Three product videos for a brand’s Instagram don’t include its billboards, its stores or another country. A licence sets out where the content can be used, for how long and in which territories, puts a price on it, and keeps a record both sides can see.
What’s in it
Organic social, website and email, print and in-store, and more.
The countries it covers.
A set term, or forever.
Wider use is worth more, and costs more.
Both sides can see exactly what was granted.
Renew or let it end when the term is up.
How it works
For a licence on specific content.
Use, territory and term, then the price.
The licence becomes the record.
When the term is up.
A brand only gets the use you granted, nothing more.
Works with
Charge separately when a brand wants to run your post as its own advert.
Rate CardYour prices by platform, deliverable and package, published before anyone has to ask.
AgreementA contract built from the terms you’ve already agreed, signed online by both sides.
Art MarketplaceSell originals, take commissions and license your images, each with its own proper process.
More in Protect what you make
Content Licences lets you define exactly what you're granting, price it properly and keep a record both sides can refer to.
The argument usually isn't about the original fee.
Everyone remembers the fee. The problem comes later. Six months after the campaign, you discover the photos are still on the brand's website. A year later, the same campaign is on billboards in another country. The brand has started using the video on packaging. Someone on the marketing team says: "But we thought we could use it."
A campaign in one country is not the same commercial grant as a campaign running globally.
A fixed-term licence and perpetual rights are fundamentally different things.
Price them differently.
This is the principle.
Those things aren't magically included because the brand has the original files. A licence defines the boundary. What is written is what they have permission to do.
A creator may spend the same amount of time making two videos.
You shouldn't have to invent a licensing price every time a brand asks.
Your Rate Card can show the options. For example:
12 months ₦X
Custom pricing Now licensing becomes part of your commercial structure rather than an awkward conversation after the content has already been delivered.
Once you grant perpetual rights, you may be giving the brand permission to continue using that content indefinitely. That can be worth substantially more. Don't price it like an extended version of a normal campaign. Price what you are actually giving away.
Creators often think licensing exists to protect them.
The person who negotiated the deal might leave.
This distinction matters.
If the brand wants both, define both.
Content Licences gives you a proper commercial mechanism for something creators have historically treated casually.
Charge again when the brand wants to continue. Your content doesn't leave your hands with an undefined: "Use it however you want."
A licence gives your team certainty.
That means your marketing team can actually use the content without constantly asking: "Are we allowed to do this?" And when the licence expires, you know it's time to renew, replace or stop using the asset.
They specify the content they want to use and the intended usage.
Choose how long the permission lasts.
The broader the usage, territory and duration, the greater the commercial grant.
Price accordingly.
The terms are recorded instead of being buried in a conversation.
Both sides can find the same information later.
The licence reaches its stated end date.
If the brand wants to continue using the content, the licence can be renewed.
If not, the permission ends.
A creator produces three videos for a Nigerian skincare campaign. The brand initially wants to use them on its Nigerian social accounts for three months. Later, the brand wants to use the same content in Ghana too. That's a larger territory. Instead of treating it as automatically included, the creator can licence the expanded territory and charge for the additional value.
A creator shoots a campaign for a fashion brand. The agreed licence is six months. At the end of six months, the brand wants to keep using the images on its website. The original licence has already ended.
The brand can renew. The creator gets paid again. The permission doesn't simply continue because nobody remembered to remove the images.
Instead of having a vague conversation about "usage," the creator defines exactly what is included. The brand gets the rights it actually needs. The creator gets paid for the scope actually granted. Everyone knows where the boundary is.
Your Rate Card tells brands what your work costs.
Content Licences tells them what usage costs. That distinction is useful because the same content can have different commercial value depending on what the brand wants to do with it. Your rate card can make that visible before negotiation begins.
₦X
₦X
₦X
₦X
₦X
₦X
The licence records the specific rights being granted.
When someone needs to check the rights later, they shouldn't have to search an entire contract or a WhatsApp thread.
Campaigns are where much of the content gets created.
Keeping the licensing layer distinct means you can see exactly what the brand bought rather than hiding every right inside one campaign fee.
The licence has a fee.
| Defined Content Licence | "Full Usage" | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage specified | Yes | Often unclear |
| Territory specified | Yes | Often unclear |
| Duration specified | Yes | Often unclear |
| Fee tied to scope | Yes | Usually one bundled fee |
| Renewal possible | Yes | Often unclear |
| Brand knows what it can use | Yes | Not always |
| Creator knows what was granted | Yes | Not always |
| Easy to audit later | Yes | No |
| Different territories can be priced | Yes | No |
| Different terms can be priced | Yes | No |
| Perpetual use treated separately | Yes | Often buried |
The distinction is simple: **Content Licence = what the brand can do with your content.** **Ad Rights = the right to run your content as paid advertising from your handle.**
Don't collapse them into one.
| Content Licence | Ad Rights | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand uses your content | Yes | Yes |
| Brand's own social channels | Yes | Not the core use |
| Brand website | Yes | Not the core use |
| Brand email | Yes | Not the core use |
| Yes | Not the core use | |
| In-store | Yes | Not the core use |
| Paid media from creator's handle | No | Yes |
| Territory | Yes | Yes |
| Duration | Yes | Yes |
| Scope | Yes | Yes |
| Separate commercial price | Yes | Yes |
A few things to know.
If the brand wants Ghana, Kenya, the UK or everywhere, that has additional value. DON'T TREAT PERPETUAL AS NORMAL. Perpetual means the brand can continue using the content indefinitely. That is a major commercial grant.
Price it accordingly. SEPARATE PAID MEDIA. If the brand wants to put advertising spend behind your content from your handle, that's Ad Rights. Don't accidentally give it away inside a general licence. PRICE THE LICENCE BASED ON WHAT YOU'RE GRANTING. The cost of producing the content is not the only thing that determines its commercial value.
The rights you're giving the brand matter too. KEEP THE RECORD. The person who negotiated the campaign may not be around when the question comes up. Make sure the licence can stand on its own. RENEW RATHER THAN ASSUME. When the term ends, a brand that still needs the content should come back for another term.
That's another commercial opportunity.
Creators are constantly being asked to sell more than the thing they originally agreed to make.
Those questions shouldn't be answered after the content has already been handed over. They should be answered before. Because you are not only selling the work you made. You are deciding what someone else is allowed to do with it.
A Content Licence gives a brand defined permission to use your content under specific terms.
Because agreeing on the content fee doesn't necessarily define everything the brand can do with the content afterwards.
A licence makes the permitted use explicit.
Territory defines where the brand can use the content. That could be Nigeria, multiple countries, a region or worldwide.
Duration defines how long the brand has permission to use the content. It could be three months, six months, one year or another agreed period.
Yes. You can define the territory as a specific country.
Yes. Worldwide usage can be granted, but it represents a broader commercial right and should be priced accordingly.
Yes. But perpetual usage is fundamentally different from a fixed-term licence and should be priced accordingly.
Yes. A brand using content organically on its own social accounts is a different grant from using it on packaging, in print, in-store or other broader media.
Yes. Duration is one of the core factors that determines the licence value.
That is a territory expansion. If the existing licence doesn't cover that country, the brand needs the appropriate additional permission.
Not automatically. Running your content as paid media from your handle is Ad Rights and is treated as a separate commercial permission.
Yes. For example, a brand may want to use your content on its own website and also run your Reel as paid media from your Instagram account.
Those are different rights.
Yes, if that usage is included in the Content Licence. The licence should specify the permitted usage.
Yes, if website usage is included in the licence.
Yes, if print usage is included in the licence.
Yes, if packaging usage is included in the licence.
Yes, if in-store usage is included in the licence.
The licence gives both sides a dated record of what was actually granted. Using content outside those terms means the brand is outside the agreed permission.
The agreed permission ends. If the brand wants to continue using the content, the licence can be renewed or extended under new agreed terms.
Yes. The licence is a record available to both sides. That means the terms don't depend on one person's memory of the original negotiation.
Yes. The licence is something you grant. You can decline the request or negotiate different usage, territory, duration or pricing.
Yes. That is one of the intended uses of the Rate Card. Publishing your licensing options makes the commercial conversation clearer before a brand requests usage.
The Agreement is the wider formal commercial document between the parties. The Content Licence records the specific usage rights being granted for the content.
They can work together.
Depending on the engagement, yes. A licence defines the usage permission; it does not necessarily replace the wider commercial terms of the relationship.
Yes. Content produced for a campaign can subsequently be licensed under defined usage, territory and duration.
A licence is permission to use the content under defined terms. It is not the same thing as transferring ownership of the content. The specific ownership terms should be handled in the relevant agreement.
Open an account in a few minutes. You pay nothing to use it; a small fee applies only when money moves through Klairova.
Create your free account