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Never purchase a photo pass from anyone. Let me repeat this again, NEVER PURCHASE A PHOTO PASS. I’ve noticed a trend of bands starting to offer photo passes for sale, and this is not okay. It’s appalling. This is essentially selling media credentials to a show, which is unheard of in journalism. Most cases they offer to post your photos that you took of them on social networking. Why is this accepted in the photography community? What makes bands think it’s okay to use people’s work for free, let alone charge people to photograph them?
Hawthorne Heights were the first band I’ve noticed that have done this. They offered $150 for a photo pass to shoot their set at Warped Tour. My favorite part about this is that in prior years (this year not included) a monkey with a blog could have received credentials to Warped Tour. Everyone and their mother literally could attempt to cover the festival, and I bet 75% of the application would be approved, if not more. That’s not dissing the tour, but it is a majority of photographers’ first festival, and it is sort of a rite of passage to shoot the event. There was an outcry within the photography community against Hawthorne Heights, but despite that face there were people who actually bought the package. However, Hawthorne Heights eventually cancelled it after I assume someone on their PR team brought it to their attention that the photography community at large was not pleased. I’m not sure if it was the pressure from photographers or if the Warped Tour shut it down, but either way, Hawthorne understood that they were wrong.
Black Veil Brides have offered a photo pass and an interview for their upcoming tour on their Pledge Music campaign. This seems to have flown slightly under the radar. The only people paying for this are parents of 12 year old girls that missed the MySpace era. Don’t waste your money, wait for the band at their tour bus, that’s how you can meet the band…. Not by buying a $200 interview. I mean, does it come with dinner? Because most people like to be wined and dined before being fucked.
Paramore might be the only exception to this. They are offering 15 disposable Paramore cameras for sale, per show, and a photo pass will be in two of them. I would like to note that Paramore rarely approves photographers and when they do, they have one of the worst photo releases in music. In short, if you want to shoot Paramore, you will have to sign the rights to your photos away.
We [the photographers] only get three songs to photograph a band. That’s not a lot of time to get the shots I want/need. We essentially only have 9-14 minutes shooting, which is not a lot of time to capture the energy of an entire show. In that time, there are usually unprofessional photographers in the photo pit, (see Assholes In The Photo Pit) security to hinder your view (and protect you,) and many times crowd surfers as a distraction. I understand the whole “you have to start somewhere” argument, but read my first blog that entails how to get a photo pass properly and not supporting the defamation and destruction of my art.
Nick Karp is a professional photographer and freelance music writer. He recently relocated to NYC and dyed his hair bright pink because that is the kind of thing people do in the music business.
