Donation Selling

[MarkLIVE]

I was curious about releasing royalty free footage by donations?

I offer to give them the footage for free but I have my small watermark on it, but some ask for watermark free versions.

If I choose to do that, legally is it ok to say things like "minimum donation amount to remove watermark: $1" without having a commercial drone license (can't afford the $3-5k license) to actually "sell" my work.

If I need to reword things an such, then please let me know what works for you. Also I'll have common-creative licenses an such too, but in terms of straight they donate to own / do anything they want w/ the footage but they hold responsibility, etc.

 

[JCP10]

I've played in a Christian band for the past 5 years, and my band leader, is a recording quality guitarist and drummer. He is also a practicing civil litigator (trial attorney) for the past 22 years i two states. He says if you get remuneration for it, you've 'sold' it. Not saying I wouldn't do what you are doing, but know the rules.

 

[joet]

I was curious about releasing royalty free footage by donations?

I offer to give them the footage for free but I have my small watermark on it, but some ask for watermark free versions.

If I choose to do that, legally is it ok to say things like "minimum donation amount to remove watermark: $1" without having a commercial drone license (can't afford the $3-5k license) to actually "sell" my work.

If I need to reword things an such, then please let me know what works for you. Also I'll have common-creative licenses an such too, but in terms of straight they donate to own / do anything they want w/ the footage but they hold responsibility, etc.

You are in the US, and therefore you can't even take off if your flight is not for your own personal recreation. Licensing has nothing to do with it - in fact, money doesn't enter into it at all.

It's very simple: Is the flight for your own personal recreation? If so, and you registered your drone, you can fly.

If it's for anything other than your personal recreation, then you need a Part 107 pilot's license. The test is only $150 - I'm not sure where you got $3-5k unless you were looking into lessons to fly manned aircraft.

 

[MarkLIVE]

Well I'm registered to fly for personal recreation.

I'm a video editor also on the side but people ask me if they can use my footage for their own personal gain. If that's for just editing themselves or actually creating videos they'll profit off of.

That's where I was wondering how can I make a buck from the people that want to use my footage IF THEY DONT want my watermark on their videos ??

That's why I was thinking of donations instead of flat selling my footage, which I was lead to believe you can't just "sell" my own personal footage.

All my flights are 100% personal recreational flights that I use the footage for. I have TONS of footage though which I don't want to delete, but also offer to others who want to use it (watermark or no watermark). If that helps.

 

[joet]

Well, that's a very gray area, headed to black.

If you honestly flew for personal recreation, and then someone saw your video on YouTube and wanted to buy it, technically speaking you may have obeyed the law. However, if you are doing this repeatedly or overtly offering it, then I think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone that your flight intention is still *purely* recreational.

 

[MarkLIVE]

And that's what I'm trying to figure out. lol.

I am 100% flying for myself and I love to edit and create awesome videos. I travel just for myself to get the shots I want, edit what I want and use w/e footage I gathered, etc.

But I have all this footage that I'll more or less never use again and people want it for their own videos, etc. And I don't mind giving it to them for free as long as my small watermark is on the footage they use, no issues there.

It's the part of people wanting to use the ungraded / RAW footage WITHOUT a watermark. So I wanted to create a small store (which is the part where you're saying people won't believe, etc, lol) that they can donate $1 or more (their choice) to download that RAW / Ungraded footage and NOT have to give me credit or anything, etc. Basically I did the hard work for my own personal gain but if they want to use it w/o giving me credit, I want to make something off of it.

What / How would be the best approach of doing this ?

 

[Richard R]

And that's what I'm trying to figure out. lol.

I am 100% flying for myself and I love to edit and create awesome videos. I travel just for myself to get the shots I want, edit what I want and use w/e footage I gathered, etc.

But I have all this footage that I'll more or less never use again and people want it for their own videos, etc. And I don't mind giving it to them for free as long as my small watermark is on the footage they use, no issues there.

It's the part of people wanting to use the ungraded / RAW footage WITHOUT a watermark. So I wanted to create a small store (which is the part where you're saying people won't believe, etc, lol) that they can donate $1 or more (their choice) to download that RAW / Ungraded footage and NOT have to give me credit or anything, etc. Basically I did the hard work for my own personal gain but if they want to use it w/o giving me credit, I want to make something off of it.

What / How would be the best approach of doing this ?

Your next to last sentence says it all "I want to make something off it". That is the very definition of commercial work and that takes a Part 107 certificate. The FAA has been very clear in all of their correspondence, FAQs, etc. about this. Even giving the images away to someone who will be using them for any type of business is Part 107. Bottom line is that if anyone will benefit from the images, they are commercial. Exception is imagery taken by a hobby flier that someone later asked to purchase. but if that happens more than 1 or 2 times, bet the FAA would consider you to be in business. If you are getting request for this, bite the bullet, study and take the $150 test. Then legally make as much money as you can.

 

[MarkLIVE]

Not about Thanks for everyone's input