The dispute almost never happens at the moment of purchase. It happens eight months later, when the video is still running and nobody knows whether it is allowed to.
The five points to put in writing
None of them requires a ten-page contract.
Channels
Where the video may run: your accounts, paid advertising, your site, a marketplace, in-store display, an email.
The point that costs the most is paid advertising, because it is the one almost never included by default.
Duration
How long, and from when.
A short renewable duration often costs less than a long one bought as a precaution, and it forces you to know what is still running.
Territory
Spain alone, Spain and Spanish-speaking markets, or worldwide.
It seems theoretical until the day a well-built campaign deserves to be extended to another country, and everything has to be renegotiated in a hurry.
Modification
Do you have the right to re-edit, subtitle, shorten, change the music, add your logo.
Answer yes by default, but write it down: an edit redone without permission is a separate matter from the distribution licence.
Consent to the use of image
The person appearing has to accept that their face and voice be used, within the same scope and for the same duration as the video.
If third parties appear, children included, the applicable rules are stricter and are checked before the shoot.
What changes when content becomes advertising
Moving into paid advertising changes the nature of the use, and often the price.
It also triggers transparency obligations about the commercial nature of the content, whose form depends on the channel and the agreement: they are checked against the applicable rules and, in case of doubt, with a lawyer, before going live.
Renewal is planned before, not after
Write into the first agreement the price of a six or twelve-month extension.
Negotiating an extension when the video is your best advert puts you in the worst possible position, and the creator knows it as well as you do.
The two most costly mistakes
Believing that a payment amounts to a full transfer: it buys what is written, nothing more.
And letting a video run after expiry because nobody tracks the dates. Keep a table: file, creator, start date, expiry, authorised channels. Ten lines are enough, and that table is what will spare you the one genuinely unpleasant conversation.
What the brand buys exactly
| The variable | What it bounds | What must be written |
|---|---|---|
| The media | Where the video may run | Each channel, named |
| The territory | In which countries | The list, not a vague word |
| The term | Until when | An end date |
| Exclusivity | Who else may be filmed | The sector and the duration |
What costs most to neglect
The term. A performing video is bought back at a higher price when the initial period expires, and the brand then has no leverage to discuss the extension price.
What is reread before signing
Automatic renewal and sub-licensing to third parties. Those two lines turn a bounded assignment into a permanent authorisation, to be confirmed with a lawyer before signing.
What is enough
A one-page document, signed by exchange of messages, covering those five points and the start date.
You do not need more for a routine order, and you should not accept less.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
