A model's usage fee (also called a buyout or licence) is the money a client pays for the right to run your photos, over and above your day rate. It is priced from four inputs: which media the images appear in, which territories, for how long, and whether you are barred from working for competitors meanwhile. Usually it is quoted as a multiple of the day rate, and on a campaign it is often the bigger number. The one thing to check before any booking is the clause that says how long, where and in which channels. The wording "all media, worldwide, in perpetuity" is the one to question.
Day rate and usage fee are two different payments
The day rate pays for your time on set. The usage fee pays for the images. According to the UK agency The Diversity Agency, the day rate "does not change much whether you are shooting for a small online store or a national campaign", while usage is "where the money actually sits". Two shoots can be the same working day and be completely different jobs commercially: a one-day shoot for a small e-commerce site, and a one-day shoot for a campaign running across Europe for two years.
That is why "what is your rate?" is an incomplete question. The useful follow-up is "for what usage?". If a booker quotes a number without naming media, territory and term, ask for all three in writing. The same applies if you are negotiating through a casting platform: before you say yes, see how the money actually reaches you (vouchers, commission, net terms), because usage fees travel the same route and are commissioned the same way.
The four dials that set the price
- Media. Own website and organic social sit at the bottom. Paid social, print, display, out-of-home, cinema and television each add an increment on top.
- Territory. Local or national, then a region (for example UK plus Ireland, then Europe), then worldwide. Each step up multiplies the fee again.
- Term. A fixed period, from a few months to a year or two. A second year is not simply double the first, but it is a substantial uplift.
- Exclusivity. If you cannot work for competing brands in the category while the ads run, you are giving up other income, and that restriction has its own price.
What the numbers look like
There is no published rate card. The Diversity Agency notes that no UK trade body issues one, and that Entertainment Partners, which administers industry payments, describes commercial rates as "defined individually for each job". What exists are market bands and worked examples. The agency's UK day-rate bands: e-commerce £150-£400, editorial £100-£300, commercial and lifestyle £400-£1,500, beauty and luxury £500-£3,000+, top tier £5,000+.
Its worked example is a £600 day rate with two years of worldwide, all-media usage, which "lands closer to £6,000" once usage is added: roughly a tenfold uplift on the day rate. At the other end, narrow use such as a brand's own channels is the cheap end, while a national campaign with broad media and a long term runs into multiples of the day rate. Treat these as a UK reference point, not a universal formula: other markets and agencies set their own multiples, and your booker will quote the real figure for the job.
"In perpetuity": why not to sign it silently
"All media, worldwide, in perpetuity" is the broadest licence a client can ask for, and boilerplate often contains it even when the campaign is a six-week regional push. Our model release guide already flags it: vague wording of this kind is common, but worth understanding fully before you sign. In practice:
- If the brief says local web and social for a season, the release should say that, not worldwide.
- If the client genuinely needs broad or perpetual rights, that is a conversation about price, not a reason to refuse the job. Your agent negotiates it.
- If the term is fixed, ask what the renewal fee would be now, while the price is still open, rather than after the campaign has run.
- Do not treat a release signed on set as the whole agreement. The usage terms belong in the booking confirmation your agency receives, and the release has to match it. For the contract side, read what to look for before you sign.
What happens when the licence runs out and the ads keep running
The clearest public case is Olive v. General Nutrition Centers in California. Jason Olive, a model, had a release with GNC that lapsed in late 2011 (the parties disputed whether it ended at the end of November or the end of the year). GNC kept using his image in print after the release expired. Olive sued for misappropriation of likeness under common law and California Civil Code § 3344. A jury awarded $213,000 in actual damages and $910,000 for emotional distress, about $1.12 million in total. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the award in 2018.
Two lessons for a model. First, expiry dates matter and clients can miss them, so write down your own end dates. Second, the case ran for years and the award was far below what Olive sought (he had asked for more than $20 million in profits on top of damages), so it shows that a lapsed licence has value but not that a lawsuit is quick. A different case in Texas (Clark v. Dillard's, 2015) was lost on timing: the appeals court held the model's claim was time-barred. Limitation periods are short in many places.
A practical routine: put the term, territory and media for each job in a spreadsheet with an end date, and tell your agent about any campaign you still see running after that date. Going through your agent means you do not have to confront the brand yourself.
A short script for your booker
- "What media is this? Organic social only, or paid, print, out-of-home, TV?"
- "Which territory, and for how many months or years?"
- "Is there category exclusivity? For how long, and is it paid?"
- "What would the fee be to extend by a year, or to add a territory?"
- "Can that be in the booking confirmation before the shoot?"
If you are still looking for the first jobs where these questions will apply, browse current open castings and compare the agencies that handle commercial bookings in our agency directory.
