Music Sensation Taylor Swift has been accused of hypocrisy in her battle with Apple over music streaming.
Photographer Jason Sheldon said the singer does not “play fair” when it came to image rights and yet had expected Apple to do so when she had argued that the company’s withholding of payments during a three-month trial period offered to subscribers was not fair.
Swift had argued she and other artists should be paid for music streamed during the three month free month trial and had threatened to prevent the US firm from streaming her album 1989 if it did not. Apple Music agreed to the demands a day after Swift’s threat.
But Sheldon in an open letter to Swift said her actions were a double standard.
“If you don’t like being exploited, that’s great – make a huge statement about it, and you’ll have my support. But how about making sure you’re not guilty of the very same tactic before you have a pop at someone else?” wrote Sheldon.
“With all due respect to you too Taylor, you can do the right thing and change your photo policy. Photographers don’t ask for your music for free. Please don’t ask us to provide you with your marketing material for free.”
Sheldon, who runs photography agency Junction 10 , said he and other photographers had been told to hand over some rights to their images from Swift’s live concerts.
He said to cover a 2011 Swift concert he had to sign a permission form that granted Swift’s management company long-term rights to reuse the images and stopped him from featuring them after the initial coverage.
Sheldon said he had seen a 2015 version of the same contract that was even more strict, although he had not applied for one.
“I can’t use it in my portfolio, feature it on my website and even the original newspaper couldn’t reuse it. What’s more, they can give my image to my clients for press purposes. It’s giving my work away for free,” said Sheldon.
“I fully agree with Taylor Swift’s stance against Apple, but it’s about her playing by the same rules she wants to live by.”
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