In short: A UGC creator keeps the copyright to the video they film; the brand gets a licence that says what it may do with it. “Usage rights” are the terms of that licence — where the video can run (organic posts, paid ads), for how long, in which countries and channels, and whether it is exclusive. There are three levels in common use: organic, paid and whitelisting, and each is priced differently.
Ownership versus a licence
When a creator films a video, the creator owns it unless they sign the copyright away. What a brand buys in a normal UGC deal is permission to use the video under stated conditions. One rights guide puts it bluntly: if there is no written agreement on rights, the brand does not have rights. That protects both sides — the brand knows what it can run, and the creator knows what they have and have not agreed to.
The three levels of use
| Level | What it means | Typical pricing logic |
|---|---|---|
| Organic use | The brand posts or embeds the video on its own channels — social feed, website, email — without paying to promote it. | Often included in the base rate, sometimes for a limited period or a single platform. |
| Paid use | The brand runs the video as an advertisement from the brand’s account (Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Google). | One guide puts paid use at three to five times the organic rate, because the brand extracts more value and takes on more risk. |
| Whitelisting | The brand runs ads through the creator’s own social account, so the ad appears under the creator’s name and handle. | Usually charged per month on top of the content fee (see below). |
A common mistake is to assume that permission for the first level covers the second. It does not: a licence to post a video on the brand’s feed is not a licence to advertise with it.
What a licence should specify
Whatever the platform or contract, these are the points worth having in writing:
- The content — what is being delivered.
- The uses granted — organic, paid ads, or both, and on which channels.
- Territory — worldwide or specific countries.
- Exclusivity — can the creator make similar content for competitors, or license the same video elsewhere?
- Duration — a fixed term with an end date, or without time limit.
- Editing — may the brand cut, crop, add subtitles or a logo, or re-use footage in new edits?
- Payment — the amount and when it is paid.
- Ownership and warranties — the creator keeps the copyright and confirms they hold the rights to everything in the video, including music.
Common mistakes
- Treating organic rights as ad rights, as above.
- Relying on a chat message or a verbal “sure” instead of a written agreement.
- Carrying on using a video after a time-limited licence has ended.
- Editing a video without permission to make derivative versions.
- Not checking that the creator controls all the rights — a trending song or a branded prop in the background can put the whole video in doubt for paid use.
Whitelisting in more detail
Whitelisting (also called creator licensing, partnership ads or Spark Ads on some platforms) hands the brand access to run paid ads from the creator’s own account. One creator-side guide describes the value of that in plain terms: the creator is no longer just selling content, but their face, name, personal-brand trust and account access.
That is why it is normally priced separately. The same guide suggests a rule of thumb of roughly 30% to 100% or more of the content fee per month, charged per platform, with total price = content fee + (monthly whitelisting fee × number of months). It also lists the creator-side risks that justify the price: a poor ad becomes attached to their reputation, they have limited control over targeting and how often followers see the ad, excessive ads can wear out audience trust, and the set-up requires giving ad-account permissions.
For brands the takeaway is to ask for whitelisting explicitly rather than assuming it, and to agree the term and the price up front. For creators it is to treat it as its own product, not a free extra.
What AI does to licences
Contract guides now list “AI reuse and derivative rights” as a clause of its own. It is reasonable for a creator to require that their voice, face and footage are not used to train AI models or to create synthetic copies of them unless they have agreed to that specifically, and reasonable for a brand to state up front what it intends to do.
How rights work on Usicri
Usicri uses one licence for every campaign, so nobody has to negotiate it. In summary (the wording in section 5 of the Terms of Service is the binding version):
- When it starts: once the brand has approved the video and the payment has been collected. A rejected or unpaid video may not be used.
- What it covers: a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence without time limit, for all media and channels — including the brand’s website, shop and social accounts, email and paid advertising — with the right to edit (cut, crop, subtitle, add the brand’s own logo or text).
- Who else may use it: the brand’s agencies and advertising platforms, on its behalf.
- What it does not allow: creating synthetic replicas of the creator’s voice or likeness, using the video to train AI models, or using it in a way that suggests the creator endorses a different product or brand.
- Ownership: the creator remains the owner and may show the video in their own portfolio and channels.
- When it ends: if the payment is reversed in full, for example after a successful card chargeback.
Ads run through the creator’s own social account (whitelisting) are not part of this licence and are not handled by Usicri; a brand that wants that has to agree it with the creator separately. Because the licence is fixed, creators should price their payout knowing it covers advertising without time limit — see the 2026 UGC rates guide for how much published guides add for that.
Rights are only half of the picture. Anything published as an ad also has to be recognisable as one and can only make claims it can support — see UGC disclosure rules.