I received an email a couple of weeks ago letting me know that I was approved to shoot the Dave Matthews Band. What accompanied the email was a photo release that is becoming more and more present with artists. Most of it was standard, which granted no particular concern.  But there were a few particular parts that I could not agree with:

Artist shall have the right in perpetuity throughout the universe to manufacture, distribute, exploit, edit, advertise, display, sell, license or, otherwise dispose of the photographs and derivatives derived therefrom in any manner or media whatsoever including without limitation, in connection with any album, commercial merchandise, websites and marketing, publicity and promotional materials relating to Artist’s career.

Followed by:

To provide Artist and/or Artist’s management or representatives in a timely manner with high-resolution files of the Photograph(s) upon request.

(Full Photo Release below)

I proceeded to mark those two parts off, and sent it back to my Live Nation contact.  A couple of days later I receive word that DMB management was asking Live Nation if this was normal, and what should they do. Live Nation then put DMB mgmt. and myself into contact with each other. Here was a majority of my correspondence to her,

My email

“I do photography full time, but I do enjoy going to shoot shows for fun. DMB was a shoot that was falling under that category of for fun. I have no problem whatsoever with agreeing not to selling any DMB images or anything of the such. I do request being able to use them on my website and social sites. I also don't mind shooting you a preview or two tonight if you would like to run a post show status for the fans. As I am a professional that does this for a living, it could not fit into my business model to pass my images out to anyone to use for any promotional purposes including without limitations. As an artist myself, I respect bands not giving away their music for free. And I believe as a photographer, I should have the same respect. I do have images being used for merch and album covers for many bands. All of which understand that I do this full time. They respect that fact, and are super excited to continually work with me now and in the future.”

They replied on Monday.

“Apologies for the very delayed response and all the back and forth. I was in the middle of Vermont with extremely limited email access/phone service (I am just now able to read your email). At the

time, the easiest decision was to deny you access to shoot the show. However, after reading your email, I see that you were willing to work with us and be flexible with our release. We definitely could have come to an agreement. So, I apologize and please feel free to reach out next time. I’m sure we can work something out.”

This shoot fell into a category of shooting for fun. Even though I was shooting for fun, I still value my work and my integrity. As an artist, I could not give all of my work out for another entity to use however they wanted to. Furthermore, I could not allow someone else to profit off of my work (use for promotional purposes), work they did not pay for, and usage that they refused to pay for.

I do want to applaud DMB mgmt for their response. They seemed, after the fact, open to working with me in the future without taking my copyrights. I wanted to approach them in a positive manner dealing with the facts of the agreement that I could not agree to. But, I also wanted to show I was willing to work with them on other parts of the contract.  I do remain positive that if more photographers and medias outlets took a stance that we could make a difference in how photo releases are presented. A great example of that is Taylor Swifts new photo agreement, which is due to photographer Jason Sheldon’s open letter to her management.  

Are you afraid to stand up for your work?

What will you do the next time you’re in this position?

Remain positive and happy shooting everyone!!