, and monetizing your art. It is easy to see why ClickASnap promises an experience different from other platforms, as they position themselves as a company that gives back.
How Does It Work?
The big question you may have is how does ClickASnap work? The method, as explained on their website, is rather simple. In short, you upload images, users look at them, and you are paid per view. Immediately, one thing comes to mind: algorithm. ClickASnap promises its feed is chronological. This, in turn, helps everyone get a fair chance at sharing their work and earning money. Another feature of their platform is that the algorithm will show your followers your content, and vice versa. Reminiscent of the “golden days” of early YouTube, ClickASnap is indeed trying to become just that.
Photographers from all genres can upload their images on ClickASnap, which opens the platform to as many users as possible. Just a quick browse of their homepage yields wildlife, food, architectural, and travel photography. The images uploaded to ClickASnap are forever yours, meaning that there is no transfer of rights to any third party. To add an extra layer of protection, ClickASnap has a WIPT system integrated into their website. Watermark-less image protection will significantly decrease image theft by print-screen.
How Can You Monetize Your Images?
There are several ways ClickASnap monetizes photography. One such way is by selling physical prints on various objects. The print-on-demand part of ClickASnap has less than a 5% commission on the sale, and it allows you to set your own prices. Physical sales are complemented by a “per view” mechanic implemented on ClickASnap. Similar to YouTube, images that amass more views will get higher payouts. To create more views and increase the amount of money users make from their photography, ClickASnap offers automated social media management tools which promote your images 24/7 and direct traffic to ClickASnap. Some users may wonder what counts as a view. For example, Spotify requires 30 seconds of listening time in order to count that as a valid listen. ClickASnap also has a similar policy, but a much nicer one: if an image is viewed for more than five seconds, it is automatically counted as a view. Bear in mind that ClickASnap has several subscription levels. In order to access the pay-per-view level, you need to sign up for a monthly subscription with ClickASnap.
From my personal landscape photography archive
Closing Thoughts
Overall, ClickASnap is a very ambitious platform. If it delivers on its promise, it could be a big player in the industry and disturb the current photo-sharing platforms a lot. ClickASnap claims that they do not harvest or sell data, which is a welcome practice by many users.
According to ClickASnap, they have managed to amass three million users and have around 5,000 new ones joining every day. Not only that, they are also investing £300,000 to rebuild their website, as the existing one is a prototype. Therefore, it is rather exciting to see what ClickASnap will do next with their new website. If ClickASnap sounds like something you’d want to try, check them out by going to this link.
I'm so tired of businesses that promise to make you money, but you have no idea, no control, over your product or sales. How many times are desperate photographers going to fall for this? The answer is that as long as there are desperate photographers, there will be hucksters taking advantage of them.
Thanks, but no thanks.