What to charge for a license

[FlyingDutchman90]

Hello everyone,

A real estate company wrote to me that they would like to licence one of my drone videos and use the footage on their new website. They ask me how much I would charge for my footage and I honestly have no idea what is reasonable.
Does anyone has an idea what would be a reasonable offer from my side? We are talking about just a few minutes of raw footage.

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

It's really up to you but since you already shot the footage without any expectations, I wouldn't go too high. Just make sure they credit you on the video which may add to further jobs down the line.

 

[Capt KO]

Make sure your country allows selling videos without being a commercial pilot. In US you would need a 107 license to accept payments. Giving pics and vids away is OK for consumer pilots. Good luck.

 

[mavic3usa]

In US you would need a 107 license to accept payments.

No you don't.

 

[CadrePilot]

No you don't.

Correct.
Intent of the flight is paramount.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I would ask then how much they are willing to pay...if they have no idea I would ask if a hundred dollars and to be given credit in the title would be acceptable...if not then see if they would just give the credit....you could get work from it...HOWEVER ...since ,as pointed out already, the original flight was purely recreational, you would be within the regs...if you were to strike a deal for future work...whether directly through the original "customer" or from someone who does catch your information in the credits, it would be considered to be other than recreational and require that you earn the 107 credentials....Good luck with it

 

[Capt KO]

Correct.
Intent of the flight is paramount.

Thank you for that info but don't understand how intent can be determined. Seems any pilot could claim that excuse to accept payments, without being commercial. I gave my storm photos to the TIMES instead of payment, guess I shoulda taken the money.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I agree....but if someone does it once ...it is plausible that the footage was incidental to a recreational flight...more than one time would make that questionable to me.....if anyone wants to record for money...just study and take the test for 107...it's not so hard and once you do obtain it, it does not cost anything to keep it current

 

[FlyingDutchman90]

Thank you all very much. Indeed, the intent of the flight was recreational and its a one time deal with this company. Also dont have the intent to sell footage on a regular basis.

I will ask 100 euros and to be credited and i will see if they agree.

 

[MARK (LI)]

Sorry I did not realize that you are from Cork...your Laws in Ireland could be different

 

[Kilrah]

I've sold some footage and just looked up rates for the uncommon, non-repeatable stuff it was used in a documentary, at the time it was $1800 for 45 seconds. They paid, then came back for another 20 seconds.

Obviously depends on what it is, if they can send any drone pilot to take the same shot then you'll have to go with what someone would charge for a generic shoot in your area, maybe a tad higher since taking what already exists saves them some work. If it's like a building under construction and they want construction footage but construction's finished now then it's not possible to get footage of the half-built thing anymore, etc.

Funny thing is I got sick after shooting that in freezing cold temps, it was the only time getting sick was worth it

 

[FlyingDutchman90]

Finally the lady herself proposed €100 and to credit me for the footage.
Thank you all for sharing your wisdom!

 

[MARK (LI)]

......The Euros won't go very far.....but I hope you get some calls for more work.....best of luck with it...

 

[AMann]

Hello everyone,

A real estate company wrote to me that they would like to licence one of my drone videos and use the footage on their new website. They ask me how much I would charge for my footage and I honestly have no idea what is reasonable.
Does anyone has an idea what would be a reasonable offer from my side? We are talking about just a few minutes of raw footage.

Thank you very much in advance!

Are you asking about a commercial price or one where they will invite you back to do other work for them? It’s a huge difference! You could leverage this into a beneficial business partnership. Personally, I would offer it to them under a limited use license that allows them only to use it on their website and nowhere else. You decide the price, but I would offer it for free as an opening to maybe working as a commercial photographer for them. There are a lot of license agreement templates online for photographers to set these up. You can find one of those easily with google.

If you want to charge a single use commercial fee, web stock photo and video outlets like Alamy give you the ability to search for videos and see what different prices and licenses cost for them. Honestly, though if you go with one of those prices, they’ll probably not purchase it and won’t contact you anymore.

Edit: oh I see you already did your business now that I read the rest of the threads. Oh well, save this for next time.

 

[Fred Paris]

$1500

 

[Robert Prior]

I haven't sold any video, but I have sold still photos for $150-300. I don't go looking for business, but I'm not going to turn it down when it knocks on the door!

The commercial image business is a bit strange. You can't make a living from stock photography anymore (especially since private equity bought Getty and cut the photographer's share of license fees to 1/4 of what it had been). There's a lot of images out there. That said, commercial users are still willing to pay decent money for images rather than spending hours looking for cheaper ones.

My rule-of-thumb is to look at the stock sites and see what they charge, work out what I'd be paid if I sold through them, and split the difference.

 

[wdfly]

No you don't.

You do have to have 107 for any commercial use. This includes accepting payment for videos or pictures, even if they were originally taken from a recreational flight. There is a video out there somewhere that explains it better than I can.

 

[wdfly]

This link explains it pretty good.

Do I Need a Drone License to Post Drone Videos on YouTube? - Droneblog

Drones have become so accessible and widespread that it’s easier than ever for almost anyone to get great drone videos. When you have great videos, the

www.droneblog.com

 

[Meta4]

You do have to have 107 for any commercial use. This includes accepting payment for videos or pictures, even if they were originally taken from a recreational flight.

The FAA isn't interested in your photos or what you do with them.
They have no rules about selling imagery.
They have rules about flight safety and about recreational and non-recreational flight.
If you took some photos last year during a legal recreational flight, selling the photos now doesn't magically turn that past flight into a non-recreational flight.

 

[wdfly]

The FAA isn't interested in your photos or what you do with them.
They have no rules about selling imagery.
They have rules about flight safety and about recreational and non-recreational flight.
If you took some photos last year during a legal recreational flight, selling the photos now doesn't magically turn that past flight into a non-recreational flight.

I'm sorry but I do not agree with that assessment. They specifically state fines and/or jail for commercial use without a license. Commercial use is any use of anything that comes from the flight being used for monetary purposes. You must have part 107 to conduct commercial flights, which includes selling the images/videos or flying for hire etc. even if you sell the items after the fact. I will give you that they do not specifically state selling of images/video, that would be covered under the commercial use statement which requires 107.