Taylor Swift accused of ‘double standards’ by photographer
22 June 2015
From the section Birmingham & Black Country
Taylor Swift told Apple artists should be compensated for their music
A photographer has accused Taylor Swift of “double standards” in her row with Apple over music streaming.
Apple Music performed a U-turn over payment policy a day after the singer threatened to prevent it streaming her album 1989.
Swift had argued that withholding payments for a trial period was not fair for artists.
Photographer Jason Sheldon said the singer herself did not “play fair” when it came to image rights.
Some of the claims he has made in an open letter to Swift have been disputed by representatives of the 25-year-old singer.
In it he wrote: “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?
“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.”
‘Give work away’
Mr Sheldon, who runs the Walsall-based Junction 10 agency, said he and other photographers had been called to hand over some rights to their images from her live concerts.
To cover a performance in March 2011 at Birmingham’s LG Arena, Mr Sheldon said he had to sign a permission form that granted Swift’s management company long-term rights to reuse the images and prevented him from featuring them after the initial coverage.
“I can’t use it in my portfolio, feature it on my website and even the original newspaper couldn’t reuse …read more
Source:: BBC world news feed
