Perpetuity, Whitelisting, AI Clauses: 23 Creator Economy Experts on What Brands Get Wrong About Creator Usage Rights

Brands want optionality, creators want to be valued fairly, and that is the fundamental tension in every creator deal. Contracted rights are the battleground where it plays out. Without a clear position on duration, channels, and amplification, both sides can end up feeling taken advantage of with little to show for it, or worse, passing on the collaboration altogether.

We asked 23 creator economy executives, talent managers, and agency leaders what brands most often get wrong about usage rights, and what a fair deal actually looks like. They priced things differently, and they split on how hard to fight the new AI training clauses. But they converged on one fix, and it is not paying creators more.

The term 23 experts rule out, and what they put in the contract instead.