Am I selling the copyright to my video?

No, when you work with Ark Media you remain as the sole owner and copyright holder of your video. When you upload and submit your video through our online forms, you are only granting us the permission to license your video to our buyers.

We simply take a copy and store it on our platform, if one of our partners purchase it we share any revenue generated with you.

Is my arrangement with Ark Media exclusive?

Yes, we exclusively license the videos we work with; this isn’t because we’re being greedy but to maximise the revenue for our contributors. We’ve learned from our experience that when there are multiple agencies involved in licensing a video, every party involved loses out on earnings. Having more than one agency distributing the video means the buyers are able to drive down prices, so you lose money.

Although please beware when signing an agreement with other agencies because some companies prefer to take over the copyright ownership – meaning the video is no longer yours and you will have absolutely no say in how your video is being used whatsoever. We believe this is a very bad example of ethics and we completely stand against it.

I’ve found a copy of my video, what do I do?

Your video is likely been purchase either directly from us or from one of our content partners, if so then you will be getting paid for the usage!

Although to be absolutely certain we always encourage our contributors to get in touch with us if they come across their videos anywhere so we can let them know if the video has been purchased or if it has been used without authorisation.

We have relationships with hundreds of media websites and TV companies so one of the first thing I would look if the website/platform you have come across your video looks reputable. If you’ve spotted your video on a website that doesn’t look so reputable it could be being used without permission and bringing this up to our attention means we can chase up payments for the usage of the video.

We take protecting your video extremely seriously, we try to spot as much of this activity ourselves by scouring the web day in day out, it is not possible to see everything. So again, if you see your video being used somewhere, please contact us on licensing@ark.media including the link and if possible, a screenshot of the offending usage.

How commercial consent (Appearance Release) works?

We’ll break this into two parts for you so its easier to understand why we sometimes require consent documents from the people in the videos.

What is commercial consent?

If a client is interested in licensing a video for advertising campaign or TV production purposes, they may require signed Appearance Release forms, this is what we call Commercial Consent. What this means is that anyone that can be identified in the video must fill in this form in order to give their consent for their likeness to be used.

How will this affect your video?

This is really good news! This means your video has peaked interest from our high paying buyers.

If a client is interested in purchasing your video, we may ask you to put us in touch with the people in the video so we can check with the people who appear in the video if they are happy for the video to be used. Quicker we can get these permissions higher the chances of your video selling because some buyers won’t purchase a video if they can’t get consent from everyone in the video.

If there are anyone under the age of 18 featured in the video, then we would need permission from one of the parents or the legal guardian of the child.

Why is my agreement in perpetuity?

All of our agreements are in perpetuity mainly because we work with thousands of content creators on an ongoing basis. If our agreements had an expiry date this would mean we would need to regularly renew thousands of agreements each month.

As well as helping minimise the admin work required to keep up to date with all the agreements we have in place, almost every content creator we work with finds in perpetuity agreements really useful due to no extra effort being required from their end once they have agreed to work with us.

How do I get paid?

Whatever we licence your video for, we split all the earnings with you. This means it is in our best interest to get you the best sales so we both win!

We pay our contributors via PayPal, so if you don’t have one, we encourage you to get one as this is a very fast, secure and cheapest money transfer service especially if you live abroad.

Depending on who purchased your video and how it was used will determine when you get paid. It’s hard to predict how popular your video will be, our buyers are searching all the time and it could be purchased several times over.

Many videos either continue to generate revenue after years of being on our archives, or they sell for the first time after a long period. We recently sold a video that originally was uploaded over 2 years ago – so you never know when your video will be in demand and what a buyer is looking for. Sometimes it can take a single sale to bring your video in the eyes of right clients and it can snowball the earnings!

Most of the time payment is the following month, however please bear in mind that sometimes it can take up to 90 days depending on the partner because some media outlets will have their own payment cycles that we simply have no control over, so please be patient.

How much will I get paid?

How much you will earn per video depends on how your video is used. Typically, if your video sells directly, you’ll earn anywhere from around £50 to a few hundred pounds (£) per usage.

There are a few different ways your video might generate revenue; these are your usual direct sales, Ad/Revenue share, partner sales and TV/Ad production.

Direct sale is when a publication wants to use your video for a set period of time, and prices for this will vary depending on where they want to use the video and for how long they would like to keep the video there.

For example, if your video is placed on facebook or a website, payments are typically around £50-£100 for each usage. It is important to note that Facebook payments aren’t always based on views, if your video doesn’t qualify to be monetised on Facebook it will be a fixed fee payment, same thing applies if the page would rather choose to pay a fixed fee instead of a revenue share.

Ad revenue share is where a website may use your video and put advertising around it to generate revenue. We will share the collected earnings with you. With this you can expect anywhere from a few pennies to £200 per month. This is a great way to accumulate earnings overtime. Additionally, we have monetisation revenue share partners on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, which means your videos can earn north of a few thousand pounds (£) from monetisation. If you have seen your video on reputable social media channels, that’s good news because that you will be getting paid!
Television production teams contact us to help them find the right clips to complete their shows.

For example, BBC produced “How I Got News For You” recently used our members videos. Our members received a payment for the usage of their video in the show.

Brands and agencies are right at the top of our pricing structure. If a brand wants to use your video in their campaign, whether this may be online, on social media or TV, these commercial usages are what we class as big earners. Depending on where the campaign is placed and how long the advert will run, it will determine how much you would be paid for the video. The price range for this can be from £100s to over a £1000 per sale!
Partner sales is the earnings we generate from working with what other agencies would call ‘Rivals’. These partnerships allow us to penetrate every market around the world, from America to Asia, from Europe to Australia! Earnings from these partnerships can vary completely on the partners selling strength and can generate from about £5-£10 to a few hundred pounds and sometimes even more!It makes sense to us to generate you revenue no matter how small or how big it may be instead of missing out on potential revenue!

When will I get paid?

We aim to get you paid at the beginning of each month provided your video has generated enough revenue.

Most of the time payment is the following month, however please bear in mind that sometimes it can take up to 120 days to receive a payment depending on the partner because some media outlets will have their own payment cycles that we simply have no control over, so please be patient.

We pay for the usages which have been logged as completed sales, this means that the video has been used, the client has been invoiced and the payment for the invoice has reached our account.

We currently pay out any earnings as long as there is enough balance to cover any possible payment fees introduced by the payment provider, such as PayPal or Banks. These fees are out of our control as these are 3rd party charges.

Why haven't I been paid?

It is likely that we have requested your payment details, but we weren’t given them, and your payment will be currently pending.

If you have received sales reports from us and supplied your payment details to us please contact us on licensing@ark.media and our team will be more than happy to assist you with your query.

What happens if I don't earn enough to get paid?

We’ll keep adding payments to your balance until your balance covers the relevant payment transaction fees, then we’ll make a payment to you via PayPal.

Unlike other companies out there who expire or dissolve payments as admin charges which do not meet their minimum payment criteria after 12 months, we strongly believe you should get paid no matter how long your video has been managed by us, so we will continue to accumulate your earnings until you get paid.

Please bear in mind that sometimes it can take up to 120 days to receive a payment depending on the partner because some media outlets will have their own payment cycles that we simply have no control over, so please be patient.

What if someone wants to use my video after I sign with Ark Media?

Simply let them know to contact us for the usage of the video. It is likely that we already have a working relationship with them, and it will be only a matter of declaring the usage.

However if this is a buyer we have not worked before, our dedicated and skilled team can negotiate the best price for the usage of your video and you will receive your share of payment for the sale!

Many media outlets/producers will pressure you into giving them the video for free or at a very small fee, most of the time claiming they do not have budget for it, this is in almost all cases not the truth.

You can refer them to us by passing on our email address licensing@ark.media.

Also adding the following phrase ‘This video is exclusively managed by Ark Media. For and usage/licensing enquiries please contact licensing@ark.media to the description/caption of your post on social media will maximise the sales for your video and it also means you won’t have to deal with lots of people messaging you!

Do I get a say in who the video gets sold to?

We work with many media outlets around the globe and once the video has been pushed out to our clients and content partners the video can be purchased by over 2000 media companies at any hour of the day.

Additionally many of our editorial clients often require videos at a very short notice therefore have the option to simply download and declare videos at any time.

Due to these reasons we simply wouldn’t be able to monitor and process all the requests for usages.

Can I get credited for my video when it's sold?

We always aim to get the content creator credited for their video wherever possible. We assure you are credited when your video is used on our own channels. We also include a credit line in the captions and metadata when the video is being sent out to third parties.

We strives to ensure the credits are included by third parties but cannot guarantee that each individual client/content partner follows our credit instructions. One of the examples for not receiving a credit could be due to some clients (eg. TV/Advertisement companies) not being able to offer a credit.

Can I still collect revenue from my video on YouTube?

Certainly! We have not claimed any earnings from our contributors to this date and we do not plan to do so.  We simply share the revenue we generate through our clients and content partners.

If for any reason a claim has been put on to your video by us, please contact us on licensing@ark.media to resolve the issue right away!

Why work with us?

If you are here, perhaps you have a video which has a big potential to go viral or maybe it already has, and you are looking to cash in on it!

We always recommend people to license their video with a media/licensing company, let this be us or a different company. This will secure your copyright, monitor illegal and unauthorised usages and generate revenue out of it.

It is important to bear in mind that, by agreeing to a licensing agency’s T&C, you obligate yourself to follow certain rules, so carefully consider every aspect of any agreement before signing it!

To help you with your decision, we’ve considered a number of reasons for which we think that Ark Media is a great agency, doing its absolute best to generate the maximum amount of revenue for you whilst taking care of its contributors.

What makes us different:

• Transparency: You will receive our agreed share of the Licencing fees we charge our clients, which you can track of by receiving monthly sales reports where we will outline the exact amount your video has been sold for, the type of client it has been sold for and how much you will be receiving from each sale.
• Client and partner base: we have a broad client base and work with different TV shows, networks, and other media worldwide including publishers/websites such as Daily Mail, Mail Online, Daily Mirror, The Sun, etc; TV companies such as ITV, ABC, the BBC, NBC, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network as well as many social media pages with major following like It’s Gone Viral, Daily Mail Video, Ben Phillips, USA Today and many others. Also, through our content partners we have one of the world’s largest coverage which spans across 6 continents with a reach of over 1 billion people!
• No Rivalry: Our main purpose is to generate as much revenue as possible from your video for you, which is why we never reject working with other agencies within our industry. There is a vast number of clients from all around the world who have millions of video briefs to fulfil each year, which are worth billions in revenue! By working with other agencies wherever possible we expand our client and coverage base each day. Many licensing companies will outright decline to work with their ‘rivals’ where the only losers are the content creators. So if you were to work with us, your video would reach to every client we have as well as other agencies so you never miss out!

I have more videos I’d like make money from. What should I do?

If you have other videos you would like seeing in some of the world’s largest media outlets, contact us on licensing@ark.media – we love seeing new videos and making them go viral!

Do I have to remove my video from my social media?

Absolutely not. We never ask content creators to remove their videos from their social channels as we find this to be extremely unfair.

As the content creator and the copyright holder of your video, you have the right to keep your video on our social media channels and post them on your own pages over and over as you wish.

We only manage the 3rd party enquiries that your video might attract so if someone gets in touch with you to license/use your video you would simply need to send this enquiry over to licensing@ark.media or let them know that the video is licensed by ARK Media so they can contact us.