What Influencers Should Know About Copyright Law

PSA: As an influencer, you own your own work.

Most likely, you already knew this, but the details of what exactly it means can get a little blurry.  Generally speaking, our influencers love it when brands share or re-gram their content or post elsewhere on social media, provided they tag and link back to the influencer's profile.  Being featured in this way is great because it drives audiences from the brand's page back to your feed, which can increase your followers and engagement.  When you participate in a collaboration with Obviously, we always make sure that brands know to tag and name you when they share the great content you make for them.  We do expect that influencers will be comfortable with brands sharing your images on Instagram-- it's a collaboration after all.  However, you should know that if someone you don't recognize shares your work, even if they tag you, you have every right to ask them to take it down.  

Sometimes, brands want to share your images outside of social media and without having to name you or link back to you.  In this case, the brand must purchase image rights from you.  Because you are the sole owner of your intellectual property, you have the right to set the price for your images.  This can vary widely based on the number of followers you have, your engagement rate, and even what niche you work in. It's not unusual for brand new influencers to sell image fights for as little as $50 and mega-influencers to charge thousands.

At Obviously, we sometimes have projects in which a sale of image rights is included as a part of the collaboration.  In these cases, the brand will offer a standard rate, which we will let you know up front.  When you opt into the project, you are also agreeing to sell your image for the stated price.  Sometimes, brands are open to negotiation, so please never hesitate to ask.  And, as always, you are free to turn down any project that doesn't feel right for you.

We are committed to respecting influencers and their intellectual property.  Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the way your images are being used by brands, on our blog, or with general copyright questions.

Sound off in the comments with your image rights experiences!