What is Buyout?
A buyout is a one-off payment that purchases the right to use a performance, a piece of music or a finished video without further fees, for the term, territory and media the contract names. A full buyout means perpetual, worldwide, all-media use. Anything narrower is a licence with a defined end.
- Category
- Creative & Video Production
- Also called
- Full buyout, Talent buyout, Rights buyout, Perpetual buyout
- Related
- Usage LicenceCommissioned Work & Copyright Ownership (Philippines)VoiceoverAVP (Audio-Visual Presentation)
- In our work
- AI video production
Buyout language comes from advertising, where performers, voice artists, photographers and composers are paid separately for the work and for its use. A day rate covers the recording; the buyout covers where that recording may run and for how long. Splitting the two is what allows a brand to pay less for a campaign confined to one market and one year, and more for the right to run the same asset anywhere, indefinitely, across every channel it owns.
For a business commissioning video, the thing to watch is what the buyout actually covers. A buyout of a performer’s work is not a buyout of the music. A perpetual digital licence is not all-media, so it may exclude broadcast, cinema and out-of-home. And a buyout of usage is not a transfer of copyright, which is a separate matter settled in writing under Philippine law. Reading term, territory and media as three distinct answers is the practical check. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Common questions.
Is a buyout the same as owning the video?
No. A buyout purchases the right to use the material on the terms stated, while copyright ownership is a separate question the contract has to address directly. A project can carry a full buyout and still leave copyright with the producer unless the agreement says otherwise. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Related terms.
Usage Licence
Creative & Video ProductionA usage licence is the written permission setting where a video may run, for how long, and in what media, normally stated as term, territory and channel: twelve months, Philippines, digital only.
Commissioned Work & Copyright Ownership (Philippines)
Philippine Business & ComplianceUnder the Philippine Intellectual Property Code (Republic Act 8293), a client who commissions and pays for creative work owns the work itself, but copyright stays with the creator unless a written stipulation says otherwise.
Voiceover
Creative & Video ProductionA voiceover is recorded narration laid over picture by a speaker who is not seen on screen, carrying the script a video’s images cannot state directly.
AVP (Audio-Visual Presentation)
Creative & Video ProductionAn AVP, or audio-visual presentation, is a short branded video that explains an organisation, product or programme to an audience in one sitting.
Scoping a project?
Reading definitions because you are scoping a project? Skip ahead and just ask.