UGC usage rights explained: what brands can do with your videos

Usage rights are the terms that say what a brand may do with the content you made: where it can appear, for how long, in which countries and whether money can be spent promoting it. They are separate from the act of making the video, and they should be priced and written down separately.

If you only take one thing from this guide, make it this: if usage is not written down, you do not know what you agreed. A brand that thinks it bought a video "for marketing" and a creator who thinks they sold "one Instagram post" are both going to be unhappy six months later.

Licence or ownership?

In UK law, the person who creates a video generally owns the copyright in it unless they made it as an employee or have signed the copyright over in writing. As a freelance creator, that usually means you own your videos by default.

So in most UGC deals you are not selling the video outright. You are granting the brand a licence: permission to use your work on agreed terms, while you keep ownership. The alternative is an assignment, where you transfer the copyright entirely and the brand can do whatever it likes, forever. Some brand contracts include an assignment clause by default, buried in the small print. Read for phrases like "assigns all rights, title and interest", "all intellectual property shall vest in the company" or "worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable".

An assignment is not automatically wrong, but it is worth a lot more than a short licence, and it should be priced that way.

The five questions every usage clause should answer

1. Organic or paid?

Organic usage means the brand posts your video on its own channels without paying to promote it: its Instagram grid, TikTok account, maybe its website. Paid usage means the brand spends advertising money pushing your video to people who do not follow it. Paid usage is more valuable to the brand because a high-performing ad can run for months and reach a huge audience, so it should cost more.

2. Whose account?

Brands increasingly want to run ads from your account rather than theirs, because ads that look like they come from a real person tend to feel less like adverts. This goes by several names depending on the platform: whitelisting, Spark Ads on TikTok, partnership ads on Instagram and Facebook. It means giving the brand access to promote content as you, and it ties your name and face directly to their advertising. Treat it as its own line item with its own fee and duration, and make sure you can revoke access when it ends.

3. How long?

Usage should have an end date: 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. The clock should start from a defined point, ideally the date the content first goes live, and the contract should say what happens at the end. Normally the brand stops running the content in ads and either removes it or leaves existing organic posts up. If they want to keep using it, they pay to extend.

4. Where?

List the channels: social media only, or also the brand's website, product pages, email marketing, in-store screens, TV, billboards? Each extra channel is extra value. Territory matters too. "UK only" is a smaller grant than "worldwide".

5. Can they edit it?

Brands often want to cut your video down, add their logo, overlay text or combine it with other footage. That is usually fine, but you might want limits: no changes that alter what you said, no putting your face next to claims you did not make, no using your voice in a different context. If you hand over raw footage, the brand can re-edit your work in ways you never saw, so raw files deserve their own fee and the same usage limits as the edit.

Perpetual usage

"In perpetuity" means forever. A brand with perpetual rights can run your face in its ads in five years' time, after you have changed your look, your niche or your opinion of the product. Some creators refuse perpetual usage entirely; others accept it at a much higher price. Either way, do not let it slip in as a default. If a brand insists, ask why. Often what they really need is 12 months of paid usage, and perpetual was just the template.

Exclusivity is not usage, but it travels with it

Exclusivity stops you working with the brand's competitors for a period. It is often written into the same section as usage, but it is a different thing: usage is what they can do, exclusivity is what you cannot do. Make sure it is:

• Narrow. "Other skincare brands" is very wide. "Named direct competitors" or "other vitamin C serums" is fairer.
• Time-limited. With a clear start and end date.
• Paid. You are giving up income, so price it in.

Sample wording to adapt

You do not need a lawyer for every small deal, but you do need the terms in writing, even if that is an email the brand replies to and confirms. Something like this covers the basics:

Licence: non-exclusive licence to use the delivered video(s) for organic posting on the brand's own social media channels for 90 days from first publication. Paid usage: use in paid social advertising (UK) for 90 days from the first ad run. Whitelisting/partnership ads not included unless agreed separately. Ownership: copyright remains with the creator. Edits: the brand may trim, crop and add captions and branding, but may not alter the meaning of anything said. Extension: further usage available at the agreed rate on request.

Adjust the periods and channels to what you are actually selling. For bigger deals, or any contract you do not understand, it is worth paying a lawyer who works with creators to read it before you sign.

Tracking usage after the deal

Usage rights only protect you if someone notices when they run out. Brands rarely email to say "our licence expired last Tuesday, we've stopped the ads". The practical habits:

• Record the end date the day you agree it. Fee, deliverables, usage type, start date, end date, all in one place.
• Get a reminder before it ends. A week or two of notice gives you time to offer an extension rather than chase a breach.
• Check the ad libraries. Meta's Ad Library and TikTok's ad library let you search for ads a brand is currently running. If your video is still live after the licence ended, you have evidence.
• Raise it politely first. Most overruns are oversights. An email saying "our usage period ended on the 3rd; happy to extend at the agreed rate" usually resolves it and often turns into extra income.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Quoting one price for "a video" without saying what usage it includes.
• Accepting "for marketing purposes" with no channels or end date.
• Signing a template contract that assigns copyright without noticing.
• Handing over raw footage for free.
• Agreeing to whitelisting without a fee, an end date or a way to revoke access.
• Forgetting when the usage period ends.

Usage rights can feel like legal admin, but they are really a pricing tool. Once you treat each right as something with a value, you can say yes to what the brand needs and get paid properly for it.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific contract, speak to a solicitor.