What Percentage Do Influencer Agencies Take?
What is the percentage of commission that agencies take from a social media influencer? If you are an influencer and you are interested in establishing a relationship with an agency or an agent, there will be an influencer agency managment contract that you have to sign. And then this contract is going to dictate the terms of their relationship. In a normal management contract, it’s going to state how long it lasts, how it can be terminated, what happens if there’s a dispute, the responsibilities of both parties, and then obviously what’s the payment structure between the influencer and the agent. Normally, most management influencer management agreements is a percentage commission for whatever the manager brings to the influencer.
And a normal percentage is around 20%. Certainly, can be less, can be more, but 20% is about an average. Now, a couple of considerations: in almost every influencer management agreement, it will likely be exclusive, which means the influencer will not be able to have other managers out there, meaning, you can’t have five managers going out and finding you deals and then bringing them back to you and then you decide which one you want to go with. It’s going to be an exclusive relationship. Meaning, the agent/manager is going to be the only person who can facilitate the sponsorship opportunities for the influencer. Even if a friend, family member, another influencer, or a company reaches out to the influencer directly, even if your current agent has absolutely nothing to do with the deal, the contract is going to state that you still have to give them the deal to negotiate, and then you’re going to have to pay them a percentage of commission no whether they had anything to do to originate the deal or not.
Now, there may be some wiggle room in that scenario, but for the most part, no reputable agent is going to provide a management contract to an influencer without language like that. There also is going to be language that states after the contract terminates, the influencer is still going to have to pay the percentage of the commission back to the agent for a period. For instance, let’s say you’re in fitness and you have a deal with an apparel company. Other topics of interest include:
Your agent brought it to you and negotiated the deal. Even if you terminate the relationship with that agent, they’re still going to get their 20% of that apparel deal for, normally a year after the contract is terminated. Most agents are not interested in bringing deals to an influencer, and then the influencer is terminating the relationship, taking the deal, and then avoiding having to pay any of the commission to the agent. That’s why the language in the contract will dictate that it’s likely you’re going to have to pay the agent even if you no longer work with them anymore. There are some strategies in either lessening the amount of time or the rate that you must pay them. But that’s all part of negotiating the management agreement prior to signing it. So, that’s a little bit about how much an influencer must pay their agent.
Is it a reasonable amount? Certainly, if the agent is good, if they know what they’re doing, it can be a career changer for some influencers to have the right management in place.
Influencer Management Contract Questions?
Contract Review, Termination Issues, and more!
