Deal types and terms
Usage rights
Usage rights define where a brand may reuse a creator's content, in what form, and for how long. Without them, the brand may not repost or advertise with the content even though it paid for the post.
Also called content licensing, content rights, paid media rights.
Rights are defined along four axes: the channels (organic social, paid social, website, email, out of home, broadcast), the territory, the duration, and whether the brand may edit the content. Each one widened raises the price.
The most common and most expensive mistake in creator marketing is a brand assuming that paying for a post buys the content outright. It does not. In the absence of an explicit grant, the creator retains copyright and the brand has a licence only for what was agreed.
Common questions
- How long should usage rights last?
- Three to twelve months is the usual range for paid social. Perpetual rights are available but are priced accordingly, often at a large multiple of the original fee, because the creator gives up any future licensing of that asset.
Related terms
- Whitelisting
- Whitelisting is when a creator grants a brand permission to run paid advertising from the creator's own social account, so the ad appears to come from the creator rather than the brand.
- UGC creator
- A UGC creator makes content for a brand to publish on the brand's own channels, rather than posting it to their own audience. They are paid for the content itself, not for distribution.
- Brand deal
- A brand deal is a paid agreement in which a creator produces and publishes agreed content for a brand in exchange for a fee, product, or commission.
- Exclusivity
- An exclusivity clause stops a creator from working with a brand's competitors for a defined period, in a defined product category.
Distinct is the workspace where brands and creators run the work behind these terms. For brands, for creators, or back to the full glossary.