UPDATE: Statements from Alissa White-Gluz, Angela Gossow and Thunderball Clothing have all been released.
In early June, I reposted a photo of myself on instagram from a concert photographer, which is common practise. The photo was already posted to Instagram by the photographer himself. I like doing this because it is a way to say thank you and tip my hat to photographers and usually there is a nice symbiotic relationship between bands and photographers this way. If you follow my socials you know this is something we all enjoy. His watermark was visible, the photo was unaltered and he was tagged and credited in the caption, the way we always do it. The girl who made the outfit I am wearing in the photo, Marta, reposted my post shortly after that. She didn’t print it, didn’t use it commercially, didn’t upload or copy it – she reposted it with a free Instagram application called “get_repost”, like many of you do. She was just happy to repost the news that I wear her creations (one of a kind clothing items we designed together, not a product that you can buy), and share it with her followers. 99% of the time, this is how this online world functions like a supportive community and everyone wins this way. Often, photographers send us folders of photos in hopes that we like them and we post those, always with their name and credit. We really felt we were doing just THAT.
The photographer of this particular photo was ALWAYS fully credited for the ENTIRE duration of his photo being on my Instagram and Marta’s. As soon as he expressed discontent the posts were immediately removed. There was never ANY attempt made by Thunderball or Arch Enemy to use that photo for commercial use, and certainly not without compensation. To our understanding, since there was nothing being sold or advertised in the posts, it was not commercial, but we still took his concerns seriously and immediately took the photo down. To be clear, this is not a photographer Arch Enemy hired, this is one of the hundreds of photographers who are in the photo pit at festivals. Once the photographer stated he wanted a fee for online use, we immediately (within minutes) agreed to remove the posts (which were online for a few days at most) so as to avoid any complications. If we were going to use a photo for any commercial application, we would pay them and there would be a contract ahead of time, like we always do and have done with hundreds of photographers.
Marta forwarded us an email from a lawyer saying she owed 500 euros, was in breach of copyright and the email included payment method information. Marta goes by the name Thunderball Clothing online and is a fellow musician, artist and one-woman clothing maker from Poland. We tried to explain that this photo isn’t selling anything, it is showing off the custom outfit I am wearing, but the emails felt more and more coercive, so we simply removed the posts. There was no product for sale in the photo and no attempt to keep using the photo once the photographer stated his discontent. I understand that there are laws in place that dictate when and how a photo can be used, although promotional online use is usually appreciated, especially when it provides exposure for all parties involved. But, the photographer was unhappy with the reposts so we removed them, plain and simple.
We didn’t want any trouble so we deleted the posts and thought that was the end of it since we had no contact since June. Normally, in my experience, people are happy to see the subject of their photo sharing their work and its a beautiful thing to be able to have one concert experience be a platform for musicians, lighting directors, clothing designers, photographers, sound engineers and fans alike all sharing in the art that is created.
All that happened here was I simply posted a photo of myself with full credit, watermark and tagging, then took it down when a lawyer contacted my friend who was among several pages that reposted it. Lots of fan pages are run by teenagers in countries where there may be different laws or a language barrier, who might not understand, and I didn’t want them to end up with some lawyer’s letter in their inboxes, and I know they like to repost things I post, so I just took it down. I’m not really sure why this non-issue has been twisted to scapegoat us 6 months after the fact, especially considering we simply did what he asked and the last interactions I had with him, personally, were pleasant.
We reserve the right, however, to decide who is allowed to photograph our shows and after having corresponded with him we didn’t want any more issues like this in the future, especially when passes are limited and we know so many photographers who love having the opportunity to get a photo pass and have fun with us at shows.
In conclusion, no one from Arch Enemy nor Thunderball ever denied paying the photographer in question for the commercial use of his photo: We simply did not use it.
We did not infringe any copyright.
A picture got re-posted and tagged (not on my or Arch Enemy’s page). Then I got forwarded an email by Juan introducing himself as a lawyer and photographer and claiming money for said image –We had it removed immediately.
Copyright issues, photographers on site we have no rights or choice to decide over what they do with the imagery does make artists feel vulnerable. The result: artists are trying to gain control over the situation again by having photographers sign a bunch of paperwork. We havent done anything like that so far.
There was some miscommunication and misunderstanding along the way, I am sorry if I offended anybody. I got angry. If he would have just introduced himself as a photographer I would have reacted differently as opposed to be receiving a lawyers correspondence, which feels threatening to me. To clarify: there was no extortion or threat in a legal sense.
All the best to you, have a great new year.
Angela
THUNDERBALL CLOTHING – STATEMENT / APOLOGY
I would like to publicly apologise Mr J. Salmeron for reposting one of the photos he took, on my Instagram page, without having his permission. When few months ago I was reposting his photo from the Instagram page of the Arch Enemy singer Alissa White-Gluz, I was simply proud that such a great artist is wearing a clothing piece that I made, and wanted to share these news with my followers. As I did the repost with an app that included all original credits and watermarks, I thought that it’s OK. I meant no harm, and it wasn’t my intention to promote any product, however, I do agree that it might looked like that, and I understand that the author of the photography could feel upset about it. And I am sorry about it.
After I received an email message from J. Salmeron, who introduced himself as a lawyer and author of the photography, I interpreted it as another spam or scam (well, all of us receive this kind of emails all the time). I saw the amount of 500 Euro and the name of Alissa White-Gluz, from whom I reposted mentioned photo, so without going deeper into that message, I did what I thought was most logic – I contacted her, forwarded the original message that I got, and asked her what to do. I was instructed to take down the photo (what I immediatelly did), and was informed that someone else will take care of it. That again seemed logic, as I was aware that I’m not at the position of taking any actions on behalf of Arch Enemy, nor their members. I had no other contact with J. Salmeron, I haven’t heard from him since then, and to be honest, for the last 6 months I had no idea that something is wrong, especially as the photo was taken down.
That being said, I would like to apologise J. Salmeron once again. Not only I’m willing to discuss with him how to compenaste him and fix the situation, but also how to make sure similar situation won’t happen ever again. After all, we’re all playing in the same team, and we all have one thing in common. We love music.
Marta Gabriel, Thunderball Clothing
CC Metal Blast
ORIGINAL STORY:
Controversy erupted today over a copy-right dispute between Arch Enemy and a Dutch concert photographer/attorney named J. Salmeron.
According to Salmeron, he photographed Arch Enemy at Fortarock (a metal festival that is held in Nijmegen, the Netherlands) back in June. While photographing the band, Salmeron captured a picture of front-woman Alissa White-Gluz. CLICK HERE to view the photo as we do not want to share this photo illegally.
The photo in question was shared by a company called Thunder Ball Clothing. Apparently the company sponsors Alissa, and makes custom clothing for her to be worn on-stage. Salermon got in touch with Thunder Ball Clothing and explained that sharing that picture was copy-right infringement and they were using it to promote their brand. He asked for a modest payment of 500 Euros and offered, in lieu of payment, that Thunder Ball Clothing make a donation of 100 Euro to a charity of his choice.
According to Salmeron, Thunder Ball Clothing got in touch with Angela Gossow, the former front-woman-turned-manager for Arch Enemy and accused Salmeron of making threatening statements. At this point, Angela and Alissa White-Gluz became involved and the entire situation spiraled and the photographer was eventually banned from all Arch Enemy shows.
At this time, we do only have Salmeron’s side of the story as no public statement from Arch Enemy has been made. As soon as that happens, we will update this story.
I’m going to leave this link so you can see the entire conversation with the picture in question, the emails that Salmeron sent the band and the responses from Arch Enemy and their management, specifically Angela Gossow:
https://petapixel.com/2018/12/26/how-i-got-banned-from-photographing-the-band-arch-enemy/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&fbclid=IwAR2yZEt8-NllWFRTVpqjigpQY69eERWgquXI4bVvFiCJl_aNfDftkXlzoos
[PetaPixel][Facebook-Alissa White-Gluz] [Facebook-Angela Gossow] [Facebook-Thunderball Clothing]
