Chapter 34 · Money, rights and terms
Part 7 · Running the production
An AI production spends in small amounts, many times a day, at prices that moved several times in one month. It also hands a client's product, an actor's face and a composer's place to platforms whose terms few directors read. This chapter covers the two gates that guard those risks: what a job costs before you spend it, and what you may upload, ship and promise. It reads published terms on the dates given; it is not legal advice.
In this chapter
The three prices of a job, the quote on the day, and spending inside an approval
A dated table of planning prices, and how prices have moved
Higgsfield's terms, client material, stand-ins and real people
Voices, music and effects: what may ship, and the rights line for each
The client contract, the checks and the records
Before you start. Chapter 8 teaches the four gates, the rights class and the fields of the spending packet; Chapter 33 is the account, the quote and the ledger. This chapter is where money and rights are decided and signed.
34.1 Three figures for one job
Every paid job has three prices, and confusing them is how productions overspend.
The planning price comes from the dated table of 34.4 or a tool section's Limits, prices and rights. It is history: what the job cost when someone last asked or paid. Build budgets from it.
Today's quote is what the platform says the exact request will cost, asked the same day with its pictures attached, at no cost. Approve spending from it.
The charge is the line in the ledger after the job has run. Settle the budget from it.
Plan from the dated table, spend from today's quote, settle from the ledger. The table is history, the quote is today's price, and the ledger is what you paid.
Figure 34.1 — One job, three prices. The approval bar fills from the ledger, never from hope: the quote is reserved before the job runs, and the charge replaces it afterwards.
What a credit is worth. Higgsfield's blog of 6 Aug 2026 put 52 credits at $2.55, about five US cents a credit. Credits have no cash value and what one buys changes, so use dollars for orientation only. The Ultimate plan grants 1,200 credits a month and removes the unused balance at each reset (33.1).
Who decides. The director signs the packet and every rights decision; whoever operates the models quotes, spends inside the cap and settles from the ledger.
34.2 Checking the cost on the day
Quote before every paid job, on the day, on the exact request. Where a route has no cost query, keep whatever the platform shows and write down its limits. A remembered price is never presented as if observed today.
Quoting a job
Read the balance at the start of the session.
Build the exact request, with its pictures and sound attached as they will be sent.
Ask for the quote (get_cost: true, 33.6). The platform returns a figure and starts no job.
Record the exact figure, the time and the request it priced.
Check it against the approved cap before you submit.
Quote with the media attached. A different attachment can be a different job. A Seedance 1080p clip of 5 s quoted 45 credits with nothing attached and 60 with a start frame (11 to 20 Sep 2026); the cause is not known, so quote 1080p with your own frame.
Keep the exact figure. Record 6.25 and 18.15, not 6 and 18: the budget sums them.
Where no quote exists, keep what the platform shows. Sync Lipsync 3 refuses a quote; it charged 18.15 credits for a plate of about five seconds and a take of about 4.6 seconds on each of six passes on 12 Sep. A longer take is a new shape, and its first ledger line is the price found, inside a packet with a cap.
Quote each shape of a batch as a single request first. A quote is refused inside a batch and on lip sync, the video upscalers and the Motion Control wrapper; single image, video and audio requests and the image upscale quote (checked 27 and 28 Sep 2026).
A quote can fail once and work on retry. A Seedance quote returned "unknown model" and succeeded on the second try (11 Sep). Retry the quote; never send a real job to find out a price.
Leave unlimited and free generations alone. None was offered to the connector on 27 Sep; if one appears, the platform asks first, and the director decides.
34.3 Spending inside an approval
Chapter 8 (8.10) sets out the eleven fields of the spending packet and drafts it from the shot table. This section covers what happens between the signature and the ledger.
Template: the approval line and the ledger line (written for this book; not run)
Approval: [the director] on [date] · batch [name] · cap [credits] · ends [date, no later than the next reset] · retry allowance [n, on which failures] · "[the approval, in the director's words]"
Line: [date time] · [shot] · [attempt] · [model] · quote [x] · charged [y, from the ledger] · running total [z] / capWritten for this book · beauty and personal care · one packet's approval and ledger, at the planning prices of 27 Sep 2026 · not run
Example 34.1 — a cap that refuses the sixth line
Approval: the director on [date] · batch SERUM-T1 · cap 60 · ends [date before the reset] · retry allowance one unchanged re-roll per clip, none on stills · "Stop at the cap and ask."
Line: 10:02 · S01 · still v1 · nano_banana_pro 2k · quote 2 · charged 2 · running total 2 / 60
Line: 10:09 · S01 · still v2, one-change edit · quote 2 · charged 2 · running total 4 / 60
Line: 10:31 · S01m · clip a1 · kling3_0 std, 5 s, sound off · quote 6.25 · charged 6.25 · running total 10.25 / 60
Line: 10:48 · S01m · clip a2, the allowed re-roll · quote 6.25 · charged 6.25 · running total 16.5 / 60
Line: 11:20 · S03 · clip a1 · seedance 2.5, 720p, 5 s · quote 35 · charged 35 · running total 51.5 / 60
Line: 11:40 · S03 · clip a2 · quote 35 · 51.5 + 35 = 86.5 > 60 · not submitted · stop, record, askCopy the order: the approval first, then one line per job, each with its quote beside its charge, so the total is a sum of ledger figures.
Copy the last line: the sixth job is refused by arithmetic before it is sent, and the stop is recorded with a question for the director.
Copy the end date: it sits before the reset, so no batch straddles it.
Spend only inside an approval that names its scope, cap, retry allowance and end date. The end date is the month's end or earlier, because credits do not roll over. A count above one is several attempts and several charges. A cap is a stop, not a target: when a charge breaks it, stop, record it and ask.
The retry allowance is the director's number; the ladder decides what each retry changes. One unchanged re-roll comes first (variance is real), then a slower move, a stronger protection clause, one motion system instead of two, a re-phased move, a split shot, and last a return to the keyframe (14.16). A paid job beyond the allowance needs the director's yes.
Name the stop conditions as events, not counts: identity unconfirmed, a rights issue, a changed contract, the cap reached, three catastrophic failures in a row, two causes that cannot be separated. A shot that fails the same way after a change of diagnosis goes back a stage.
Nothing but the packet spends. Published helper skills that let a clear request authorise spending are not adopted. An assistant never tops up, accepts a billing prompt, opens a checkout, changes plan or spends an unlimited or free allowance. The connector's tools tell an assistant to call its recovery tool "immediately", and the spend gate overrides that (33.3).
Reconcile by job, never by the gap in the balance. Two assistants can spend from one account, and their charges sit in one feed; on 27 Sep a production's own ledger was found about 39 credits short of its approval file. Reconcile before each new packet and at each monthly scan.
Choose a route on cost last, and budget by true cost (8.10). Rule routes out on rights, capability, language, fidelity, editability, delivery and reliability, and compare cost only among the survivors. Report cost per accepted output, not per attempt.
A route earns the right to be a default by a protocol, not a lucky take. Pilot three, confirm ten: name one condition (a task, a route, an asset class, a duration); run three outputs under a packet of their own and stop if fewer than one is usable; if it is promising, run ten under a new packet with a hard cap, keeping every output, retry, cost and failure; judge the whole batch against thresholds fixed beforehand. The proposed thresholds are eight of ten free of critical defects for a high-risk default (identity, product, text, dialogue) and seven of ten technically usable for a general one. No such batch has been run on this platform: hold them as proposals.
34.4 Planning prices, dated
These are what a job cost on one account (the Ultimate plan, through the connector) when someone last asked or paid. None says what a job should cost: the quote on the day decides, and where a maker publishes a price list, the list outranks a remembered figure. "Quoted" means a price check with no job; "charged" means a ledger line. Each tool's Limits, prices and rights section gives its full list.
Model and shape | Credits | Basis |
Nano Banana Pro, 1k · 2k · 4k, 16:9 | 2 · 2 · 4 | quoted 27 Sep 2026; references add nothing |
GPT Image 2.5, Flare, high, 2k, 16:9 | 2.75 | quoted 27 Sep; 5.5 on 11 Sep, 3 on 17 Sep |
Seedance 2.5, 5 s, 720p · 480p | 35 · 15 | charged 20 to 27 Sep; earlier 32.5 · 12.5 |
Seedance 2.5, 5 s, 1080p | 45 or 60 | quoted 11 to 20 Sep (34.2) |
Kling 3.0 standard, 5 s, sound off · sound on | 6.25 · 8.75 | charged 12 to 27 Sep; quoted 27 Sep |
Kling 3.0 pro, 5 s, sound off · 4k | 7.5 · 30 | quoted 17 to 21 Sep |
Wan 3.0, 5 s: 480p · 720p · 1080p | 5 · 8.75 · 17.5 | quoted 27 Sep; 720p charged 12 Sep |
Veo 3.1 fast · Lite, 4 s · 8 s | 16 · 32 and 6 · 12 | quoted 27 Sep |
MiniMax H3, 2K, 5 s · 10 s | 10 · 20 | quoted 27 Sep; every video in a batch is billed |
Sync Lipsync 3, one pass (plate about 5 s, take about 4.6 s) | 18.15 | charged six times, 12 Sep; no quote possible |
A lip-synced speaking shot costs its plate plus the pass: a Kling standard plate with sound on, 8.75 + 18.15, about 26.9 credits; a Seedance 720p plate, 35 + 18.15, about 53.2. A Seedance shot that re-performs the take needs no pass: 35 credits for five seconds at 720p.
Off the platform, in the makers' own money:
Item | Price | Basis |
ElevenLabs speech, API: Eleven v3 · Flash and Turbo | $0.08 · $0.04 per 1,000 characters | pricing page, 30 Sep 2026 |
Eleven v4, API | $0.08 listed; $0.022 introductory until 12 Oct 2026 | pricing page, 30 Sep |
Eleven Music · sound effects, API | $0.15 · $0.12 a minute | pricing page, 30 Sep |
Suno Pro · Premier | $8 · $24 a month billed yearly; 20 · 60 downloads | pricing page, 30 Sep (no date shown) |
Sync Lipsync 3 at the maker | $0.1066 to $0.1334 a second, by plan | pricing page, 30 Sep (no date shown) |
How prices moved. Seedance at 720p rose from 6.5 to 7 credits a second between 17 and 20 Sep. Kling standard for five seconds was billed 6.25 one morning and 8.75 later the same day on what the notes called one request: the second job had run with sound on. Nano Banana Pro, Sync Lipsync 3 and Wan 3.0 did not move in September. Check the arithmetic of every planned figure: an approval note gave "42 credits (6.5 a second)" for six seconds, but 42 over six seconds is 7 a second. A planned shape is not a run shape: a probe planned at 10 credits as a four-second text-to-video job ran as a five-second reference job at 12.5.
34.5 Higgsfield's terms, for a client job
This book is not legal advice. What follows, to the end of the chapter, is a plain reading of published terms, policies and makers' pages by non-lawyers, on the dates given. Terms change, and the law where you work may apply them differently: before a job with real stakes, have your contracts and releases checked by a lawyer.
Higgsfield's terms of use are dated 26 Jul 2026 and have bound every account since 27 Aug 2026 (re-read 30 Sep 2026, unchanged). The clause-by-clause reading is in 33.9; this is what it means for the work. Save a dated copy with every project: for material changes the platform promises only "reasonable advance notice".
Permission, ownership and protection are three questions. The terms answer the first two: you may use and hand on what you generate, advertising and broadcast included, and Higgsfield claims no ownership. Whether copyright protects a generated output is decided by the law of each country: in the EU it needs a human author's own intellectual creation, so protection depends on the human control that went into the work (direction, selection, compositing, the edit), and that is unsettled. The terms add: "Other users may receive an Output that is similar or possibly identical to yours." Never promise a client exclusivity.
Everything you upload can train Higgsfield's models, and only Enterprise stops it. On the plans read (Ultimate, Team, Scale) no setting turns training off, and deleting content stops future training only. That is why 34.6 keeps client material off the platform.
Every upload carries your promise that you hold the rights, releases and consents it needs, for a face or a voice included. Higgsfield performs no clearance: "You are solely responsible for conducting any necessary rights clearances". Keep full names and personal details out of prompts; use code names.
Do not strip provenance marks, and do not present output as human-made. The terms bar both. A finishing chain often strips metadata, and whether that counts as removing a mark is unclear: never remove one on purpose, and put labelling in the client contract (34.11).
What an assistant does counts as yours, and the risk sits with you. The service is provided as is, its liability to you is capped (33.9), and it may retire any model at any time: archive masters and anchors (10.2), prompts, settings and references locally.
Enterprise is the only contract that changes this. Its page (checked 30 Sep 2026) says Enterprise "never trains models on your data", under "a contractual no-train guarantee", with "contract-backed indemnification"; it sells annual contracts sized to seats and volume and states no minimum. Ask when a brief justifies it (an unreleased product, celebrity talent) and pass the cost on. If it is refused, run the confidential stages offline, or on a model maker's own paid service whose terms exclude training (verify each first).
34.6 Client material and stand-ins
Before the first upload of any client, talent or unreleased material, classify it (the rights class of 8.2). This book's default is stricter than the platform's terms, for one reason: an upload can train a model, and nothing below Enterprise lets you stop that. No Higgsfield clause forbids the upload. The limit is the director's, and a client may set it in writing.
Before the first upload
Turn off "Auto-publish new generations" (Manage Account, Personal Profile). Where you choose no level of access, the service "may default to its most permissive setting". Never publish client work or enter it in a contest.
Classify each asset: public, yours, or released with the client's written agreement. Record its owner, its permitted purpose and whether it may train a model.
Upload only those. Everything else becomes a stand-in.
Use code names in prompts, and save the dated terms to the project.
Upload freely, with the client's written agreement: products, packaging and logos already public; your own photographs and locations; synthetic characters; talent with an AI-specific release. Keep off the platform, or anonymise: unreleased or embargoed products and campaigns; confidential scripts; real people without an AI release, above all minors, celebrities and voice samples; third-party brands; stock images whose licence bars AI tools.
Anonymise in post, not in the model. Put a plain jar of the same shape on the platform, call it "the jar" in the prompt, and composite the real pack in post (10.11). Generated resemblance is not clearance. Strip GPS and camera data from photographs before you upload them.
Upload a face or a voice only with a release that covers AI use, processing outside the EU and platform training. Consent to be filmed is not enough: the upload goes to a US platform, is processed by model makers elsewhere, and can train the platform's models. The gate applies to every upload, whoever presses the button.
Figure 34.2 — The upload check. An unreleased pack becomes a stand-in; a face or voice without a wide enough release stops the job until the release exists.
After delivery, archive masters and anchors, prompts, settings and references locally, delete the client's material from the platform, and keep the dated terms with the project.
34.7 Real people, and the references you attach
A real person's face or voice is where the rights gate is hardest to undo: a frame cannot be un-shown, and a platform that has trained on an upload cannot un-train. 10.8 teaches the craft. This section is the decision, the protocol and the makers' limits.
The forensic layer is always written, with a name or without one; it is the likeness engine. The name is a project rights decision, ratified on 18 Jul 2026 as the article on actor-anchor scoping (printed in 10.8): natural for a historical reconstruction, off by default for branded and commercial work. Write it once per project, before the first prompt.
Template: the name-anchor decision (written for this book; not run)
Name anchor · [project] · person: [name] · living or deceased: [ ] · work: [period reconstruction / private / branded or commercial] · decision: [off | on, inside the locked clause, beside the forensic layer] · rights basis: [release | estate's release | counsel's written view] · photographs, if living: [the approved set, each with its source and consent] · decided by [the director] on [date]A blank rights basis means the answer is "off". A name never travels alone: when it is on, it sits inside the locked clause with the forensic facts beside it. A dead person's name in a private reconstruction is a question for counsel.
Figure 34.3 — Three cases of a real person's likeness. The forensic layer is never in question; the name is.
The Real-Person Protocol, for a living person as themselves
The release comes first. It names the person, the project, the uses (AI generation, platform training, every platform the material is uploaded to) and the period.
The consented photographs are the only identity source, each with its source and consent on record.
No name in the prompt. Every facial clause defers to the approved set.
Frame to protect the likeness, and check every result against the photographs.
Any drift is a hard fail. No ladder and no retry on a real face: stop, and go back to the photographs.
Name the human sign-off: the subject or the family signs the frame before it becomes an anchor or feeds any motion.
The rule underneath is one sentence: "Do not create or use a real-person likeness or voice without documented authority for the exact purpose and route." A release for one film does not cover another, and a release for a face does not cover a voice.
The makers' policies are conditions of using their models, on top of your promises to Higgsfield. These are dated readings, not summaries of the law; each page was re-read on 30 Sep 2026 except the last, whose text did not load.
Maker and page | What it says about real people | Dated |
Higgsfield, terms of use | no Output that "depicts them without permission or legal justification" | 26 Jul 2026 |
Google, Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy | bars "Impersonating an individual (living or dead) without explicit disclosure, in order to deceive" | last modified 17 Dec 2024 |
OpenAI, usage policies | bars "use of someone's likeness, including their photorealistic image or voice, without their consent in ways that could confuse authenticity" | effective 29 Oct 2025 |
ElevenLabs, Prohibited Use Policy | bars replicating another person's voice without consent or legal right (34.8) | updated 17 Aug 2026 |
ByteDance (BytePlus), Seedance 2.5 tutorial | "Seedance 2.5 does not support directly uploading reference images or videos containing real human faces"; it offers its own trusted outputs, preset digital characters and authorised real-person assets | read 28 Sep 2026 |
Read each policy whole before a rights call. Whether Higgsfield's connector applies ByteDance's real-face block on Seedance is not known (17.9); a refused upload is a stop, not a puzzle to get around. Kling's, Alibaba's (Wan) and MiniMax's usage policies were not read on 30 Sep: read them before a client final rests on those models. Record every consent as you would a spend: who, for what, when, and the file it covers, in the run record (8.7).
34.8 Voices: what may ship
21.6 orders who may speak in a client final: a person who signed; a clone of that person only, never a clone of a library voice or a public clip; a library voice for casting, screening and animatics, entering a final only on its four conditions; a designed or converted voice as an audition. Egyptian and Saudi dialogue always comes from a voice actor or ElevenLabs. The maker's clauses on cloning and the Voice Library are in 23.9. What the money and rights gates add is below.
A paid plan carries the commercial licence; the free plan does not; a beta feature is excluded. ElevenLabs' help page (checked 30 Sep 2026): "All paid plans include a commercial license, provided you're not using Beta Services." "The free plan does not include a commercial license and cannot be used for any commercial purpose." Content made with Beta Services "cannot be used for any commercial purpose or in any production environment". The page lists no Beta Services. Eleven v4 was announced on 28 Sep 2026 and its documentation does not call it a beta, but whether v4 or any voice feature you use is a Beta Service is not known: ask ElevenLabs in writing before a final rests on it, and record the model on every take.
The policy bars deceptive replication: "creating or using ElevenLabs audio output to intentionally replicate the voice of another person: a) without consent or legal right", and "c) in a manner intended to deceive others about whether the voice was generated by artificial intelligence" (17 Aug 2026).
Data follows the account, not the voice. ElevenLabs' terms of service (31 Mar 2026) let you opt out of training on your content in the "Data use" menu; Higgsfield has no such switch below Enterprise (34.5), so upload a real person's voice there only with a release that covers training.
34.9 Music and sound effects
Know, for every file, what its source allows before a client mix. Each generator's section gives its terms in full (Suno 26.9, Eleven Music 27.9, the effect generators 28.9, ElevenLabs effects 23.9); this is what the director decides.
Suno (terms revised 10 Aug 2026, effective 3 Sep; checked 30 Sep 2026). Permission to use a song and ownership of it are different things.
Make client music on a paid plan from the first generation, and download only the candidate you choose. Commercial use follows a permitted download on Pro or Premier; free-tier outputs and trial downloads are not for commercial use, and nothing read says an upgrade changes a free-plan origin.
Copyright is not part of the bargain. Suno gives no warranty that any copyright will vest in an output. Tell the client in writing; an exclusive score needs a composer or a library. Never call a Suno cue "cleared": the platform where it plays has terms of its own.
Never use a remix, never remove the fingerprint or watermark, and never record or stream-rip an output.
What you upload, Suno keeps, under a licence that reaches your likeness and voice. Upload only what you own and would upload to Higgsfield.
Eleven Music (model-specific terms updated 26 May 2026; checked 30 Sep 2026). A self-serve plan does not cover film, TV or radio; only Enterprise Music lifts that. The self-serve tiers are "For Individual Use Only", which the terms do not define, so whether a commissioned client film counts is not known. The terms cover the music_v1 and music_v2 families, subversions included; the current Music 2.5 (music_v2_5) is not named, and ElevenLabs may designate a subversion a new Version. Free requires attribution and permits no downloads, and some client sectors are barred (27.9). For anything beyond online, ask ElevenLabs in writing and put the answer in the rights line. The product page's "cleared for nearly all commercial uses, from film and television" is marketing: the terms win.
Sound effects. An ElevenLabs effect on a paid plan is licensed unless it is a Beta Service, and is not exclusive, so it is never a signature sound (23.9); record the plan and the date. A Firefly effect waits for a contract clause on audio outputs, and a Stable Audio 3 effect is yours under the Community License below the revenue threshold (28.9). A library file carries its own licence: write it on the row. Never upload client-confidential material to a generator whose terms you have not read.
34.10 The rights line, and what may ship
Write a rights line for every voice, cue and effect when you source it, and re-read the terms of each generated source before the mix. The source class travels with the take in the run record and in this line. This line is the one: the cue, sound-effect and music sections (Chapters 25 to 28) and the voice work use its fields, in this order.
Template: the rights line (written for this book; not run)
[file or cue id] · kind [voice / cue / effect] · source class [actor recording / consenting clone / library voice / designed / converted / generated cue / generated effect / library file] · maker and product [ ] · plan [ ] · model [id, as recorded] · medium [online / TV / film / radio / games] · generated [date] · downloaded [date, on which plan] · uploads [none / file, origin] · terms read [page, date, saved copy] · consent [record, scope] · ships [yes / no / pending, and what it waits for]Written for this book · food and drink · three rights lines for a 30 s iced-hibiscus film, each written before its file exists · not run
Example 34.2 — a voice, a cue and an effect, each with its line
hibiscus_L3_take05 · voice · consenting clone (the actor's own Professional Voice Clone, verified on her account, shared to ours) · ElevenLabs app · plan [name] · model [id, as recorded] · online · generated [date] · downloaded [date, on which plan] · uploads none · terms read help-page licence text, terms of service (31 Mar 2026), saved [date] · consent signed release [reference]: her voice, this project, AI generation and every platform it is uploaded to, period [dates] · ships pending her recording
hibiscus_cue02_B_v1 · cue · generated cue · Suno, song generator · plan Pro · model v6 · online · generated [date] · downloaded [date] on Pro · uploads none · terms read Suno terms (effective 3 Sep 2026), saved [date] · consent n/a · ships yes, once the client has been told in writing that no copyright is warranted
hibiscus_ice_pour_v1 · effect · generated effect · ElevenLabs sound effects · plan [name] · model [id, as recorded] · online · generated [date] · downloaded [date, on which plan] · uploads none · terms read [page, date, saved copy] · consent n/a · ships pending the terms readCopy the shape: source class, medium, then the terms read with a saved copy: the three things a client's lawyer asks for.
Copy the last field: "pending" is a real answer, and each line says what it waits for.
Material | In a client final? |
A consenting actor's recording; a clone of that actor made under the release | yes |
A library voice take, or a clip that re-performs one | screening only; a final needs the four conditions |
A clone of a library voice or a public clip; a Higgsfield preset voice or one-shot clone | never; no (English scratch only) |
A Voice Design voice; a converted take | an audition until a native ear passes it; a converted take also needs consent from the source performer and for the target voice |
A Suno cue downloaded on Pro or Premier, with its line | yes; the client told in writing that no copyright is warranted |
A Suno cue with a free-plan ancestor, a trial download, a remix or a recorded stream | no |
An Eleven Music cue on a self-serve plan · on Enterprise Music | online only · all commercial use, with the model's terms in writing |
An ElevenLabs effect on a paid plan; a Stable Audio 3 effect | yes, unless a Beta Service; yes below the revenue threshold |
A Firefly effect; a library file; a file whose origin you cannot state | not until Adobe's terms are read; on its own licence, written on the row; removed |
34.11 What to put in the client contract
Each point answers a clause that puts risk on you. The book's default is to add all seven to every client contract.
AI use. The client knows the job uses AI platforms that may keep material and train on it.
Client materials. The client warrants what it supplies and marks anything confidential; confidential items stay off platforms that train on uploads (on Higgsfield, anything below Enterprise).
Talent releases cover AI likeness and voice, processing outside the EU, and platform training.
No exclusivity. Outputs are not guaranteed exclusive or unique, and a generated cue carries no copyright warranty.
Clearance and labelling. The client handles final clearance and AI labelling. The European Commission's guidance on the AI Act's transparency rules (a page dated 24 Jul 2026, checked 30 Sep) says that from 2 August 2026 deployers must disclose a deepfake "upon first exposure at the latest" and "in a clear and distinguishable manner", and that for "evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional or analogous works or programmes" the duty is "limited to the disclosure of the deepfake content in an appropriate manner that does not hamper the display or enjoyment of the work". Whether a commissioned advertisement is an evidently creative work, and who must disclose (advertiser, agency or producer), are unsettled, so the contract allocates the duty.
Takedowns. If a platform takes something down or withdraws a model, your only duty is to rework.
Liability. Your liability is capped at the fee, and the client indemnifies you for its materials.
34.12 The gates, the records and where each answer lives
The spend gate opens on a signed packet and the quote of the day. The rights gate opens on a class for every asset, a release for every face and voice, and a rights line for every sound. No other approval opens either.
Money and rights, in order
Before a paid session: the packet signed, with a cap and an end date within the month; the balance read; the ledger reconciled by job.
Before each job: today's quote on the exact request, media attached; the quote plus what is settled inside the cap.
Before an upload: Auto-publish off; every asset classified; public, yours or released, or a stand-in; every face and voice released for AI use and training; a written decision wherever a real name is used.
Before delivery: a rights line for every voice, cue and effect, its terms read and saved; no library voice unless all four conditions hold; the client told what is synthetic; the seven contract points in place.
After delivery: masters and anchors, prompts, settings and references archived; the client's material deleted from the platform; the dated terms filed.
Every month: the terms and policies re-read against the dates in 34.4 to 34.9 and in each tool's Limits, prices and rights (N.9).
Records this stage writes: the packet with its approval line; a ledger line per job, beside the quote and charge fields of the run record (8.7); the rights class of every asset (8.2); the name-anchor decision; a rights line per voice, cue and effect; the dated copy of the terms; the contract points as agreed.
To find | Go to |
A model's price, limits and terms | its Limits, prices and rights: 11.9 Nano Banana Pro, 12.9 GPT Image 2.5, 16.9 Kling, 17.9 Seedance, 18.9 Wan, 19.9 Veo and MiniMax, 23.9 ElevenLabs, 24.9 Sync Lipsync 3, 26.9 Suno, 27.9 Eleven Music, 28.9 effect generators, 32.9 Premiere |
The account, the quote and the ledger · the rights class and the packet | Chapter 33 · 8.2 and 8.10 |
A real person · the voice · where music comes from | 10.8 · Chapter 21 · Chapter 25 |
Open questions that change what you do
Seedance at 1080p: 45 or 60 credits, and why. Two quotes on the day, with and without the start frame, settle it.
Prices not yet quoted: Seedance edit, extension, video input and audio-only; Kling Omni Edit; any 15 s shape; the video upscalers. The first ledger line is the price, inside a packet with a cap.
Library voices in advertising, Eleven v4 as a possible Beta Service, and Eleven Music 2.5 for a commissioned film (a new Version or not, and what "individual use" means): ElevenLabs' texts are silent or unclear. Ask in writing before a final rests on any of them.
For a lawyer: copyright in generated work; portrait rights and consent wording; a dead public figure's name in a reconstruction; whether a commissioned advertisement is an evidently creative deepfake, and who must disclose it.
What to remember
Plan from the dated table, spend from today's quote, settle from the ledger. Every price is a dated observation.
Spend is a gate: every paid batch has a signed packet with a cap, a retry allowance, stop conditions and an end date. An assistant never tops up or accepts a billing prompt.
Quote the exact request on the day with its media attached, and keep the exact figure. Reconcile by job against the ledger.
Higgsfield claims no ownership of outputs, but everything you upload can train its models and only Enterprise stops it. Never promise exclusivity.
Public, yours, or released with the client's written agreement: upload. Anything else is a stand-in, and the real thing goes in post.
Write the forensic layer always. Decide a real name in writing. A living person is a release and consented photographs, no name, and no tolerance for drift.
The voice in a final is a person who signed, or that person's own clone. A library voice is for screening unless all four conditions hold.
Every voice, cue and effect in a final has a rights line. Suno: a permitted download on a paid plan, and no copyright warranty. Eleven Music on a self-serve plan: not film, TV or radio, and not the Free plan for client work. Unread licences stay out.
Seven points go into every client contract.
Next: Chapter 35 · Mastorna
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