
Here's the skinny on stock media licensing: there are a lot of license options out there, and the details can quickly get confusing. From Creative Commons to royalty-free, the different levels of licensing provide a vast array of protection to the people that download and use media.
But as a company using a stock media API, why would you care about correctly licensing the stock media you push through your platform? All you're doing is providing content to your end-users, not using stock media for your marketing or promotional material.
At the end of the day, licensing matters to everyone, even your company. By understanding the different types of licenses available, you're setting your end-users up for success and ensuring a better user experience. That's a win for them and a win for you (hello, brand loyalty).
Common License Types So, what's the scoop on different license types? Let us break it down for you.
Creative Commons (CC) Set-up to create easy-to-understand terms; this public copyright license gives end-users the ability to use images, video, or audio for non-commercial or non-monetized purposes. Customers must provide attribution to the creator of the media, and no edits can be made to the asset. Creation purposes and distribution of the stock content is also very limited.
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) A no rights reserved license, CC0 allows end-users to use creative content with no attribution to the creator. This effectively puts the stock asset into the public domain and can be used and distributed in any way.
Royalty-Free (RF) A popular license type, RF gives the ability to an individual to pay a flat fee for the asset with no royalties due to the content creator. You can use the content almost anywhere, through most channels (though some RF licenses set limitations). Often, you can provide this feature as an add-on in your platform (e.g., buy this clip for $1.99).
One thing to remember, if your end-user is an employee of a company, the rights for that asset don't lie with the company, they belong to the individual who purchased the content. This can get tricky if the employee leaves or if the distribution of the created asset goes beyond the scope of license coverage.
Extended/Enhanced Use This license goes beyond standard RF licensing terms by extending the ways end-users can use, distribute, and sell the content. When they buy stock content under Extended/Enhanced Use, they're getting more rights than any other mass license (the upgrade is a custom license that can get incredibly expensive and complex.) This license gives coverage to the company, not an individual, so customers can feel comfortable about distributing that content through whatever channel they want.
Why Licensing Matters The common element among licensing is general risk and liability; it outlines what's covered to help you or your end-users if any legal issues were to arise. When it comes to your platform, licensing can either improve or destroy your customer's experience.
With CC or CC0 licensing, end-users are often not covered to distribute images for commercial purposes - like if they download stock content with a model or likeness of a person, CC and CC0 often don't have the proper releases for it to be used for anything other than editorial purposes. Issues that arise from using CC or CC0 can lead to cease and desist letters, liabilities, and hefty indemnification fees, things that your customers aren't anticipating. This stress and confusion can lead to distrust of your platform, effectively hurting your relationship with end-users (goodbye, brand loyalty).
Through RF or Extended Licenses, your end-users are better covered; they're buying the rights to use that image in a full capacity. The downside to providing an RF purchase option in your platform is that it leads to a disjointed customer experience. They've already subscribed to your platform but have to stop their workflow to purchase the image, video, or audio clips they want. Extended licensing takes care of this disruption by giving the proper licensing across all stock content from a specific provider (simplified workflow, happier customers.)
Licensing with Storyblocks When you partner with Storyblocks, you can let go of licensing worries. We take care of that for you with our Extended License. It ensures that your end-users can create whatever they want and use it in whatever manner they choose. Give your customers the peace of mind to create with ease on your platform and learn more about Storyblocks Enterprise and our API options today.
Learn More
North America Stories
31/03/2026
MeyerPro delivered the LED production for the Microsoft Ignite 2025 keynote at Chase Center in San Francisco, using more than 2,700 ROE Visual panels across mul...
31/03/2026
The Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) is expanding membership outreach in 2026...
31/03/2026
ViewLift and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) have announced the launch of ViewLift Conversational AI Search on the MyOutdoorTV platform. The feature enables natural language...
31/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Gray Media have announced a multi-year agreement to simul...
31/03/2026
Gravity Media has delivered broadcast services for TAB Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens on March 21 and will now cover The Star Championships at Royal Ran...
31/03/2026
Synamedia has announced that Mileto Tecnologia, a Brazilian pay-TV operator, has selected the Synamedia Go platform for its OTT expansion. Mileto is also deploy...
31/03/2026
KMH Integration will attend NAB Show in Las Vegas with a focus on what the company calls AV Casting - an approach built on the idea that professional AV and bro...
31/03/2026
Prime Video will carry live coverage of the first and second rounds of the 2026 Masters Tournament, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 9 and Friday, A...
31/03/2026
The NHL and its U.S. and Canadian broadcast partners have announced a collaborat...
31/03/2026
Daktronics has partnered with Wake Forest to manufacture and install a new end z...
31/03/2026
The National Football League has announced that Las Vegas will host Super Bowl LXIII in 2029 at Allegiant Stadium. The announcement was made at the NFL Annual M...
31/03/2026
The NFL has announced a partnership with TMRW Sports to develop and operate a professional flag football league for women and men. The league will launch with i...
31/03/2026
Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bidirectional wireless system was used by bot...
31/03/2026
Sports Studio Inc., the company behind Free Live Sports, has announced the formation of an Advisory Board with five media and technology executives.
Each of o...
31/03/2026
PSSI and Appear have announced a new phase in their collaboration, with PSSI deploying Appear's X Platform to upgrade its mobile fleet and PSSI Internationa...
31/03/2026
As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...
31/03/2026
With two new expansion teams and viewership/attendance on the rise, the league's production/broadcast arm and its partner NEP Connected Solutions are busier...
31/03/2026
By Kiera Williams
Every year, a new group of emerging media and entertainment professionals steps into the HPA community - curious, talented, and ready to grow...
31/03/2026
MELBOURNE, Fla., March 31, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its first quarter 2026 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, A...
31/03/2026
Photo courtesy of NASA. An illustration shows NASA's Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars....
31/03/2026
L3Harris Technologies and Comtech Telecommunications Corp. have collaborated to introduce the next evolution in resilient multi-orbit capability for today's...
31/03/2026
Rebel Sport leads ad investment as brands compete for a large, active and qualit...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
CueScript, a leading international developer of professional teleprompting solutions, is enhancing its platform with three innovations that elevate flexibility,...
31/03/2026
#GALSNGEAR will host a series of meetups, panel discussions, and networking events during the 2026 NAB Show, taking place April 18 22 in Las Vegas.
The organi...
31/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth #N1328), Imagine Communications is introducing AI assisted scheduling capabilities within ...
31/03/2026
High-density upgrade for mobile fleet and PSSI International Teleport gives PSSI more flexibility for premium live event coverage
PSSI and Appear today announc...
31/03/2026
Solid State Logic Enhances Virtualized System T Platform to Deliver Scalable Clo...
31/03/2026
OWC to Showcase Storage, Workflow Acceleration, and Reliability Solutions for Cr...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
OpenDrives, a leader in software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions, will demonstrate several new innovations at the 2026 NAB Show in Apr...
31/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, SDVI will demonstrate how its Rally media supply chain management platform continues to give media operations teams the tools they need to...
31/03/2026
Boland Communications today announced that at the 2026 NAB Show, it will introduce its new QD4K315HDR10, a 31.5-inch QD-OLED monitor delivering exceptional colo...
31/03/2026
Dr. Paul Tapper, CEO of NUGEN Audio, will lead an essential industry discussion at the 2026 NAB Show, examining whether dialog intelligibility is poised to beco...
31/03/2026
BCNEXXT will use NAB 2026 to focus on how broadcasters can turn today's operational and market pressures into opportunity. Meeting with customers in the IAB...
31/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase its latest innovations at th...
31/03/2026
DHD announces that AI-based audio noise reduction is now available as a powerful new option for its XD3 IP Core. Developed in cooperation with ai-coustics, audi...
31/03/2026
PTZOptics will showcase its vision for intelligent video and advanced camera automation at NAB Show 2026 (#N1902). Through immersive demonstrations and technolo...
31/03/2026
Experience Commerce, a leading full-service digital marketing agency and part of the Cheil SWA Group, has secured the social media mandate for ICONIQA Hotels & ...
31/03/2026
Fabric, the entertainment industry's leader in data and operations solutions, will showcase a major expansion of its media technology platform at NAB 2026, ...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/03/2026
Boris FX Acquires Vegas Pro, Sound Forge, and Acid Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov March 30, 2026
0 Comments
The acclaimed VFX developer bolsters its award-w...
31/03/2026
Berklee India Exchange Presents Anirudh Varma Collective The collective will present a workshop on Hindustani classical music and a concert in collaboration w...
31/03/2026
CERAWeek - dubbed the Davos of energy - is where policymakers, producers, techno...
30/03/2026
Manifold Technologies, a Germany-based provider of cloud infrastructure for live broadcast production, will demonstrate support for 400GbE COTS FPGA accelerator...
30/03/2026
Boland Communications will introduce its QD4K315HDR10, a 31.5-inch QD-OLED monitor, at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C3519, April 18-22). The company is also introducing...
30/03/2026
PTZOptics will demonstrate its Move 4K PTZ cameras and Horizon web-based control platform at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1902).
Move 4K with Horizon is now available...