The three variables

  • Term. A licence for two years returns to you afterwards; a perpetual licence stays gone. Price the difference.
  • Territory. Worldwide costs more than one country, and splitting territories lets the same work earn several times.
  • Use. Broadcast, paid advertising, merchandise and adaptation are separate permissions. Granting them together is a choice; granting them by accident is a loss.

Keep exclusivity separate from all three: an exclusive licence closes the same market to everyone else, including you, and should be priced accordingly.

Formats

A format — the recognisable structure of a show or series — is licensed rather than sold, usually with a bible describing how it runs. Copyright protects the expression rather than the bare idea, so a documented format with scripts, graphics and rules is far easier to defend than a concept described in a meeting.

Withholding on royalties

Royalties from abroad can arrive with tax already deducted at source. Treaties reduce or remove it: for recipients in the Netherlands the American rate on royalties reaches zero, as set out in US withholding. Lodge the residence form with every paying party and diarise its expiry.

Where the rights belong

Rights held personally are hard to transfer and awkward to price. Held inside the holding, they sit apart from operating risk, they can be licensed to your own operating company on ordinary terms, and they travel with a sale — the mechanics are in selling your channel or brand.

A multi-year lower customary salary agreed with the tax authority, combined with borrowing up to €500,000 from your own BV, saves roughly €18,000 to €20,000 a year in the growth phase. Licensing income spread over years makes the salary arrangement more valuable rather than less: how creators pay less tax.