The Foo Fighters will be in town this weekend, and you'll be able to find a review of the show on this blog on Sunday. However, our coverage will not include photos, because we cannot agree to the terms of the release required by the band's management.
The release, which you can read below in its entirety, is especially worrisome in that it allows management to control which photos are used and also transfers all rights to the photos away from our photographer to the Foo Fighters. Our sister paper in Minneapolis, City Pages, also refused to sign the release -- we recommend that you read their extensive explanation of their reasons for refusing, which includes the perspective of a few freelance photographers.
We encountered a similar problem several months ago with Janet Jackson's management. They also required a release giving them the rights to, and control of, the photos. In that case, we also chose not to sign it and also opted out of sending a photographer.
In the case of the Foo Fighters' release, their management is requiring photographers to sign on to this especially worrisome statement (boldface ours): "I have the limited right and permission to use the Photos, subject to your approval of the Photos, solely in connection with one (1) article about the Foo Fighters..." We are hesitant to allow our editorial content to be controlled by the people or groups we are covering. We routinely agree to certain conditions when photographing concerts if they're necessary logistically, but we feel this goes too far. And our photographer is unwilling to cede all rights to his own creative efforts.
Like City Pages, we asked if the terms of the release could be negotiated, and we were told they could not.
