Practice what you preach. That sums up the whinge of a photographer against Taylor Swift.
Jason Sheldon, a freelance photographer accuses the "Fearless" singer of double standards for purportedly compelling photojournalists who cover her live shows to sign over the ownership of images to her company, Buzz Feed reports.
In an open letter complaint, Sheldon explains that he supports Swift's complaint against Apple for denying artists any royalties for music played during a user's free three-month. However, he also complained against Swift about the concert photo authorisation form that compels photographers to surrender image rights to all photos they took to Firefly, the company that manages Swift's image rights.
While Swift lambasts Apple's exploitation of artists for its initial plan of not compensating them for their work, she too is guilty of exploiting artists for depriving photographers of their full potential earnings for their work by getting them to sign over lifetime rights to pictures of her live shows.
Swift's concert photo authorisation form clarifies that Firefly has "the perpetual, worldwide right" to all pictures taken.
It forbids photographers to make money from selling pictures they took in the future as they can only be used on a "one-time only basis".
Photographers are only allowed to take pictures during the second and third songs of Swift without using a flash.
Failure to comply entitles Firefly's staff "to confiscate and/or destroy his/her film and eject him/her from the venue", without compensating photographer for damages or lost of equipment and earnings.
In a report in BBC, Swift's management disputed Sheldon's interpretation explaining that the standard photography agreement has been misrepresented.
In particular, it allows any photographer further use of his/ her photographs with management's approval.
It also does not transfer copyright away from the photographer with recognition of the right of every artist to protect the use of their name and likeness.
