Taylor Swift recently scored a big coup for indie artists whose music will stream on Apple's new service, but one photographer wants the pop sensation to set the same standards for uses on her image content.
English photographer Jason Sheldon posted a lengthy open letter to Swift in response to her victory that forced Apple to compensate artists during customers' three-month free trial period. He finds her stance for indie artists somewhat hypocritical considering the strict limits she puts on freelance photographers who shoot at her concerts.
"For every artist that is in a secure enough financial and influential position to stand up against the likes of Apple without having to worry that Apple will publicly block your ability to earn a living from their iTunes market place, there are hundreds of professional concert photographers who don't enjoy that security," Sheldon wrote.
Within the letter, the photographer posted a concert photo authorization form for Swift's current 1989 World Tour from Firefly Entertainment, Inc. (FEI), which handles Swift's image rights. The contract stipulates that photographs can be "used on a one-time only basis," which limits the photographer from providing photos for one outlet only. If that outlet chooses not to use the photographs, the freelancer doesn't get paid and can't turn around to sell them to another outlet per FEI's guidelines.
In addition to the one-time only rule, FEI has "the perpetual, worldwide right to use (and to authorize others to use) any or all of the Photographs for any non-commercial purpose (in all media and formats), including but not limited to publicity and promotion. Sheldon calls this stipulation "a complete rights grab."
"You say in your letter to Apple that "Three months is a long time to go unpaid,'" he wrote. "But you seem happy to restrict us to being paid once, and never being able to earn from our work ever again, while granting you the rights to exploit our work for your benefit for all eternity."
A spokesperson for Swift issued a statement to the BBC which points out the "misrepresentations" made my Sheldon in his letter about the agreement that photographers sign.
"The standard photography agreement has been misrepresented in that it clearly states that any photographer shooting The 1989 World Tour has the opportunity for further use of said photographers with management's approval," the spokesperson said. "Another distinct misrepresentation is the claim that the copyright of the photographs will be with anyone other than the photographer - this agreement does not transfer copyright away from the photographer."
The statement ended, "Every artist has the right to, and should, protect the use of their name and likeness."
In a separate post, Sheldon responded to the statement and offered a simple solution to protecting Swift's image.
"If Swift does feel the need to protect her name and likeness from potential abuse, all her photo access contract need stipulate is "Editorial Use Only."
