Experience selling drone footage as stock?

rikk08 · Jan 15, 2020

Does anyone have any experience selling stock footage?

I made an account Blackbox several months ago which is an agency that handles all your stock footage and distributes to 4 major stock video companies under it's own guild name creating more traffic to your content but on the downside taking a percentage out of each sale. I've only uploaded around 300 clips so far and made around $25 each month for the past 3 months. It also has to option to assign curators to either edit and colour your footage or do the keywords for you (or both) which I find useful as I usually assign the curation for keywords to another professional for a 20% fee but it takes out a lot of work of out of it.

I'm curious to see anyone who has experience of uploading directly with stock footage websites, how hard it is to get sales and if it really more worth it overall than a platform such as Blackbox?

Dale D · Jan 16, 2020

rikk08 said:
Does anyone have any experience selling stock footage?

I made an account Blackbox several months ago which is an agency that handles all your stock footage and distributes to 4 major stock video companies under it's own guild name creating more traffic to your content but on the downside taking a percentage out of each sale. I've only uploaded around 300 clips so far and made around $25 each month for the past 3 months. It also has to option to assign curators to either edit and colour your footage or do the keywords for you (or both) which I find useful as I usually assign the curation for keywords to another professional for a 20% fee but it takes out a lot of work of out of it.

I'm curious to see anyone who has experience of uploading directly with stock footage websites, how hard it is to get sales and if it really more worth it overall than a platform such as Blackbox?

You might also want to look at Pond5. It's free to upload. I have uploaded some of stuff there but have never sold 1 cent worth of footage. Here's the link. Ad·www.pond5.com/‎Pond5.com | Pond5© Official Site | World's Largest Collection‎

rikk08 · Jan 16, 2020

Dale D said:
You might also want to look at Pond5. It's free to upload. I have uploaded some of stuff there but have never sold 1 cent worth of footage. Here's the link. Ad·www.pond5.com/‎Pond5.com | Pond5© Official Site | World's Largest Collection‎

Blackbox does actually distrubte your clips on Pond5, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock & Videoblock but I have never uploaded directly to any of the sites yet. May I ask you what you uploaded on Pond5?

Dave Maine · Jan 16, 2020

Think about what the potential purchaser wants from spending money on stock drone footage. There is a huge amount of footage already out there, and whatever service you use, you are competing with that. Asa content producer, you need to think very carefully why your footage is a must have. Great photography/videography skills will be required.

Dale D · Jan 16, 2020

rikk08 said:
Blackbox does actually distrubte your clips on Pond5, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock & Videoblock but I have never uploaded directly to any of the sites yet. May I ask you what you uploaded on Pond5?

107755268 for one but I have submitted over 35 images and clips- never had a single purchase.

Olav van Gerven · Jan 16, 2020

If you are based in the US, you might be considered as flying for commercial purposes. Check with the rules and licences that are requiered for that. Might save you problems.

tck444 · Jan 16, 2020

I have submitted over 100 clips to Black Box and the other various platforms. I earned $300 from one clip on Shutterstock , but not sure how ? Three other sales on Black Box averaged $30 a clip.

The one issue with pond 5 is they try to undercut every other platform on price by offering lower resolution clips. So, you cut will be lower also.

Just one example here;

GadgetGuy · Jan 16, 2020

Olav van Gerven said:
If you are based in the US, you might be considered as flying for commercial purposes. Check with the rules and licences that are requiered for that. Might save you problems.

If the original intent at the time of flight was recreational, you can sell anything you shot previously all you want! The problem is finding a buyer, not the lack of a 107 certificate.

Dale D · Jan 16, 2020

All of the footage submitted and on file at Pond5 were shot for purely recreational purposes. There was no intent on selling anything. It was, more or less, to get my work shown around. At this point I really don't have any intention of studying and taking the 107 test. At my age, it is purely a hobby. I really do not need the $.

GadgetGuy · Jan 16, 2020

Dale D said:
All of the footage submitted and on file at Pond5 were shot for purely recreational purposes. There was no intent on selling anything. It was, more or less, to get my work shown around. At this point I really don't have any intention of studying and taking the 107 test. At my age, it is purely a hobby. I really do not need the $.

Exactly. No worries, even if you do manage to make a few dollars.

rikk08 · Jan 19, 2020

Olav van Gerven said:
If you are based in the US, you might be considered as flying for commercial purposes. Check with the rules and licences that are requiered for that. Might save you problems.

Not based in the US but I'm a freelance videographer and I do like to travel around so i have an idea of what I'm doing

rikk08 · Jan 19, 2020

tck444 said:
I have submitted over 100 clips to Black Box and the other various platforms. I earned $300 from one clip on Shutterstock , but not sure how ? Three other sales on Black Box averaged $30 a clip.

The one issue with pond 5 is they try to undercut every other platform on price by offering lower resolution clips. So, you cut will be lower also.

Just one example here;

It probably sold as editorial or something like that.

My earnings from Blackbox so far in the past 90 days:

Dale D · Jan 19, 2020

rikk08 said:
It probably sold as editorial or something like that.

My earnings from Blackbox so far in the past 90 days:

View attachment 91364

I simply cannot believe the FAA or IRS is going to come after me for such a pittance. Give me a break, guys, we are splitting straws here. If you are really earning a living (like a wedding or real estate photographer) I can certainly understand need for professional being approved by feds. For us simpletons, a few small sales will never trigger fines, etc. Just my opinion.

GadgetGuy · Jan 19, 2020

Dale D said:
I simply cannot believe the FAA or IRS is going to come after me for such a pittance. Give me a break, guys, we are splitting straws here. If you are really earning a living (like a wedding or real estate photographer) I can certainly understand need for professional being approved by feds. For us simpletons, a few small sales will never trigger fines, etc. Just my opinion.

By your own account, all your flights were recreational in intent at the time of launch. So you can legally sell them after the fact to anyone for any amount anywhere without violating any FAA regs. As to the IRS, since you are not a business, you need to declare any money received as "Other Income" on Line 6 on Form 1040. It's hobby income.

What Is Other Income on Form 1040?

Other income on Form 1040 refers to income that isn't assigned a specific line on a 1040 tax return or Schedule 1. Learn more about what counts as other income.

www.thebalance.com

Dale D · Jan 19, 2020

GadgetGuy said:
By your own account, all your flights were recreational in intent at the time of launch. So you can legally sell them after the fact to anyone for any amount anywhere without violating any FAA regs. As to the IRS, since you are not a business, you need to declare any money received as "Other Income" on Line 6 on Form 1040. It's hobby income.

What Is Other Income on Form 1040?

Other income on Form 1040 refers to income that isn't assigned a specific line on a 1040 tax return or Schedule 1. Learn more about what counts as other income.

www.thebalance.com

Yes- I do report other income, but I could not buy a Starbucks small cup of coffee for my total earnings from Pond5 (which was $0.00).

GadgetGuy · Jan 19, 2020

Dale D said:
Yes- I do report other income, but I could not buy a Starbucks small cup of coffee for my total earnings from Pond5 (which was $0.00).

Can't blame a guy for trying!

As I posted earlier, the legality of selling them is not the problem.
Finding a buyer is the real problem.

rikk08 · Jan 20, 2020

Dale D said:
I simply cannot believe the FAA or IRS is going to come after me for such a pittance. Give me a break, guys, we are splitting straws here. If you are really earning a living (like a wedding or real estate photographer) I can certainly understand need for professional being approved by feds. For us simpletons, a few small sales will never trigger fines, etc. Just my opinion.

So glad I don't live in the USA...no FAA or IRS to bother me only simple tax processes and drone permit applications