Aerial Stock Media – Drone Style!

(Source : Post from our Friends at Copter Stock Media)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/UAS) have created quite a buzz in recent years. They are being used for a variety of applications such as scientific research, disaster relief, search and rescue operations, archeology, environmental conservation, and many more. Yet the most popular use today is aerial photography and filming. A multitude of small businesses have emerged across the globe and offer previously impossible low altitude perspectives at a fraction of the costs compared to traditional plane-based aerial photography.

These fresh views are increasingly popular. But not all customers want to go through the process of finding, hiring and briefing a professional company to create custom aerial images, especially if they need images from foreign countries quickly. But is there anything like UAV stock photos? Now there is. Copter Stock Media (copterstockmedia.com) has just launched and is offering exactly that: aerial stock images and videos captured using multi-rotors / UAVs (as their name suggests) but also with other aircraft capable of creating low altitude aerial shots.

To celebrate the launch they are inviting aerial UAV photographers and videographers to contribute media to the site. In return they offer 70% royalties on all content uploaded until December 31st, 2014. Videographers also benefit from the 70% royalty offer, and in addition they set their own price for their video content – an unprecedented move in the aerial stock media industry.

Customers can obtain royalty-free image licenses starting from US$ 64 for an image suitable for online use and up to US$ 250 for a full-resolution image of tens of megapixels. For those who need additional image rights, e.g. for resale products, extended licenses are also available.

Contributors are required to have an official license in their country of residence, which allows them to commercialize their images. This is required in most European states and will most likely be required also in the US in the near future.

Copter Stock Media’s business model is based on a fair pay policy. „We honor and respect the work of our contributors and the effort it takes to create professional aerial images“, says Karl Quint, founder of the company, and an aerial photographer himself. Therefore, we not only offer founding photographers 70% royalties but also allow videographers to set their own price for their content. „I believe that our photographers should be able to license their images at fair conditions for all parties involved. We want to be part of an emerging culture which offers fair royalties and sustainable careers for aerial photographers licensing their images under the stock model.“ A lot of content producers are doing a great job offering high quality media to their clients. At the same time, a huge amount of content that could be of interest to someone out there remains in their personal archives because of a lack of specialized distribution channels. Traditional stock photography companies are not an option, because of the notoriously tiny returns on content sales. Copter Stock Media closes this gap and enables aerial media producers to free their content and offer it to a world-wide audience.

Founding aerial photographers and filmmakers are welcome to register, upload content and receive 70% royalties starting today.

Copter Stock Media
copterstockmedia.com
info@copterstockmedia.com