Creator contracts: understanding usage rights

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You need: the brand's offer or contract and ten minutes.

What are usage rights?

When you make a photo or video, you're its creator. Usage rights are the permission you give a brand to use that work in certain ways, and a contract can limit that permission by channel, time and territory.

How much you give away depends on the country and the wording. In some countries, such as Germany, you only grant usage rights and keep your copyright. In the US, a contract can also transfer the copyright itself, and that transfer needs a signed written document.

Exclusive or non-exclusive: what's the difference?

With a non-exclusive license, the brand may use your video and others may too, including you. An exclusive license lets only the brand use it, and unless the contract says otherwise, that can shut you out as well, for example from showing the video in your portfolio.

Don't confuse this with an exclusivity clause that says you won't work with competitors for a while. That's a separate term that limits your other work, so it should be paid for separately.

What do paid usage, whitelisting and buyout mean?

Organic usage means the brand shares your video on its own channels without ad spend. Paid usage means it runs the video as a paid ad. In practice, the two are negotiated and paid for separately.

Whitelisting means the brand runs ads through your account, so your account appears in the header of the ad. On Meta this is called partnership ads, on TikTok Spark Ads.

Buyout is an industry term without a fixed meaning, usually a broad handover of rights for a one-off payment. Before you agree, ask exactly what a buyout covers, for how long and in which countries.

What happens when a brand runs ads through your account?

On Meta, you give the brand a partnership ad code or permission for your account. The help pages we checked don't name a duration, so it belongs in the contract. Important: turning off the code only prevents new ads. According to Instagram, you stop ads that are already running yourself in the app.

On TikTok, you choose a duration of 7, 30, 60 or 365 days when you create the code. TikTok describes turning off the authorization for videos that aren't currently running as ads. So agree how long the ad may run before you create the code, and pick the duration to match.

What if you appear in the video yourself?

Then your right to your own image comes into play as well, and the rules differ between countries. Write into the contract which advertising, which channels and how long your face and voice may be used for, and what happens when the contract ends.

If you're in the US: license or work made for hire?

Read whether your contract grants a license or transfers the copyright. A work specially commissioned as part of an audiovisual work can be a "work made for hire" if both sides expressly agree to that in a written document they both sign. In that case, the brand counts as the author and holds the rights.

What do I need to know about music?

Music from TikTok's Commercial Music Library is cleared for commercial use, but according to TikTok only on TikTok. If your video will also run on other channels, agree beforehand who licenses the music for them and who is liable if there's a problem.

What should I clarify before I sign?

• Who is your contract partner, the brand or an agency, and may they pass the rights on?
• Which uses exactly: the brand's own post, ads, website, newsletter, shop, print?
• Exclusive or non-exclusive, and may you show the video in your portfolio?
• How long may the brand use it, and what happens afterwards?
• In which countries?
• Is paid usage paid separately from the fee for making the content?
• May the brand cut, shorten, re-voice or add text?
• Do you have to deliver raw footage, and is it paid extra?
• Is there a non-compete, for whom, how long and at what premium?
• For which ads, channels and period may your face be used?

For larger or open-ended deals, it's worth having the contract reviewed.