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No. 46Creative Controls
Also called brand deal approval, sponsorship rights, endorsement rights, brand partnership
Who controls your right to enter brand deals, sponsorships, and endorsements.
High risk
Label approval rights over endorsements can block lucrative deals or extract a commission from independently originated income.
Endorsement approval covers brand partnerships, sponsorships, product placement, and advertising campaigns that use your image or likeness. In 360 deals, the label may have a right to approve, commission, or take a share of any endorsement deal you independently source.
Brand deals can be significant income sources. A label that can block or take a commission from independently originated endorsements reduces your revenue and creative autonomy in building commercial partnerships.
The same clause is drafted three ways. These are the positions we see, worst first, so you can tell at a glance which one is in front of you.
The drafting language and the negotiation moves for this clause are part of the workspace.
You have read what the clause means and where the risk sits. The rest is the side-by-side of how it reads when it is against you and when it is not, plus the specific moves that get it there.