diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8e443427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2017 Contributors
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 130e312d..17529c65 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 > – [egghead.io](https://egghead.io/lessons/javascript-how-to-write-a-javascript-library-automating-releases-with-semantic-release)
 
 [![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/semantic-release/semantic-release](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/semantic-release/semantic-release?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
+[![license](https://img.shields.io/github/license/semantic-release/semantic-release.svg)](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release/blob/master/LICENSE)
 [![semantic-release](https://img.shields.io/badge/%20%20%F0%9F%93%A6%F0%9F%9A%80-semantic--release-e10079.svg)](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release)
 [![js-standard-style](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20style-standard-brightgreen.svg?style=flat)](https://github.com/feross/standard)
 [![Commitizen friendly](https://img.shields.io/badge/commitizen-friendly-brightgreen.svg)](http://commitizen.github.io/cz-cli/)