UGC usage rights and whitelisting

A brand that pays for a UGC video is usually buying two things: the footage, and permission to use it. The permission is the license, and it is where most of the money and most of the disputes sit. This page explains the terms and what to put in writing. It is not legal advice; for a large or unusual contract, have a lawyer read it.

Who owns the video

You do, by default. In US law the person who creates a work is its author and copyright owner. The main exception is a "work made for hire". The US Copyright Office's Circular 30 explains that a commissioned work is made for hire only if it falls into one of nine listed categories, which include "a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work", and only if both parties "expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them" that it is a work made for hire. When that happens, the hiring party is the author and owns the copyright.

So a contract clause saying "work made for hire" or "creator assigns all rights" is a sale of the video outright. That can be fine, but it should cost much more than a limited license.

Organic and paid usage

Published guidance on how much each tier adds varies widely. Insense says paid usage often adds 30 to 100 percent of the base fee depending on the term, and a full buyout 100 to 150 percent more. Influee puts usage rights at 30 to 50 percent of the base rate and whitelisting at 30 percent per month. Billo says licensing and allowlisting can easily double or triple costs. The rates page compares them.

Time-limited vs perpetual

A time-limited license ends. Common terms are 30, 60 or 90 days for paid usage, and 6 or 12 months for organic. After the term the brand must stop running the ad or pay to extend. A perpetual license never ends. Perpetual is convenient for the brand and costly for you, because your face may still be in an ad years later at no extra fee. If a brand asks for perpetual usage, price it as a buyout or offer a long fixed term with an option to extend.

Write the term as a date range or a number of days from a stated start, such as the date the brand first runs the ad or the date of final payment. "One year" with no start date causes arguments.

TikTok Spark Ads

Spark Ads let a brand run an organic TikTok post as an ad. According to TikTok, views, likes, comments, shares and follows from the ad are credited to the original post. A brand can use its own posts or, "with their authorization", posts from other creators.

To authorize a post, the creator opens the video in TikTok, taps the three dots, goes to Ad settings, turns on Ad authorization, agrees to the terms and taps Generate to get a code. TikTok's help lists authorization periods of 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. The code goes to the brand, which links the post in Ads Manager. TikTok notes that a video has to be un-authorized as a Spark Ad before it can be deleted from the account.

The authorization period you choose should match the paid usage term in your contract. If the contract says 30 days, a 365 day code gives the brand more than it paid for.

Meta partnership ads

Meta's equivalent is partnership ads, which used to be called branded content ads. Meta's developer documentation describes them as a way to "run Facebook and Instagram ads from a creator or other partner's handle", with permission granted per post or at account level. Account-level permission lets a brand run ads from your handle without asking for each post. Grant the narrowest permission the deal needs, and note in the contract when it will be removed.

What to put in the contract

1. Deliverables: number of videos, length, aspect ratio, hooks, raw footage, captions.
2. License type: organic, paid, whitelisting, buyout. Name each one that is granted.
3. Channels: which platforms and placements, and whether that includes the brand's website, email, TV or print.
4. Term: start date and end date for each license type.
5. Territory: worldwide or listed countries.
6. Edits: whether the brand may cut, re-voice, add text or combine your footage with others. Say no to anything that changes what you said.
7. Claims: that the brand will not add claims you did not make, and that it has support for any claims in the script it gives you.
8. Disclosure: who adds which disclosure, and that ads from your handle will carry one.
9. Exclusivity: category, length, and the fee for it. Exclusivity stops you working for competitors, so it should be paid.
10. Revisions: rounds included and the fee for more.
11. Payment: amount, schedule, and that payment is due whether or not the brand uses the video.
12. Portfolio rights: whether you may show the work, and from when.
13. Renewal: the fee to extend paid usage or whitelisting.

Disclosure on creator-handle ads

When an ad runs from your account, viewers see your name. The FTC's guidance applies: the material connection should be clear, and it should not rely only on a platform's label. Put a disclosure in the video, on screen and spoken. The FTC disclosure page covers the wording.

Health content and long licenses

Health claims are policed more closely than most, and platform rules change. If a brand will run your video for a year, make sure the script stays inside the health and fitness UGC rules from the start, because you cannot edit an ad once it is out of your hands.

For Peptide AI, usage, term and any creator-handle ads are agreed per project after you apply. Read creating for Peptide AI, then apply to create for Peptide AI.