UGC usage rights: the questions to ask before a video runs

What usage rights mean

As a general rule, the person who makes a video holds the rights to it unless an agreement says otherwise. Paying for a video does not by itself let a brand use it everywhere, in every form, with no end date. Usage rights are the agreement that spells out what the brand may do. Laws vary by country, so have a lawyer read your standard terms once.

Timing matters. Rights are simple to settle before a creator films and awkward to renegotiate after a video has taken off.

Organic use and paid use are different permissions

Posting a creator's video on your own profile is organic use. Putting budget behind it is paid use, and creators commonly price and limit the two differently. An ad that runs from the creator's own handle is a third case, with a permission the creator grants on the platform. If a video might become an ad, say so in the brief.

Seven questions to settle before the shoot

Put the answers in writing, in the brief or in a short agreement the creator accepts. A message thread is hard to find once the person who negotiated it has left the team.

• Channels. Which platforms, and does that include your website, email and in-store screens?
• Paid use. May the video run as an ad, and on which ad platforms?
• Duration. For how long, and what happens on the end date?
• Territory. In which countries may it be shown?
• Edits. May you cut it, caption it, add music or combine it with other footage?
• Exclusivity. May the creator work with competitors during the term?
• Handle. May ads run from the creator's account as well as yours?

Disclosure, customer content and records

A paid relationship has to be visible to viewers. Platforms provide paid-partnership labels for this, and advertising rules in many countries expect clear disclosure. Say in the brief how the video should be labeled.

Reposting a customer's unpaid post is different. There was no brief and no agreement, so ask permission in writing before you reuse it, and again before you put money behind it.

For each delivered file, keep the brief, the creator's acceptance, the agreed terms and the end date in one place. When someone wants to extend a video that performs, that record shows what you may do and whom to ask.

Where Link AI fits

Link AI by Linkme is our pick for the workflow around these decisions. Linkme says Link sends your brief to matched creators on Linkme, creators accept and send their videos, and you can run the best ones as ads from your dashboard.

The public page does not list duration, territory or edit terms, so treat them as open until you have them in writing. Book a demo to try Link AI, ask the seven questions first and get the answers in writing.

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