Executive Summary:
- Brand deal usage clauses may permit paid ads, edits, sublicensing, or continued use after a campaign ends.
- A content license grants permission to use the work; an assignment transfers copyright ownership.
- Payment terms should identify who owes the creator, what triggers an invoice, and when payment is due.
- Exclusivity clauses can restrict future partnerships by product category, platform, or duration.
A brand offers you $15,000 for two videos and three posts. The fee and deliverables make sense, so you’re ready to move forward. Before you sign, check what happens after you publish. The agreement may let the brand run your videos as ads for years, restrict your next partnership, or delay payment until someone you’ve never met approves the work.
For a creator, influencer, or public figure, those terms can be as valuable as the campaign itself. Here’s where to look.
What Can the Brand Do With Your Content and Likeness?
Start with the usage rights clause. It should tell you what the brand can use, where it can use it, and when that permission ends. Look for:
- Paid advertising rights: Can the brand use an organic post as an ad?
- Duration: Does permission end after the campaign, or does it continue indefinitely?
- Channels and territory: Is use limited to certain platforms and countries?
- Sublicensing: Can the brand pass your content to retailers, affiliates, or other partners?
- Editing rights: Can it cut your video into new ads or change the context of your endorsement?
If the agreement says “worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free,” read each word separately. The brand may be asking to use the material across countries, without a scheduled end date, and without paying additional royalties. Those rights may need to incorporate a different fee or narrower terms. Depending on how the brand intends to use your content, you may want to negotiate a higher fee or limit how long, where, or for what purposes the brand can use it.
Are You Licensing the Work or Giving up Ownership?
A license permits certain uses of your content. An assignment transfers copyright ownership. Check whether an ownership clause covers only the campaign deliverables or also your raw footage, drafts, and materials you created before the deal. If another creator helped produce the content, check how your collaboration agreement addresses their rights.
Your name, image and likeness should be protected, too. Ownership of a photograph or video is a separate issue from permission to use your face, voice, or name. The contract should tell you what the brand may do with each. If an agreement calls commissioned content a “work made for hire,” that label by itself does not settle whether the work meets the legal requirements for that status.
When Will You Actually Get Paid?
“Net 90” is pretty straightforward, but only if you know when the 90 days officially start. Check:
- When you’re allowed to invoice
- Whether payment depends on approval, publication, or campaign results
- Who must pay you if an agency arranged the deal
- What you receive if the campaign is canceled after you’ve started work
If approval starts the payment clock, ask how long the brand has to review your work and what happens if it never responds. Identify the party responsible for payment in the written brand deal, so an agency and brand cannot each point you to the other when payment is due.
Which Opportunities Are Restricted?
An exclusivity clause can prevent you from working with competing brands. Understand the restriction before accepting it: Which competitors count? Which products, platforms, and dates are covered? A broad category restriction could keep you from taking another deal after this campaign ends.
Also check who approves product claims and how sponsorship disclosures will be handled. You’re responsible for making appropriate disclosures when you have a material connection to a brand, so the agreement should give you a process you can follow.
Before signing, you should be able to explain the deal in a few sentences: what you’ll create, when you’ll be paid, how the brand may use your identity and content, and which other work you’re agreeing to decline. If the contract leaves one of those answers open, discuss that term while you can still negotiate it. Addressing it now can help avoid a payment or usage dispute later.
Fidara Legal, PLLC helps creators and influencers review and negotiate agreements involving their content and identity. Have a proposed deal you want to discuss before you sign? Chat with us to schedule a review and take the next step with confidence.
Brand Deal Contract FAQs:
It depends on the usage rights you grant. Check whether the agreement covers paid advertising, which platforms it permits, and how long the brand can run the ads.
Payment by itself does not resolve copyright ownership. Read the agreement for an assignment, a license, or a “work made for hire” provision, and check which materials each clause covers.
Find the event that starts the 90-day period. Delivery, publication, approval, and invoice receipt can produce very different payment dates. The agreement should also identify which company owes you payment.
Yes, if its stated period extends beyond the campaign. Check the covered brands or product categories, the restricted platforms, and the end date before accepting it.
The agreement should address both. Copyright rights in a video and permission to use your name, face, or voice are separate issues, so check the scope of each grant.
