10 Crucial Consequences You Must Know Before You Sign a Content Release Form
Have you been asked to sign a content release form for your content, like your photo, video, social media content or blog post? Think about these potential implications before you do.
If someone asks you to sign a content release form to use your content, that can be a huge honour, but if you're anything like me, you want to ensure you are protected from any potential negative implications it could have to give someone the right to use your content. As a lawyer myself who drafts and reviews release forms for all kinds of media, I am giving you the breakdown of the potential implications you must know so that you can avoid major issues that may occur when someone has the right to use your content.
You will learn about major mistakes to avoid with a content release form so that you know what potential consequences may be when signing a media release form and what someone can do with your content after signing a media consent form.
After learning about all these potential implications of signing a content release form, you will avoid significant (costly) issues and be fully protected.
This post is all about the key implications of signing a content release form and the major issues you want to avoid.
Content Release Form Essentials
What is a media release form?
A content release form is also called a media release form or media consent form, but it all means the same thing.
A content release form gives another person the permission and necessary rights to use another person's content. That could be content created by you to which you are the owner (as you are the creator). But that could also be a photo, video or voice recording someone else has made of you. Your rights to your likeness, image and voice are then captured in the photo, video or voice recording they have made.
If someone else wants to use your content for commercial purposes, they must ask you for permission by law first. Otherwise, they would breach certain privacy and publicity laws. And to do what they want to do with it, you must first give them the (intellectual property) rights to do so.
Content release form example: When is it appropriate?
You might need a good content release form example of several examples to give you more context on when it's appropriate for someone to ask you to sign a content release form.
If you are an influencer, content creator, blogger, actor/actress, model, actor, photographer, or just anyone who shares content, you will likely be asked to sign a content release form at some point in your life.
It could be a brand, company, photographer, videographer, filmmaker, production company, or another creator who would like to use your content for their media or certain marketing purposes.
Here are some examples of when it may be appropriate for someone to ask you to sign a content releaser form:
A photographer or videographer takes a picture of you or films you for a commercial project, like a promotional video for a brand.
You appear as an actor/actress or model in a movie, even if you are just in the background of a scene, not having said a word.
You were shot in a photo or video of an event, and the event organiser wants to use that footage for promotional purposes.
You have shown a brand's product or service in a photo or video you posted on your social media, and that brand would like to use it for its own social media account or advertising.
You wrote a blog post in which you mention a brand's product, like a specific brand of an ingredient you use in a recipe you share on your food blog, and that brand wants to feature your blog post on their website or in their promotional content.
Basically, a content release form is appropriate in any situation where your likeness, image, voice or creation is used for social media, marketing, advertising, or promotional purposes by another person, brand or company.
Implications of a media consent form
Now you know what a content release form is and when it's appropriate to use a media release form, let's get into the implications and potential consequences of signing a content release form:
1. Loss of control
Depending on the wording of the content release form you sign, you could lose complete control of your content.
If it states that you agree to assign your rights, you lose all ownership rights. That person you assign your rights to can use it for whatever they want without limitation.
It could also state that you give someone permission or a license to use your content. That means you are still the owner of your content, but depending on the wording, you could still give the person who gets to use it almost the same freedom to use your content for whatever they want.
If, for example, it's a worldwide, unlimited, perpetual license that can be used for any purpose, it essentially means you give them permission to do whatever they want. You still have no control over your content, even though you are still the owner.
This license could be limited in time, location and purpose so that you still have control over where, when and how your content is used.
In any case, when you sign a content release form, you will forfeit at least some control over how your content will be used by the person you give the user or ownership rights to. Your content could be used in ways you might not have foreseen when you first signed the content release form and in ways you might not agree with. So limit those rights to exactly the reason you give those rights for in the first place by including the proper wording.
2. Endorsement and Association
If the purpose for which your content may be used is not specified, your content may be used in contexts that imply that you endorse or associate with products, services, or ideas you do not support.
For example, your photo or video could be used in an advertisement or promotion for a product or service that is controversial or in a controversial context.
3. Invasion of your privacy by the public
Signing a content release form means the person will be using your content for commercial purposes, thus, for the public to see.
Maybe you do not anticipate it initially because it might be a small movie or a small brand, but your content could be more widely distributed or viral on social media.
This could compromise your privacy, so if you do not want to be found by random people or value your privacy, and depending on the content shared, you may want to consider whether you want that content out there.
4. Reputational damage
When you give someone else the right to use your content by signing a content release form, your image or name could be used in situations that affect your reputation. Again, that also depends on the wording of the content release form.
So, consider situations where you could be negatively associated with the product or service your content is used for or the person who uses your content.
That person could also misuse your content by editing it or using it in a different context, which could harm your reputation.
5. Lose rights to fair compensation
Suppose you are assigning your rights or giving a royalty-free license without receiving any compensation. In that case, that means you will never have the right to receive compensation, even if that person who owns or gets to use your content makes money off of your content.
If the content release form does include compensation for your content, then it's important to ensure that the compensation you receive for that particular content is fair.
6. Payment conditions and schedule
If you do receive compensation, ensure the content release form states how the payment is made and when you will receive it.
In some cases, the payment deadline for the compensation might be made in the far future. Or the payment is made in parts instead of one lump sum. Or, the payment could be made conditional upon hitting certain milestones that may not be met.
Think about how that could affect your income.
7. Limitation on Opportunities
The content release form could include exclusivity provisions that grant the person you give a license to the exclusive right to use the content you give them so that no one else may use that content. Depending on the wording, that could also include you!
So, consider that a content release form could prevent you from using that content yourself. But, even if you may use your content but no one else can, it may limit your opportunities to work with other brands, companies or creators.
8. Changes to your image
Check whether the content release form contains editing rights.
If the person you give a license to also receives the right to modify or change your content, your content could be edited in such a way that it could potentially lead to misrepresentation or unintended consequences.
If you do want to give them editing rights but want to maintain some sort of control, you could include in the content release form that those edits are subject to your approval.
9. Loss of creative control
If the content release form contains wording that provides the right to edit without consent or if you assign your rights, that means you have no more creative control over your content.
You may have limited or no say at all in how that person may use your content.
If you want to maintain an image or you have a certain preference about how your content is used, this is something you must consider.
10. Perpetual use: long-term consequences
If you are giving a license under the content release form, check for what term the license will be.
Most release forms will state that the license or use is "perpetual", which means that your content could be used for however long that person wants to use it.
Consider how the use by this person of your content, in the long run, may affect your future. You feel differently about that content in five or ten years from now.
In conclusion, a content release form can have significant implications and detrimental consequences. Therefore, it's crucial that you know what signing a content release form could mean for you and protect yourself if the implications may negatively affect you.
What to do with a media consent form pdf
Now, what do you do if someone sends you a media consent form pdf for you to sign, but it contains an element discussed in this blog post that you do not want to have in it?
Simply ask them if they can send you a Word version instead of the media consent form pdf so that you can make the appropriate changes. Especially photographers do this all the time because they want to be very specific about what their pictures may be used for when someone asks them to use one of their pictures.
Another option is to tell them what exactly you want to have changed in the content release so that they can amend the media consent form pdf themselves.
Content release form template
Are you in a business or career where you must sign a lot of release forms? Perhaps you want an example of a content release form that contains clauses in your favour. In that case, you can use my content release form template! It contains all the alternative clauses you need for your situation and position so that you are fully protected.
If you are asking someone else for their content, you can use my content release form template and include alternative clauses in your favour when you are using someone else's content. You get the best of both worlds!
You can get my content release form template on this page of my contract shop!
If you want to know more about why you need a proper content release form, read this blog post on the 5 Major Mistakes to Avoid in an Audio/Video Release Form (Why You Can't Just Use Any Random Release Form).
This post was all about the key consequences of a content release form and how to protect your rights.
Are you using a photo or video of another person else on your social media? Learn about why you need it for social media in this blog post on the 10 Key Reasons You Need a Photo Release Consent Form for Social Media.
Are you taking pictures or videos of someone under the age of 18? Then read this blog post on the 7 Crucial Elements You Must Have in Your photo and video release form for minors.
You can get your content release form template on this page of my contract shop!
