What are usage rights and buyouts in modeling?

The same day of shooting can be worth several times more or less depending on where the images run, for how long, in which territories, and whether you are locked out of competitors. Media, term, territory and exclusivity belong in the contract.

Updated 2026-08-30

The four axes

Media — the brand’s own site only, or social too, or out-of-home and TV.

Term — six months, one year, or perpetual. Perpetual costs far more.

Territory — domestic, a region, or worldwide.

Exclusivity — whether you are barred from shooting competitors for the same period. If you are, that lost opportunity belongs in the fee.

Why it is priced separately from the day rate

The day rate pays for the work of that day. Usage pays for the right to exploit the result. They are different things, so they are written down separately.

If you agree only on “a day rate”, and the image is on a billboard three years later, you have nothing to point at.

What PODIANE does about it

All four axes are required fields in the contract. Leave them empty and no contract is created.

That contract is then equally valid in Korean, English and French. Each party reads and signs in their own language; where the terms hash matches, it is the same agreement.