While artists are able to create their own custom usage licenses, we have three standard ones across VGen commission services and shop products to make licensing easier and more transparent for both artists and clients.
Our standard licenses are: Personal, Commercial: Content, and Commercial: Merchandising (Terms and definitions are subject to change).
Please note that in all services and products, the artist is the asset licensor and may include additional license terms in their Terms of Service or the service’s description.
What is a Usage License?
A usage license is a legal agreement that grants permission to use copyrighted work (such as commissions / digital product) under specific terms and conditions set by the copyright holder (artist+). These licenses specify permissible uses and restrictions and they are crucial for both protecting the rights of creators and ensuring users avoid copyright infringement.
Personal
For individual, non-commercial and non-monetized uses only.
This means that the product is not to be monetized or commercialized in any way and can only to be used by a single individual.
Licensee: Individual
Commercial use: ❌ Not allowed
Non-commercial use:
- ✅ Creation of digital or physical (ie. print) end products for personal enjoyment.
- ✅ Creation and distribution of digital end products shared to non-commercial and non-monetized social and content platform accounts belonging to the Licensee
- ❌ Distribution of deliverable file(s) “as-is” unless otherwise stated
Credit the artist:
- ✅ Required for all public uses unless otherwise stated
- ❌ Do not claim credit, ownership, or copyright over the asset
Commercial: Content
For content creators and businesses who want to use the commissioned asset as part of creating and distributing commercial and monetized digital content.
This means that it's used by businesses and content creators to create digital content, whether monetized or not.
Licensee: Individual or Legal Entity (Company)
Commercial use:
- ✅ Creation and distribution of digital end products shared to commercial and monetized social and content platform accounts belonging to the Licensee
- ❌ Creation and re-selling of value-add or derivative digital or physical end products made with the asset by the Licensee
- ❌ Distribution of deliverable file(s) “as-is” unless otherwise stated
Credit the artist:
- ✅ Required for all public uses unless otherwise stated
- ❌ Do not claim credit, ownership, or copyright over the asset
Commercial: Merchandising
For businesses who want to create, promote, and re-sell their own digital or physical end products made with the commissioned asset.
This means that it can be resold in any digital or physical product the buyer creates, such as physical merch or creating new commissions from the base, etc.
Licensee: Individual or Legal Entity (Company)
Commercial use:
- ✅ Creation, re-selling, and distribution of value-add or derivative digital or physical end products made with the asset by the Licensee
- ✅ Creation and distribution of digital and physical content to promote the re-selling of value-add digital or physical end products created by the Licensee
- ❌ Re-selling the asset “as-is” without any value-add activities
Credit the artist:
- ✅ Required for all public uses unless otherwise stated
- ❌ Do not claim credit, ownership, or copyright over the asset
What do the License Labels mean?
When you set up your licenses, each one shows clear labels so you can see exactly what you’re offering at a glance. For every license, you’ll set whether it’s:
- Allowed or Included with all licenses. The client can use the asset in this way under that license.
- Not allowed. That use isn’t covered by the license at all.
- Allowed, without extra cost. Use is included in your base price, with nothing added on top.
- Allowed, with extra cost. Use is available for an additional charge, which you can set as a fixed amount or a percentage added to your base price.