The four things a usage clause has to answer
A clause that does not answer all four is not a clause, it is a gap — and gaps are read in the brand's favour when there is a dispute.
| Variable | What it means | Typical values |
|---|---|---|
| Channel | Where the content may appear | Your channel only · the brand's organic accounts · paid social · brand website · email · retail and OOH |
| Duration | How long the licence runs, and from when | 30 / 90 / 180 / 365 days |
| Territory | Which markets it covers | One country · a region · worldwide |
| Format | Whether they may recut, subtitle or re-edit | As delivered · light edit · full recut |
Two of these are routinely left vague on purpose. "Social media" is not a channel — it covers both a brand reposting you and a brand spending $200,000 putting your face behind a paid campaign. "Ongoing" is not a duration.
Whitelisting and spark ads are usage rights
When a brand runs ads from your handle — Meta partnership ads, TikTok Spark Ads, YouTube paid promotion of your video — that is paid usage of your name and face, not just your content. It also puts ad creative in your own followers' feeds under your byline. Price it as paid usage, and cap the spend or the duration so a campaign cannot run for a year on a one-video fee.
What paid usage is normally worth
Across creator rate cards, paid usage is conventionally priced as an uplift on the content fee rather than as a flat number, because it scales with the fee. The common band is +20–30% for a standard paid-social licence, scaled up or down by duration, channel breadth and territory.
| Licence | Convention | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Organic only — your channel | included | This is the deliverable itself |
| Brand reposts organically | +0–10% | Low reach, low risk, good for the relationship |
| Paid social, 90 days, one country | +20–30% | The reference point for the band |
| Add the brand's website and email | scales up | More surfaces, longer shelf life |
| Worldwide, 12 months, all paid media | scales up sharply | Close to buying the asset outright |
| In perpetuity | see below | Not a duration — it is a sale |
These are conventions, not prices. Your own fee, your niche and your leverage decide the number. The usage rights calculator applies this band to a fee you enter and shows the working, so you can see what a given licence is worth against your own rate rather than someone else's.
The words that should slow you down
A clause you can copy
Plain, specific, and short enough that a brand's legal team will not rewrite it from scratch:
Licence: paid social (Meta, TikTok) and Brand's owned website. Territory: United States. Term: 90 days from first publication. Whitelisting from Creator's handle permitted within the same term and channels. Edits limited to trimming and subtitling; no re-shoot, no voice replacement. No use for AI or machine-learning training. Extensions available at the rates on Creator's page. All other rights reserved by Creator.
Note the last four words. Rights you do not grant stay yours — but only if the contract says so rather than staying silent.
Why this belongs on your page, not in your DMs
Usage is the single most common reason a deal that looked fine turns sour a month later: the fee was agreed for one thing and the brand assumed another. When your terms sit publicly next to your rate — the way an Ampya page states them — the conversation starts after the terms, not before them. Brands that need more ask for more and expect to pay for it. Brands that were hoping you would not notice go elsewhere.
Questions creators ask
Are usage rights included in a sponsored post fee?
No. The standard assumption is that your fee covers posting the content on your own channel for your own audience. Paid ads, the brand's website, email and retail use are a separate licence. If a contract is silent on usage, ask before signing rather than after.
How much should I charge for usage rights?
The common convention is an uplift on the content fee rather than a flat number — around +20–30% for a standard paid-social licence of about 90 days in one country, scaling up with longer terms, more channels and wider territory. Your fee and your leverage set the actual figure.
What does perpetual usage mean?
It means the licence never expires and the brand can keep running the content indefinitely. It is effectively a buyout of that asset rather than a rental, so it should be priced as one. Most creators either decline it or quote a multiple of the content fee.
Can a brand use my content to train AI?
Only if you grant that right. It is a separate permission from advertising use, it does not expire with the licence, and it cannot be withdrawn once a model is trained. Many creators exclude it by default and negotiate it separately if a brand asks.
What happens when the usage period ends?
The brand must stop running the content on the licensed channels. In practice, set a renewal rate in advance so an extension is a one-line email rather than a fresh negotiation — and so an overrun is obviously a breach rather than a grey area.