Likeness licensing is the process by which a brand gets permission to use a person's face, voice or identity for a defined purpose, territory and time period, in exchange for a fee. Done properly, it protects both sides. Done over WhatsApp, it protects neither. Here is the full process.
Step 1: What exactly is being licensed?
A licence should name the specific attributes (face, voice, name, signature) and the specific assets (this photoshoot, this recording). Talent with a rights registry — where each attribute carries a provenance ID — can point to exactly what the brand is buying.
Step 2: What usage terms must be agreed?
Four variables define every deal: usage type (digital ad, TV, print, AI avatar, voice synthesis), territory (India, South Asia, worldwide), duration (1 to 24+ months) and exclusivity (may the talent work with competing brands?). Each variable changes the fair price — our free rate calculator shows by how much.
Step 3: How is the price set?
Market practice starts from a base rate for the talent's tier and multiplies by the four variables above. A 3-month India-only digital licence and a 12-month worldwide exclusive can differ by 10x for the same person. Published midpoints are in our open rate benchmarks for India.
Step 4: What does consent look like under Indian law?
Since the DPDP Act, 2023, consent to process someone's likeness must be specific, informed and withdrawable — a vague "brand may use content" clause ages badly. AI uses (avatars, voice synthesis) should be separately and explicitly consented, never bundled silently into a general release.
Step 5: What happens after signing?
The licence runs, the fee is paid, and — in the part almost everyone skips — usage is monitored. Content has a habit of outliving its licence: re-cut, re-run in new markets, or fed to AI tools. Detection plus a clear expiry record is what turns "please stop using my face" from a plea into a routine enforcement step. On Zimorta the whole flow is automated: structured request, consent check, machine-readable licence, Razorpay payment, expiry tracking.
