Foo Fighters

Taylor Swift Does Right By Photographers, Amends Heavily Restrictive Photo Contract

Jul 22, 2015 by Tiffany Mueller 3 Comments

About a month ago, the internet went flipped out when Jason Seldon called Taylor Swift out on her hypocritical and impossibly restrictive photo contract. This in turn spurred debates as more photographers and photo editors for the press began outing other similarly restrictiveness contracts from artists like the Foo Fighters.

Once National Press Photography Association lawyer (and the photography industry’s unsung hero) Mickey Osterreicher, got wind of the Swift story, he immediately went to work to remedy the situation. Osterreicher, along with a team of 13 other industry professionals went to the bargaining table against Ms. Swift.[Read More…]

Concert Photographer: Where Did Your Integrity Go? (Or How Concert Photographers Handle Contracts In Norway)

Jul 7, 2015 by Jarle H. Moe 3 Comments

The last couple of weeks, the matter of photo contracts once again has been debated. First came Jason Sheldon’s blog post, calling Taylor Swift out on her hypocrisy when attacking Apple for demanding musicians give away their music for free while doing the exact same thing to concert photographers in her photo contracts. If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of that whole ordeal, so there’s no need to get into it further other than to say that I fully support Sheldon’s views.

His post made some waves, the latest being The Washington City Paper refusing to sign Foo Fighters infamous contract. Honorable as it may be, as pointed out by Kevin Bergin, their way of solving the problem, will make matters even worse for concert photographers. Petapixel’s Michael Zhang calls the decision a brewing revolution in the world of concert photography, but, I’m not so sure. Right now, it’s “viral”, so there is an immediate payoff, but, as soon as the story fades, so does the will to make change among the decision makers. After all, this is not the first time we’ve seen an “internet riot” against photo contracts, and yet, they are breeding. Well… except in Norway, but I’ll get back to that.

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Standing up for the concert photographer, by standing on his neck

Jul 5, 2015 by Kevin Bergin 37 Comments

Earlier this week, the Washington City Paper made a stand against what it considered an unfair concert photography contract presented by the Foo Fighters with an article entitled Why We’re Not Photographing The Foo Fighters. Concert photographers everywhere stood up and slow clapped for the headline and main idea of the article and the stand it took on photographers rights. In the last paragraph of the article however, the Washington City Paper did something even worse to photographers than the Foo Fighters ever could have; they called on the fans to submit photos of the show, and they offered to pay for them. Instead of simply not covering the event and saying “Screw you, Foo Fighters” as the article’s title might make you believe, they’re saying “Screw you, concert photographers” and created a new class of concert photographer; the front row, amateur, on spec, freelance iPhoneographer. The ramifications are going to be far reaching to the concert photographer, the concert attendee, the artist, and the publications themselves.

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Washington Newspaper Won’t Photograph Foo Fighters’ Concert Due Swift-Like Contract; Will Buy Photos from Fans

Jul 3, 2015 by Liron Samuels 19 Comments

The Foo Fighters will be performing in Washington this weekend with a triple celebration: the 4^th of July, a 20^th anniversary and coming back to their home state.

The Washington City Paper, however, will not send a photographer to cover the show has they had planned. The reason? A Taylor swift-like contract that according to the paper ‘sucks’, and the paper’s refusal to give the band editorial control.

Pointing out the irony of bands restricting professional photographers when there are thousands of fans with cameras, and maybe in an attempt to stick it a bit to the band, the WCP will run photos taken by concertgoers.

This is the second media outlet stating it won’t send a photographer to cover a concert due to exploitative contracts, after the Irish Times boycotted photos from Taylor Swift’s Dublin performance.

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