How much should you charge for AI likeness rights?
Price creator work, campaign permission and exclusivity with a reusable quote sheet and a worked CAD example.
Start with a scope-specific quote, not a universal number. Separate the work you do, the campaign use you grant, any exclusivity, and agreed expenses. This makes clear what the buyer gets and what a lower price would remove.
Separate the work from permission to use your identity
A useful quote has separate lines for recording or capture, consultation, permitted commercial use, review work, and any exclusivity. A union commercial, a public voice library, and a direct brand deal can use different payment rules, so their prices do not form one rate card for independent creators.
For a US union example, under the applicable 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts, using a digital replica to generate a performance triggers a 1.5-times session fee plus applicable holding and use fees. Those are terms for covered US union work, not a rate card for every creator. Read SAG-AFTRA's 2025 Commercials Contracts summary.
The joint contract FAQ treats a session devoted to creating a digital replica separately from later use of a generated performance. Check the agreement that covers your own work before using any formula. Read the 2025 Commercials Contracts Joint FAQs, printed pages 7–8.
For an independent deal, ask what each fee buys.
Get enough detail to quote
Before naming a total, ask the buyer to fill in these fields:
| Quote input | What you need to know |
|---|---|
| Buyer and product | The named brand, product, and agency that may use the material |
| Identity use | Face, voice, name, handle, and any personal story |
| Production | Who records, generates, edits, and pays the tool costs |
| Campaign scope | Number of concepts, finished ads, versions, languages, and material changes |
| Distribution | Brand account, creator account, website, or other named placements |
| Exposure | Territory, duration, and any agreed spending limits or review thresholds |
| Creator work | Capture, context interviews, product testing, and review rounds |
| Restrictions | Competitors or types of work you must avoid |
These are pricing inputs. A wide set of uses calls for a different discussion from one short campaign. If the buyer cannot describe the use yet, offer a paid discovery or test stage with its own narrow terms. Avoid a firm all-inclusive quote for an undefined campaign.
Build a quote with this worksheet
Use your own figures in this calculation:
Proposed fee = work fee + campaign-use fee + exclusivity fee + agreed expenses.
Calculate the work fee from estimated hours multiplied by the rate you need to cover your business costs. Include calls, preparation, capture, review, and administration. This is a planning input, not proof that a buyer will pay it.
Set the campaign-use fee as a negotiated amount for the named scope. Consider your comfort with the brand, expected exposure, and the length and breadth of use. Do not assume the fee must shrink because software makes production cheaper for the buyer.
Keep exclusivity separate. It pays for a restriction on other work. Add real expenses only once; do not count a recording cost in both the work fee and expenses.
Here is a fictional quote for a fictional scope, in Canadian dollars. A buyer wants two English video ads for a desk lamp, using the creator's face and synthetic voice, through one named brand ad account in Ontario for one month. The creator will not post to their own account. The buyer also requests a two-week restriction on work for competing desk-lamp brands.
For this example only, assume six hours of creator work at a creator-chosen planning rate of C$60, a C$500 campaign-use fee, C$250 for that narrow competitor restriction, and C$40 in agreed expenses. The total is C$1,150 before any applicable tax. These invented inputs show the calculation; they are not market rates or suggested minimums. If the buyer removes exclusivity, the same scope totals C$900. New languages or concepts require a price change rather than an unspoken expansion of the permission.
Copy this quote sheet
| Fee line | Worked example in CAD | Your quote |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation, capture, calls and review | 6 hours × C$60 = C$360 | Hours × your planning rate |
| Campaign permission | C$500 for the defined one-month scope | Agreed fee for the named use |
| Competitor restriction | C$250 for two weeks | Amount, category and dates |
| Agreed expenses | C$40 | Itemized costs not already counted |
| Total before applicable tax | C$1,150 | Sum the four lines once |
Attach the named brand, product, territory, channels, versions, dates and payment trigger to this table. The invented numbers illustrate arithmetic, not typical earnings. Use the exclusivity worksheet when a restriction could block other work.
Write down what changes the price
Attach a short change table to the quote. Name which requests need a fresh price: extra capture, a new product, an additional country, new languages, more review rounds, creator-account ads, additional versions, or a competitor restriction.
Also state what happens if the project stops. You may spend hours on capture and product research before a usable ad exists. Agree on payment for completed work and a cancellation point before that work starts.
State when each payment is due and what proof the buyer must supply. A possible renewal should not count in your current cash plan until the buyer commits to it. Performance bonuses also need a defined metric, reporting access, attribution window, and payment date.
Compare the deal with your next best use of time
For your own decision, subtract expected expenses from the contracted fee that is not tied to performance, then divide by all estimated work hours. Ask whether the remaining campaign exposure and restrictions are acceptable. This helps compare offers; it does not put a precise price on reputation or future demand.
You can decline a deal even when the hourly figure looks good. You can also accept a small, tightly scoped test to learn about the process, provided you can afford it and understand the permission you grant.
Before agreeing, work through the creator consent checklist as well as the price. Semblanse is preparing paid pilots; you can apply as a creator to hear about suitable campaigns. Joining the waitlist grants no rights and does not guarantee a paid offer.
Download the plain-text creator quote worksheet. Save a copy and replace the fields with your agreed scope and figures.
Connect this decision to the campaign
Keep licence compensation, creator input, production, posting, exclusivity and renewal as separate quote items even if a buyer bundles the total. Pilot applications do not fix a fee or guarantee work; the pilot overview explains what still needs agreement per campaign.