To work out how much to charge for usage rights, set your own base licence fee for the narrowest grant you sell, then apply a modifier for each extra the brand asks for: a longer term, paid media, more territories, ads from your handle, exclusivity and wider edit rights. Show each modifier as its own line on the quote, so a brand with a smaller budget removes scope instead of asking you to cut your rate. There is no reliable market percentage to copy, so every figure in this worksheet comes from you.
Why the worksheet starts from your numbers
The guides that rank for this question mostly offer rules of thumb, and they rarely agree with each other. One suggests adding a share of the base fee for each month of paid use, the next proposes a different share, and few explain where their figures come from or what scope they assume. A borrowed percentage also hides the question that actually matters, which is what you are giving up by granting the use.
Licensing law offers a sturdier frame. The Australian Copyright Council's fact sheet on licensing and assigning rights notes that permission to use copyright material can be divided by territory, time and type of use. Those divisions are exactly the dials a brand turns when it asks for more, which makes them natural pricing rows. If you are not yet sure what each grant covers, read our guide to content usage rights for creators first, then come back to price it.
Step 1: set your base licence fee
The base licence fee is what you charge, per asset, for the narrowest grant you are willing to sell. Define that grant in one sentence, for example: organic reposting on the brand's own accounts, in one country, for your shortest standard term, with trimming and captioning only. Keep it apart from the production fee, which pays for making the content; that side is built line by line in our UGC rate card worksheet.
Three inputs help you land on the figure, and they work best together:
- A link to production: decide what share of your production fee the narrowest grant should add, as a policy you apply to every quote rather than a number you renegotiate each time.
- Your own history: list the licence fees brands have accepted from you and the ones they resisted, and set the base where acceptance was comfortable rather than grudging.
- Your exposure: footage built around your face and voice says more about you than a product-only clip, so you may decide on a higher base for on-camera work.
Write the base down and reuse it. The modifiers only mean something if the number they multiply stays stable from one quote to the next.
Step 2: the modifier rows
Each modifier either multiplies the base or adds a line to it. Any factor above one widens the grant. You set every factor yourself, keep the set in a private rate sheet and fill in the last column once, so each new quote is arithmetic rather than a fresh negotiation with yourself.
| Modifier | Options to quote | How to set your factor | Your factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Your standard periods, an extended period, or perpetual use | Let it climb with length, and make perpetual use your highest term factor because it ends any later relicensing | ______ |
| Media | Brand organic only, paid social, paid search or display, connected TV or broadcast, outdoor, print or in-store | Add a step for every paid channel, and treat channels that reach beyond social as separate, larger steps | ______ |
| Territory | One country, a named region, or worldwide | Count the markets the brand will really target; worldwide should cost more than any named list | ______ |
| Handle access | None, a single post through a code, or account-level permission | Price it apart from media, because the ad speaks as you; Step 3 covers the detail | ______ |
| Exclusivity | None, a product category, or a list of named competitors | Price the work you would turn away during the window, and let the line end when the window ends | ______ |
| Edit rights | Trims and captions, recuts from delivered files, or raw footage with new edits | Step up at each level, since broader edits mean ads you never review | ______ |
| Users | The brand only, its affiliates and retailers, or agencies with sublicence rights | Each extra group widens distribution beyond the company you negotiated with | ______ |
| Assets covered | One finished video, a set of variations, or the whole shoot | Quote usage per asset, so the brand can see what each extra file adds | ______ |
Step 3: whitelisting and Spark Ads rates
Ads that run from your handle get their own modifier because they carry your name and face to people who never chose to follow you. The platforms build that access differently, and the difference belongs in the price.
Meta's help page on partnership ad permissions separates content-level permission for individual posts from account-level permission, under which advertisers can create ads from your handle without existing content and include or exclude your custom audience. Meta's pages explain how to grant and revoke both kinds but describe no expiry you can set, so the term ends only when someone switches the access off. Price account-level access above a single-post grant, and count the admin of revoking it on time. Our explainer on influencer whitelisting on Meta covers the permission routes.
On TikTok, a Spark Ads code covers one post, and you pick its authorisation period when you generate it; TikTok's Smart+ Spark Ads guide lists 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. Match the period to the paid term you are selling and quote the longer periods at a higher rate. The step-by-step sits in our guide to the TikTok Spark Ads code for creators.
You can structure the handle-access fee as a flat amount per period, an amount per asset per period, or a figure linked to the brand's ad spend. A spend-linked fee only works if the contract obliges the brand to report its spend, otherwise you have no way to check the invoice. Whichever structure you choose, these drivers should move the number:
- Breadth: one approved post, several posts, or your whole account.
- Length: the authorisation period on TikTok, or the agreed switch-off date on Meta.
- Audience use: whether the brand may target or exclude people who already engage with you.
- Spend scale: a heavier media budget puts your face in front of more strangers.
- Review work: the time you will spend approving ad copy, landing pages and edits.
- Comment load: ads attract comments on your post or under your name, which someone has to moderate.
A worked example with placeholders
Here is how the rows combine for a hypothetical request, with letters standing in for your amounts. A brand asks for two videos, paid social on Meta and TikTok for your middle-length term in two countries, ads from your handle on both platforms, category exclusivity for the same period and permission to trim and caption.
| Quote line | Placeholder | Where the value comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Production of both videos | P | Your production task estimate |
| Base licence for each video | B | The one-sentence base grant you defined in Step 1 |
| Middle-length term | T | The term row of your rate sheet |
| Paid social on two platforms | M | The media row, paid social step |
| Two named countries | R | The territory row for a named list |
| Usage for each video | B × T × M × R | The base multiplied by the three factors above |
| Ads from your handle on Meta and TikTok | H | The handle-access row, priced separately for each platform |
| Category exclusivity for the term | X | The work you expect to decline in that window |
| Trims and captions | No extra line | Already inside your base grant |
| Total quote | P + usage for each video + H + X | Every line shown on the quote, not just the sum |
If the brand then drops exclusivity, X comes off and nothing else moves. If it asks for a lower total while keeping every line, you can ask which line it would like to remove. That conversation is far easier than defending a single unexplained number.
Renewal and extension price table
Usage ends on a date, so plan the second sale when you make the first. TikTok's list of Spark Ads code error notifications includes an expired authorisation, for which it tells advertisers to contact the creator to extend, and an authorisation that ends before the ad's scheduled end time. Each of those is a pricing event, not a favour.
| Situation | How to price it | Paperwork |
|---|---|---|
| Extension agreed before the term ends | Either the gap between the longer term's price and what was paid, or a fresh period at your current rate; pick one method and name it in the contract | A written extension, then a new code or permission covering the added time |
| Brand kept using the content after expiry | A fresh period at your current rate, plus any late-use charge the first contract set | An invoice for the overrun, then a renewal or written confirmation of removal |
| New channel or new country requested | Price only the added dimension, as a line of its own | An amendment naming the extra channel or territory |
| Switch to perpetual use or a buyout | Your perpetual price, less earlier fees if your policy credits them | A perpetual licence or assignment checked by a lawyer |
| Exclusivity window lengthened | The work you would turn away during the extra time | An amendment carrying the new end date |
| Renewal option written into the first deal | An option fee agreed upfront, with the renewal price fixed or tied to your rate card at the time | An option clause in the original contract |
The option row is worth selling early. A renewal price written into the first contract spares the brand a surprise and spares you a fresh negotiation while its campaign is already running.
Quote checklist before you send
- The production fee and every usage line appear separately.
- Each usage line names its term, channels and territories.
- Handle access states the platform, the permission level and the authorisation period or switch-off date.
- Exclusivity names the category or competitors and carries an end date.
- The term's start event and the renewal method are written down.
- Any fee that depends on ad spend comes with a duty to report that spend.
- The quote itself expires, so an old price cannot resurface months later.
- Your standard usage terms match what your influencer media kit tells brands.
Limitations of this worksheet
This page gives you a method, not market prices. It cannot tell you what a particular brand will pay, and the factors you choose are business judgements to revisit as your work, audience and costs change. Rate ranges published elsewhere seldom state the scope behind them, so treat them with care.
Platform permission tools change their names and options, so check Meta's and TikTok's current help pages before writing a period or permission level into a contract. Licensing terms are legal terms: have a lawyer review buyouts, perpetual grants and exclusivity, and ask an accountant how usage income, and any GST, VAT or sales tax on it, should be handled where you live.