What is Usage Licence?
A 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. A licence limits use rather than transferring ownership, and running an asset outside its stated terms is a breach.
- Category
- Creative & Video Production
- Also called
- Usage rights, Media licence, Usage license, Licence term
- In our work
- AI video productionCreative production
Three questions define a licence and the answers are short. Term: how long. Territory: where. Media: in which channels. Twelve months, Philippines, digital only is a common shape for a social campaign; perpetual, worldwide, all media is the widest available. Everything in between exists because each additional year, market and channel is worth more to the buyer and costs the licensor something, whether that licensor is a music library, a performer or a production company.
The licence also has to reach every ingredient in the finished video, and this is where it usually fails. Music, stock footage, fonts, performers and any third-party product shown on screen each carry their own permissions, and a video is licensed only as broadly as its narrowest ingredient. Recording who supplied what, and on what terms, while the production is running turns a later renewal into a five-minute question rather than an archaeology project.
Common questions.
What happens when a usage licence expires?
The video comes down from the placements the licence covered, or the licence is renewed. Assets that quietly keep running past expiry are the common failure, usually because nobody recorded the date. A simple register of asset, term and renewal date prevents it. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Related terms.
Buyout
Creative & Video ProductionA 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.
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.
UGC Ad
Creative & Video ProductionA UGC ad is a paid advert made to look like a post from an ordinary user rather than from a brand: handheld framing, a person talking to camera, natural light, unpolished delivery.
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.
Scoping a project?
Reading definitions because you are scoping a project? Skip ahead and just ask.