selling stock footage – worth it or not?

[Russ Stiggants]

I don’t have any experience with this personally as I have not ventured into selling stock footage for all the reasons discussed in this thread – despite having some images which I think would be worthy of making available. I just can’t wrap my head around (1) selling my images for peanuts and (b) a stock house taking an exhorbitant amount for the pleasure.

Now I know the stock houses say that they give you great exposure and we the videographers should be grateful that they’re providing the service for us to make money – any money – on the back of their hard work…..but at this stage I can’t see anyone making enough money to make it worth their while. from my look at stock houses, I see that those who make ‘generic’ backgrounds and the like seem to be doing better than videographers hanging up ‘reality’ vision — either way, I see an awful lot of good shots with no buys….

As for the copyright issue – sure the law is on our side – but (a) you’ve got to find copyright infringement in the first place, as you say, and (b) do you seriously think the average videographer is going to mount a legal case costing thousands of dollars over 10 seconds of vision for which he might get $25???? Nah – ain’t going to happen.

I think the answer might be to establish your own website – do your metadata properly – and flog your own clips direct. That way you can keep tabs on your client/s and make him/her aware of the issues of copyright infringements. What with good search engines these days, the ability to build very cost-effective websites – and Paypal, there’s no reason not to give it a try. Then you can charge what you like! In Australia for example, you want stock footage out of the Australian Broadcasting Commission? You pay scores of dollars per second!

Maybe that’s the way to go…..

Russ

[Milton Wershow]

I read your post and like you I have a video vault of broadcast quality footage which I have cut down to 10 to 20 second clips on the average.

I just started two months ago and I have undertaken building my own site.

With regard to these middlemen for them to take such a large take of purchase seems to me to be a bit off balance and not forthright.

This is why I have built my own site and have it up and running. I still though sweetening the site but keeping it simple till I learn more as to how to market my clips. Organization of the clips so they are easy to find subject content is a real challenge but getting better at. I convert my footage into flash files so it reduces the data amount and time for clips to play. You do need fast bandwidth and so true with the viewers or possible clients.

I have a background in the motion picture buisness as a stuntman and behind the camera I have produced and directed small video documentaries and travel logs. I am up there in years and it has been quite some time sense I have been involved. With this economy as it is today I feel the need to jump back into the market place.

Do to the Internet the world is quite different for me and requires me to step up to the plate and adjust and adapt. That is my question how to adapt so I get cash flow coming.

Google stats claim that there are over 6 million across the world seeking the same objective. So if that does not just scare the hell out of you then I do believe that there are answers to the questions you ask.

I feel that it is worth pursing for what are we really speaking of? We need to build a foundation of clients whether the youth building their ameteur flicks, or advertising agencies and productions, or the 3D developers who need specific footage to transpose into video games.

Lets not forget music videos and local tv commercials. Local cable station advertising has some of the worst commercials I have ever seen. Where there are problems there is the opportunity.

I believe that with the Internet explosion of video, there is a market and our footage does have a contibution worthy of compensation.

I agree with you that video Power Point Presentations can be a great market. I also believe that there is a market with the educational industry, Internet video presentation, and young film makers that use video format for their projects. Documentaries is another market.

I have great air to air footage of helicopter in flight. I have not seen many who have the length and quality of footage that I have. There is no question as to the cost savings purchasing helicopter in flight footage where you can obtain 5 minute durations and longer if needed. 10 20 second clips surely is more sensible. My point your footage I am sure is great and there are shots to pull out of footage that will help business presentations such as close up for transitions.

I believe it is worthy business and I do believe that there is room for the small guy not just the big boys. This video evolution is not over and truly just beginning.

I recommend get your clips well organized and easy to find when someone has the need. I do believe with exposure and communication that your Good Faith and qualty of product will be respected by those in the industry where they will open up their doors and give you business. I am still learning how to carve out the market and prove the worthiness of my product and character. If I can be of any assistance Good Luck. Just email me if I can help or you wish to join forces. Visit my site https://www.video-flight-production.com and get a sense of what you might wish to do. If you do visit hay drop me an email.

[Milton Wershow]

The costs of having a web site with unlimited amount of space is not dear.
The time to build it and work it is another aspect which is human hours needed to build and maintain the site.

With the big search enignes and directories unlike years ago they now charge and if you spend 3000 to 5000 well you can be on top of the search results. Now that is said this does not mean that the world is knocking at your door.

It is who you know and know you and its networking with numbers all working together so to be a driving force. Cooperative Marketing.

I think that the owners of stock footage should get 70 to 60% of any dollars that is realized having the stock houses being just the opposite is not fare but yet is the world fare.

There is a bunch of us and if we organized and workded together we can create a hub that will compete with these big houses. Now that is said the integrity and characters must be in tact.

It is not difficult to develope a program as to when there is a request for quote it is discuessed with the task manager of site and owner of intelectual rights. There is another thought about logged footage there are also dvd storage where when a clip is desired and clicked it pulls out your dvd and then goes to the file they desire.

Fact is know one does anything by themselves. It takes team work, organization and everyone puts in for a honest budget then you get the results. The Hollywood Reported for one page ad for example is thousands of dollars. Well if there was a cooperative effort and enough people then the amount each person had to pay into for the ad would be dear for the indiviual. There are the ways together we can come up with one Internet presence representing us all but instead of the costs incurred for your own site, the time, the meta expierence and other advertising venues.

It has been to my expierence is difficult to bring enough of us together so we can compete and be treated honorably with each of us recieving the majority of revenue. Oh I have ideas where we can penetrate and achieve but again at this moment I am alone offering my video wears and helping my friends that compose music.

There is the market waiting and in time I feel that I will become polished enough where I am no longer waiting.

There has to be respect and value for the product we have taken.

Interesting posts here I must say

[Milton Wershow]

Great topic. you know with all programers they put inside the content a signiture. Very difficult to find unless you are a programmer.. Well if you sell a clip there can be a code written into it which would clearly resolve this issue.

[Russ Stiggants]

Good on you for giving it a go, Milton! I have looked at your site and can see what you’re attempting. Keep this thread advised of your success – I am sure everyone will be interested in whether you make sales, comparative to your effort. I agree with your theory that if all those who have images to sell could band together to form a ‘viral co-operative’, for the want of a term…well, it certainly would provide an alternative to the traditional ‘stockhouse’ way of selling clips.

I’m sure a version of what you suggest has already been suggested (in fact, I think it may have been proposed even in this forum from memory), but in theory it could work if as you suggest, everyone was dedicated to making it work.

I still think the underlying flaw in the ‘stock’ footage argument overall is that you need to have the ‘stock’ that someone wants. It may be great to have a really good shot of a yellow flower against a green background, when someone may want a blue flower against a black background. You understand what I mean. As I said in an earlier post, many excellent visual sequences seem not to have sold at all – while those who are making generic graphic backgrounds seem to be having moderate success.

Clearly ‘reality’ stock is difficult to move. This may be because advertising/PR types (a) may not have the imagination to use stock shots effectively (b) loathe to use something being ‘in the public domain’, or (c) want to shoot it themselves (and make a bucket of money out of the client for doing so). For example, I was recently in a briefing with an advertising agency (I was a bemused observer on the ‘client side’) and was amused when the agency showed some stock still photos (which would have done the job) only to watch them convince the client that the photos had a ‘stock feel’ and were not worthy. The client didn’t look at the bottom-line cost. The agency appealed to his ego and succeeded in ‘selling him up’. Thus the ad cost him several thousands of dollars, whereas he could have opted for an equally good ad, literally for hundreds of dollars (maybe not as ‘tailored’, but good enough to have sold his products). Go figure.

Thus I am contemplating new models to maximise stock footage by jumping the divide between being a mere ‘provider’ to being a ‘producer’ utilising my stock shots in a way which might be interesting to various clients. I think the weakness in stock shots is that they are a ‘solution looking for a problem’ in world markets. If you reverse that equation and identify a local ‘problem’ and provide a local ‘solution’ based on your stock footage, the chances are greater that you’ll make money from your library. Better to make $1000 locally (or by industry sector), than nothing at all by appealing to a disinterested ‘world’.

Hope this helps – and as I say, please keep us advised of your success or otherwise.

Russ

[Guy Thompson]

The main issue is criticial mass. I worked out that you need 3000 clips online to be making $150,000 US a year. Popular clips average out across the zero earners. Its called cost based averaging and its how supermarkets make money. Get it – stock footage really is a supermarket….

Ok but who wants to sit around uploading 3000 clips and adding all those tags when you could be working on production jobs which pay up-front?

This is an investment process, you are building something which will make money over time

But here’s a different business model idea, if you have literally hundreds of tapes, would you be prepared to work with a freelancer who would upload and tag all of your clips for you and take a percentage of the stock earnings? Or would you rather sit on a pile of “potential revenue” and keep the “potential earnings” all to yourself.

You have got to actually be IN the market to make money, you can’t just dabble on the side like a weekend trader. Like any kind of investing, just dipping your toe in will earn you no sizeable income. Dump EVERYTHING you have on the market and see what happens, you will most certainly earn something, but if you sit on your tapes, you will most cetainly earn nothing.

Have faith any go for it. One day you’ll get a cheque from Getty offering to buy out your entire library and you can pay off your house…maybe.

[Irene Trapper]

stock footage is totally worth it now (2010) with sites like pond5 and revostock taking off like hot cakes it’s a great time to publish your footage.

For those that think it takes too long, there’s iSyndica (https://www.isyndica.com/videos) – a superb platform to sell stock footage. Works with almost all major stock footage sites and gives great daily reporting.

[Jonathan Ziegler]

Hi all, I’m researching avenues for selling stock footage as a way to grab a little extra income. I shoot b-roll all the time and with the new DSLRs, the footage is coming out great. I’m looking into selling some on a few sites. In a day I can shoot 5-10 good b-roll clips in my town alone and could be making something from them instead of sitting on them. Sites like pond5 have a self-priced format and the prices seem to be pretty low (but higher than nothing), but you keep the footage to sell elsewhere. Sites like istockphoto get you about 15-20%, but the prices seem pretty low so volume is the key.

Is anyone making any money (no matter how big or small) from stock video/photo? What’s a good price to charge? Where to promote/advertise? I want to keep the rights to my footage so I can put it on my websites for promotion and make $ multiple times. Multiple revenue streams likely? Better to specialize? What about selling Motion or AE templates? Anywhere to sell them like pond5 or istock? or do they have those, too?

I’m thinking I’m gonna capture whatever I can so I may not go out hunting for specific footage unless a client pays me to, but I’m thinking that the selling of stock footage should now be a basic part of my business model whereas it wasn’t before. Any help is welcome on this one.

Jonathan Ziegler
https://www.electrictiger.com/
520-360-8293

[Paul Jakovich]

I personally tried selling stock footage on my own site BassVisuals.com but in the end gave up because the profit I made from selling my footage on sites like iStockPhoto, Shutterstock and Pond5 far exceeded the profits I was making on my own site.

I wrote an article about selling stock footage check it out >> Making Money Selling Stock Footage.

[Paul Harris]

For a Up to date list of Stock Sites try here https://www.stockproducer.com/selling-resources/where-to-sell.html