Brouhaha Over Lady Gaga “Rights Grab”
Television network TBD recently sent photographer Jay Westcott to cover a Lady Gaga concert in Washington D.C. Upon arriving at the Verizon Center, Westcott was given a release form, on which the fourth paragraph read,
Photographer hereby acknowledges and agrees that all right, title and interest (including copyright) in and to the Photograph(s) shall be owned by Lady Gaga and Photographer hereby transfers and assigns any such rights to Lady Gaga.
After making a call to his editor, Westcott was told to not sign the release and to not shoot the concert.
PDNPulse characterized the story as Lady Gaga gobbling up photographers’ copyrights, while others are arguing that these types of contracts are pretty common for big-name acts.
Freelance photographer Kyle Gustafson writes,
Everyone has a camera at concerts these days. And it’s unfortunate that they are trying to crack down on the professional photographers. People that are given photo access have more restrictions than people sitting in the front row with their cameras and their flashes popping off. [#]
What are your thoughts on this case?
Image credit: Lady Gaga by a_choudhuri
