Don't expect to find too many photographers at the Stone Roses concerts in Manchester this weekend, following news that members of the National Union of Journalists are being asked to boycott the Heaton Park gigs after being offered just one-pound for the pictures they take on the day, reports the Radio Times.
A contract asks photographers to "assign to the Group, with full title guarantee, all Rights in perpetuity throughout the world so as to enable us to exploit the Photographs and Rights as we deem fit without further reference or payment to you or any third party". Essentially, photographers must pass on photographs to the Stone Roses for them to use as they wish. Images taken of Ian Brown and company cannot be reproduced "in any publication devoted exclusively or predominantly to the artist unless prior permission has been obtained from the Stone Roses and their management". The contract prevents photographers from selling any of the photographs they take except those initially agreed for use in the publication. A statement from the National Union of Journalists read, "A photographer must have the right to license editorial use of images without obtaining the band's permission for each use. The band's intransigence on this point has led to the organisation of a boycott".
The Stone Roses' PR manager Murray Chalmers claims plenty of photographers will still attend the concert, telling the British Journal of Photography, "There is no boycott.We have a full [quota] of photographers attending the shows to photograph the band, which I would have happily told the Nuj had they bothered to call me about the assertions they made in their press release". The Stone Roses play three shows at Heaton Park, Manchester, beginning on Friday (June 29, 2012).