07.18
As a working music photographer I am finding it increasingly frustrating that some musicians are demanding that I sign away all rights to the photos I take, even though the musician is not my client.
The normal procedure is that I obtain a photo pass to shoot an act, I am shooting the act for a publication or agency (sometimes more than one) – that publication or agency is my client. Part of my agreement with any client I shoot live music photos for is that I retain copyright to the images.
Musicians are very much aware of protecting their work, yet many in the music industry are showing an utter lack of respect for the artistic work created by photographers in wanting a photographer to relinquish their right of ownership without any compensation at all.
Unfortunately a number of musicians are now demanding that photographers sign agreements that include clauses like:
I hereby acknowledge that you shall own all rights in the Photos, including the copyrights therein and thereto, and accordingly, I hereby grant, transfer, convey and assign to you all right, title and interest throughout the universe in perpetuity, including, without limitation, the copyright (and all renewals and extensions thereof), in and to the Photos. I agree that you shall have the right to exploit all or a part of the Photos in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised, throughout the universe, in perpetuity, in all configurations as you determine, without obtaining my consent and without any payment or consideration therefor. I understand that you will give me appropriate “photo credit” where possible. I understand further that all aspects of said “photo credit” shall be determined by you in your sole discretion and that failure to accord said “photo credit” shall not be deemed a breach of any obligation, express or implied. I will, upon request, execute, acknowledge and deliver to you such additional documents as you may deem necessary to evidence and effectuate your rights hereunder, and I hereby grant to you the right as attorney-in-fact to execute, acknowledge, deliver and record in the U.S. Copyright Office or elsewhere any and all such documents if I shall fail to execute same within five (5) days after so requested by you.
You warrant and undertake that the Photographs (in whole or in part) shall not form, either directly or indirectly, the content of any publication other than the Publication(s), whether published by the above publication(s) (including in any associated publication of such publication(s) listed above) or by any third party (i.e. no syndication rights are granted).
Photographer warrants and represents that he will not use any of the Photographs except as specifically allowed in this Agreement. In the event Photographer uses or authorizes the use of the photographs in breach of this Agreement, in each such breaching instance the photographer shall pay Artist $30,000. In the event Photographer grants the right to use the Photographs to any third party without first procuring Artist’s prior written consent in each instance, Artist shall have the right to injunctive relief against Photographer and the third party to whom Photographer granted the unauthorized rights.
Liquidated Damages. Notwithstanding anything else contained in this Agreement to the contrary, in the event you breach this Agreement and/or use or permit any third party to use, directly or indirectly, any Photographs for any purpose other than that authorized hereunder, the parties agree that Company shall be entitled to a sum of One Million United States Dollars (U.S. $1,000,000.00). The parties agree that One Million United States Dollars (U.S. $1,000,000.00) is a reasonable measure of Company’s and Artist’s damages considering all of the circumstances existing on the date of this Agreement, including the relationship of such sum to the range of harm to Company and Artist that could be reasonably anticipated and the likelihood that proof of actual damages would be costly or inconvenient. By executing this Agreement and initialing below, you specifically confirm the accuracy of the statements made above and the fact that you understand the consequences of this liquidated damages provision.
The problem with these “agreements” (a term I use advisedly) is that they:
- No right of negotiation on the agreements – if you don’t sign you don’t shoot (and therefore don’t get paid by your client)
- Expecting the photographer to give undertakings on behalf of a publication
- Limiting ownership and rights of what the photographer can do with the photographs
- Many of these releases force photographers to sign over the copyright to their photos even though the entity wanting the copyright is not the client of the photographer and they are not paying the photographer for their work
- Interfering with contractual arrangements between the photographer and their client
- Photographers generally do not receive copies of the releases in advance; they are generally presented at the venue when you turn up to shoot the show
- A photographer can be held liable for a sizeable amount of money for the actions of others
I’d love to hear from some of those within the music industry why these agreements with photographers are necessary. Why does a band like Coldplay demand to own the photos I take of them, even though I am not working for Coldplay? It’s an absurd situation and smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order as musicians on the whole are very protective on protecting the rights to their work.
I like the piece about this on aphotoeditor.com
Some examples of these “agreements” can be seen by clicking on the links below:
I think that bringing this up to the public is great, but highly unoriginal.
No one had the balls to bring it up until recently, when it should have been brought up a long time ago. Now its just the fad to write a article about it, just to bring more traffic to your sites. I just wish that these articles were written not just to bring traffic. Your site is the third site within the last few days writing about this.
bob, you’re entitled to your opinion.
This is an issue that is dear to my heart and over the last couple of years I have raised this matter before in many different forums and actively lobbied people to effect some change.
It’s an uphill battle and it is probably a lost cause but I’m going to keep chipping away.
If you think the reason I wrote this post is to increase website traffic you are mistaken and I feel it detracts from the issue at hand.
Thanks for the post. I think the reason there’s been more blogging/publicity about this is that the agreements are so much worse this touring season than last – if thats’ even possible. For the past few years, they’d claim the right to use your image and ry to restrict where you could use it. It’s only been in the past three months that I’ve seen waivers that ask for photographers to completely give up all copyright claims throughout the universe for the rest of time.
It’s an important issue, and the more people blog about it, talk about it and raise awareness, the better.
The more people that post about this the better. I complained about it over a year ago and it cost me a fair bit in terms of access to more bands but I don’t regret it. Everyone needs to make as much noise as they can.
[...] is another site, Black Shadow photography who also talks about this issue and links to other contracts from bands. After reading some of the [...]