The money is the part everybody negotiates. What actually costs creators is the paragraph nobody reads: who owns the video afterwards, how long you are locked out of the category, and whether you can even put your own work in your showreel.
Tick what you already have. Nothing is sent anywhere; it stays in this browser.
These are the things you cannot fix once the deal is running.
A brand that likes your name can register it, and some have. Your own registration is also what lets you stop a fake account trading on it later. Search first: it is free and takes minutes.
You cannot promise a brand rights you do not hold. In India, paying a freelance editor, thumbnail designer or composer does not transfer their copyright. Without a signed assignment the edit is theirs, and the clause you just signed says it is the brand's.
Decide before the conversation, not during it. If you are registered, the invoice and the contract value need to agree on whether the fee is inclusive.
Category exclusivity is the expensive one. Agreeing not to work with any other brand in a category, for a year, can cost more than the deal pays.
One paragraph usually decides all of this. It is worth reading twice.
An assignment hands the copyright over permanently. A licence lets them use it on agreed terms while you keep it. Brands often ask for assignment when a licence would do.
If the copyright goes to the brand and nothing is carved out, your own video is not yours to put in a showreel, a portfolio or a pitch to the next client. Ask for that carve-out explicitly; it is usually given if asked.
Organic posting and paid amplification are different things. So is whitelisting, where the brand runs ads from your handle. Each should be named, with a term. "In perpetuity, all media" is a much bigger ask than it looks.
A month in one narrow category is normal. A year across a whole sector is a different deal and should be priced as one.
Who signs off, how many rounds, and whether they may re-cut your work. Under section 57 you keep the right to object to distortion of your work even after assigning the copyright.
Permission to use a video is not permission to use you. The Indian standard treats your name, image and voice outside the contracted content as needing its own written consent, which matters more every month that AI gets cheaper.
The standard ties the brand's right to use the content to payment being complete. Without that link you can be unpaid and still watching your work run as an ad.
You are not guaranteeing impressions, engagement or sales, and you are not answerable for an algorithm change, a platform outage or a suspension. If a contract makes performance your risk, that is the clause to push back on.
If the brand withdraws and you have not breached anything, the work you already did and the slot you already held should be paid for.
When you are paid, against what, and whether you still are if the campaign is shelved. The standard also gives you the right to stop work if an undisputed invoice is still unpaid 21 days after you have given notice.
This is where creators are actually penalised, and it is the easiest part to get right.
If you were paid, gifted, given a discount, an affiliate cut or anything else of value, the audience has to be told. It has to be visible without effort: not buried in a block of hashtags, not behind "see more", not somewhere it has to be looked for.
A free product with no cash and no contract is still a material connection. This is the one creators most often assume does not apply to them.
A disclosure in English on a Hindi reel is not a disclosure to that audience.
Live streams and audio have nowhere to put a label, so it is spoken. Stories disappear, so it has to be on screen while the story is.
Both can be pulled up. The one whose face is on it is easier to find.
Endorsement without disclosure is a misleading advertisement under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Under section 21 the Central Consumer Protection Authority may impose a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh, and up to Rs 50 lakh for a repeat. It may also prohibit the endorser from endorsing anything at all for one year, and for three years on a further contravention.
The Advertising Standards Council of India sets the practical rules on how the label must look and where it must sit, and it updates them. Read the current wording in ASCI's own guide for influencers rather than in anybody's summary of it, this page included.
None of this is legal advice, and a checklist is not a reading of your contract. Send us one and we will tell you what it actually takes.
The Indian Influencer Governance Council published the Indian Influencer Contract Standard in March 2026. It is voluntary, so nobody has to offer it to you, but it is the first time anyone has written down what a fair creator contract in India looks like: payment timelines, usage rights that start when the money lands, no guarantee of performance, cancellation fees, and separate consent before a brand uses your name or face outside the content itself.
The contract sections above follow it. You can ask a brand whether their paper matches the standard, and the question alone changes the conversation.
Register your name so a brand cannot, and get the assignment signed by whoever edits for you. Both are quick, and both stop being possible once there is a disagreement.
Not sure what you own in the first place? Start with the creator IP check.