Decide what you are buying
- Reach on the creator’s audience: buy a post. You get one specific post, in a specific format, live for an agreed minimum period, with disclosure.
- Content for your own channels: buy a likeness license (and production if you need it made). The license names your channels, territory and term.
- Both: book both lines in one quote. Buying one never implies the other.
Plan a campaign
- Write the brief: product, message, deliverables, where the content will run and dates.
- Shortlist creators whose exclusions and limits fit the brief.
- Compare rates line by line: what each includes, and what is quoted separately (paid ads, exclusivity, longer terms).
- Set approval steps: script before production, final file before release.
- Measure with what you can verify: the post itself and its metrics. Views are counts, not unique people.
Disclosure basics
In the US, the FTC expects creators to clearly disclose a material connection to a brand, such as payment or free product. Platforms also have their own branded-content and AI-content labels. Posts booked on ICONS include the required disclosures, and the creator posts the approved file on their own account.
How pricing works
Each creator sets their own rates and every line on their profile says what it includes. ICONS suggests starting rates when a creator joins (post rates come from the creator’s typical recent views; with fewer than 5 comparable recent posts a post is quote-only), and the creator accepts or edits them before anything is public.
A brand’s total is itemised: the likeness license, any posts, any extra rights (paid ads, exclusivity, a longer term or a wider territory), the production price and the ICONS platform fee. The platform fee is charged to the brand, never taken from the creator’s rate; the pilot default is 15% of the license, post, extra-rights and creator- or agency-production fees, and it is not applied to the price of ICONS-produced content, tax or refunds (see the Terms).
Requests are free. Nothing is charged until every party has signed the exact quote. Each part is paid out to the creator when it is earned, and 20% of posting pay is held until the post has stayed live for the agreed period (30 days by default).
Consent, verification and safety
- Identity, age and authority over the listed accounts are checked before any paid work. Brands see that the check passed, never the documents.
- The creator personally signs the likeness consent for each campaign. An agency can negotiate terms it is authorised for, but it cannot sign the consent for the creator.
- Scripts are approved before anything is generated, previews are watermarked, and only the exact approved final file is released.
- No general AI model training, no reusable likeness or voice models without a separate written consent, and no perpetual license by default.
- Imported audience numbers are labelled as imported, with their source and age. Views are counts, not unique people, and reach is never guaranteed.
Where it is today
Status: ICONS is an invite-led US pilot for verified adults (18+) and non-explicit commercial campaigns, priced in US dollars. Payments, e-signatures and identity checks are live: brands pay through Stripe, and creators are paid through Stripe after the work is verified.