SBC: Jonny Lang = $34.50 vs. blues photography - Part II
Jef Jaisun
>I have to admit to wincing at this too. Is a photographer more important
>than one of the main architects of Chicago blues? Many here on blues-l
>seemed to think so during the pre and post The Blues on PBS brouhaha.
Huh? This is news to me. It think the only point to be made is that without
the photographs we'd have no visual record of these great blues artists. I
think we'd all be thrilled if Wenders had found real footage of Blind
Willie Johnson instead of subbing Chris Thomas King in faux-archival black
and white. Even with the hand-crank camera for effect, we all knew it
wasn't Willie or the young Skip James. Contrast those "re-creations" with
the original footage of J.B. Lenoir.
> I'd like to think the one's I have deep respect for see
>that it is about the bluesman/woman first and foremost.
That's always been the case with me, and I know I can speak for several
other photogs on this list.
>So I humbly ask the
>photographers, meaning no flame at all, just asking, is a portion of the
>money made from the images of artists paid to the artist or their estate? I
>can't help wonder...and since portions of the Lomax at Newport film became
>part of this The Blues, do any of these pictured artists or estates get
>anything besides free publicity?
These are good questions to ask. The answers are not quite so simple. An
artist (in this case a photographer) is legally entitled to sell his/her
own creation, like a fine art print, without paying royalties. That is,
presuming you didn't sign some waiver or contract to the contrary when you
shot the person's image. However, in most cases if you try to put that same
image on a t-shirt or coffee cup and sell it for a profit, you are legally
bound to either get a release or pay royalties.
Like most businesses, if you don't turn a profit it's pretty hard to pay
anyone anything. However, some licensing deals require you to pay a fee per
item, regardless of whether you sell any. Make 100 t-shirts, pay the artist
100 shirts' worth of royalties. It doesn't usually amount to a lot of
money, but you have to abide by the contract. In some cases, nobody gets
paid til a profit is made. Major record labels are notorious for this,
which is one reason artists have been traditionally underpaid. The books
get cooked, no profit shows up in column Z, and it's "Gee, sorry, but we
never broke even on your million seller."
I handle this stuff in several ways:
* If someone wants to buy a Luther Allison print from me, 20 percent of the
sale will go directly to the Luther Allison Endowment Fund, regardless of
my costs or overhead.
* I do my best to send out copies of photos to the artists. I always order
double prints, and keep a box of envelopes on my desk. Sometimes it takes
me a year or more, but eventually I get 'em out. I often make 8x10s at my
own expense and send them out, too.
* Generally speaking, I don't charge non-profits for using my blues images.
I supply photo art to various blues publications at their statutory rates,
which helps them keep costs down and their publications alive.
* Some years ago I printed up a few t-shirts using a Jim Marshall photo of
Big Mama Thornton. I called Jim to ask if he wanted royalties. He said to
send him a shirt. I managed to obtain an address for Big Mama's sister, so
I figured out the statutory royalty rate, doubled it, and sent her a check
and a shirt with a note of explanation. She called me on the phone a few
days later, and I'll bet she spent the entire check on our 40-minute long
distance conversation.
In an ideal world, we'd all be turning a healthy profit. The musicians
would be getting paid real money and the photographers would be selling
tons of prints for $400 apiece. ;) Royalties would be flowing like water
down the Mississippi, and we'd all be driving gold Cadillacs. In the real
world, however, only pimps and major record company executives have gold
Cadillacs. Hey wait -- those label guys are pimps, too! LOL!
Jef
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Photographing the Year of the Blues
www.jaisunphoto.com
www.yearoftheblues.org
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