Wemark: A new Business Model for Photographers Online

Wemark is being developed to handle every single type of digital content available in the web by using a protocol that will allow content creators to deal directly with their customer base by using a Blockchain-powered platform to sign off their preferred content by a pre-established fee using s smart contract. Currently, at the planning stage on some areas and development on others, Wemark is running and ready to change one of the most important marketplaces available on the internet: Stock photography.

Currently dominated by Shutterstock and Getty Images, these companies handle the distribution of a good portion of the stock content available on the web. They do so by charging almost 85% of the licensing costs off photographers. Since most of these professionals are freelancers, who need to focus on the generation of content they have to take this bum deal that leaves them with just a tiny percentage of earnings and a complete dark veil over the licensing rights of their photography.

With the Wemark protocols, these professionals will no longer be neglected of their fair share of earnings.

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Here are some of the most prominent features they’ll have access if they choose to work with the platform:

• Full ownership of their content

A creator will no longer have to dump their content into the marketplace of a licensor’s network and wait for a report with a limited payout. Using the Blockchain-powered Wemark ecosystem, the photographer will be able to issue the distribution rights to whoever is willing to pay for it in accordance with a deal that will be subscribed using a smart contract. The Blockchain will keep track of every transaction and hold full accountability for the proper use of the content.

• Full control of Costs

The Wemark platform will offer the content of photographers at different price ranges to accommodate every user’s choice. No content will be licensed without the approval of the artist on the final price.

• New Model for Revenue Distribution

Wemark’s flagship offering is the ability of creators to collect 85% of royalty payments over the full price paid by the customer. The remaining 15% will be collected by the company to keep the ecosystem’s operation running. If unforeseen circumstances force Wemark to change their royalty rate policy in the future, no deal signed off until that point will be affected.

• New Model based on Transparency

The nature of a smart contract is to secure transparency in all the dealings made with the product offered by it. Photographers often had to deal with the incorrect use of their content by sending notifications that would not be taken into consideration by the major networks unless they came with a legal warrant. With Wemark the protocol will ensure that content is handled in the terms stated in the smart contract to avoid copyright infringements or inappropriate use by third parties.

The use of Blockchain certainly seems to change the way stock content can be shared and sold by struggling photographers who depend on a limited income to keep their operations running. Wemark is ready to make life a little bit easier for them, but they still have a long way to go with another type of content.

To see where they are planning to get you can check:
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