Creator and affiliate rights: using other people’s content safely
Short answer
Using a creator’s content needs two kinds of permission. First, permission from the creator to use their video, their face and their voice, for a set time, on set platforms, organic or paid. Second, clean music inside the video. Brands usually get the first in a contract and forget the second, or get both and then let the ads run past the end date. Most problems come from content that keeps running after the rights end.
The two permissions every creator video needs
When a creator makes a video for your brand, the creator owns it unless your contract says otherwise. Your right to use it comes from the agreement: which platforms, organic or paid, for how long, and in which countries. Separately, everything inside the video needs to be cleared too, and music is the part that slips most often. A creator can grant you their video; they can’t grant you a song they don’t own.
That’s why we treat creator content as two checks. Is our use of this video still within the agreement? And is the audio cleared for the way we’re using it? A video can pass one and fail the other.
How long you can run creator content
Usage periods are usually 30, 60 or 90 days for paid use, sometimes 6 or 12 months, and occasionally perpetual for organic reposting. Paid usage is shorter and more expensive because it reaches people who don’t follow the creator. When the period ends, your reposts, ads and edits of the creator’s content need to stop unless you renew. The creator’s own post can stay up on their account; that’s theirs.
Running content past the end date isn’t a technicality. Using someone’s likeness in advertising without permission can create claims beyond copyright, and courts have awarded far more than the original fee when ads kept running after a license expired.
Whitelisting, Spark Ads and partnership ads
Whitelisting, or allowlisting, lets a brand run ads from a creator’s handle. On TikTok that’s a Spark Ad, authorized with a code that has its own expiry. On Instagram and Facebook it’s a partnership ad. These formats perform well because they look like the creator’s own content. They also make it easy to forget that every boosted day is a paid use under the contract, and that the music in the post is now in an ad.
Affiliates, UGC, reposts and duets
TikTok Shop affiliates usually have no contract with the brand beyond the program terms, so the brand has little control over their music and no written usage rights for reposting their videos. Customer videos and other UGC need permission before a brand reuses them in marketing; a tag or a hashtag isn’t a license. Reposting, stitching or duetting a creator’s video on the brand account turns their content into your marketing, music included.
When something goes wrong
If a creator tells you their usage period has ended, or a label flags a song in a creator post you’ve boosted, act quickly and keep a record. Pause the ads first, because every extra day of paid reach adds to the problem. Then take down or edit your reposts, and check whether the same creator or the same song appears in other content you’re running. A short, polite reply to the creator or rights owner, saying what you’ve paused and when, often settles things before they escalate. For anything that looks like a formal claim, our guide on what to do when you receive a music copyright letter walks through the next steps.
Contracts, briefs and agencies
A good creator agreement covers the content, the platforms, organic versus paid use, the term and territory, whether you can edit, and a music clause: the creator uses only cleared audio, or audio you provide, and tells you what they used. A short creator brief repeats the music rule in plain words, because creators rarely reread contracts. If an agency runs your creator program, agree who checks music and who tracks end dates. When a label sends a letter, it goes to the brand, whatever the agency agreement says.
The guides and templates below cover each piece in detail, including a fill-in license agreement and a creator brief with music rules. To keep end dates under control, use our free creator license tracker; it reminds you 30 and 7 days before rights run out.
Every guide in this topic
Common questions
How long can a brand run a creator’s video?
Only as long as the agreement says. Paid usage is often 30, 60 or 90 days; longer terms cost more.
Can we keep a creator video up after the usage period ends?
The creator’s own post can stay on their account. Your reposts, edits and ads should stop unless you renew.
Does a creator contract cover the music in the video?
Not unless it says so. The creator can’t license a song they don’t own, so add a music clause.
Can we repost customer videos we were tagged in?
Ask first. A tag or hashtag isn’t permission to use the video in marketing.
Related guides
General information, not legal advice. Platform rules and licenses change; check the current terms or ask your lawyer about your situation. Lawsuit figures are as reported and represent claims, not findings, unless noted.