November 2010

Last night I did something strange (for me). I actually bought tickets to a concert and sat in a seat for pure enjoyment. The artist was Syl Johnson, a legendary (although underappreciated) soul and blues singer and songwriter best known for his 1975 hit song “Take Me To The River”. Syl was celebrating 50 years in the music business (wonder what most of today’s artists will be doing in 50 years?). He hit the stage in a red suit, backed by a 14 piece band, with horns and backup singers galore, and played many of his most popular songs. He talked about the last 25 years, when he was semi-retired, until he realized that rappers like Wu-Tang Clan, Hammer and the Geto Boys were sampling his music, mostly his song “Is It Because I’m Black.” He talked about Cypress Hill sampling one of his songs and Sony forgetting to clear the sample, resulting in a lawsuit that made him a great deal of money (he thanked his lawyers from the stage.)

He brought Otis Clay and Gene Chandler up to sing with him during the set, and the crowd went crazy!

Before he started his encores, (without the horn section- they put on their coats and left because, as Syl put it “They have another gig!”) he told the story of how his first record company changed the name of the company to try to screw him out of royalties, and how the recently released, career defining box set provided him with the first chance in his life to actually receive a royalty check!

Nice to see a true star finally get his due!

One weird note: During the prerecorded announcements before the show, the voice announced that “at the performers request, no photography will be allowed .” As this was a prerecorded announcement, it seems that the venue has decided that no one will be allowed to shoot at any show. Having known Syl for many years, and knowing that he is attracted to a camera like a moth to a flame, I am guessing that he knew nothing about this.

Someone just sent me a pretty interesting article today. It is an article in Arts Journal by John Rockwell in which he eulogizes a publicist friend of his. Here is an example:

Edgar’s death set me to thinking about publicists. Ideally there should be a certain tension between press and publicists, but that relationship changes with the personality and position on each side of the divide. Press agents who represent famous clients spend more of their time warding off the press than hustling for stories, let alone Page Six mentions. Of late some of the big-name Hollywood press agents, those who demand copy and photo approval and guaranteed covers, have become awesomely obnoxious. Junior critics and reporters, or those working for marginal outlets (like, now, the blogs to which I contribute), can expect dismissive treatment from most press agents, who spend much of their time fending off requests for free tickets. Writers for major publications like the New York Times get fawned over, or at least treated courteously.

Quote #2:

While the basic tension does and should exist between writers and the representatives of the written about, it’s not surprising that friendships and respect should arise. Young people who love the arts find no easy career path into the field. Some become writers, some publicists, some managers or agents or curators. They share a passion that often overrides any supposed division of responsibilities. And rightly so.

It is interesting to hear this perspective from a legendary writer. If only it was so in the music business! The relationship between photographer and publicist is completely adversarial. Part of it is because there are so many photographers who are not really working journalists- like the quote above, they are just looking for free tickets.

The other part of the equation is this:

It is really difficult to respect a photographer who gives away his or her work for free. During my short stay at the Pitchfork Festival this past summer, I was introduced to two photographers who were the “official” Pitchfork photographers. We started up a conversation. I asked them what hotel the festival was putting them up in, and when they were flown in. They both laughed! Turns out that “Official” tag means that they find their own way to Chicago, sleep on friends floors, and give Pitchfork all of their photos to use for free. For this they get no money whatsoever (But they get to eat lunch and dinner backstage). So that is a plus!!

A few days ago I picked up a magazine (A free one) called Emerging Photographer published by Sony and Photo District News. In the magazine is an article titled “For free  or not for free.” A few experts are asked when it is right to work for free-

Dennis Keeley:   Never! (He does say that a great portfolio piece is worth something.)

Graham Mitchell: Work for free once and clients will come to expect it of you.

So what is to take from all this?? If you work as a professional, more than likely publicists will have more respect for you and give you more access! (Hopefully)

Last week the New York Times ran an article detailing Warner Music Group resurrecting their photo archives to try to inventory what they have in dusty old boxes all over the world.

“I wanted to take an inventory of what we had,” said Edgar Bronfman Jr., the chairman and chief executive of the Warner Music Group. “We thought it was important from an artistic standpoint, from a corporate culture standpoint and potentially from a consumer standpoint.”

I had to chuckle at that one! Over the course of my career, I have, on occasion, entered into a buy-out contract with a major label for photos used on album packaging. In almost every case, this was for an artist that I figured  would never amount to any thing, so there would be almost no reason to lower my price and retain ownership. Only one time did I regret this move. That was the evening that legendary bassist Bootsy Collins drove up to my house in a Cadillac filled with clothes and instruments! Man, I wish I still had some of those images.

I understand the rationale behind the major labels insistence to own all the images. They are always banking on the artist becoming famous, or staying famous, and they don’t want to have to hunt down images from early in the artist’s career and renegotiate usage fees with a bunch of photographers when the are putting together greatest hits and career retrospectives.  So it was very humorous to read this:

In close to a year of digging, the company has only pricked the surface: there are still 14,000 boxes in New Jersey alone that haven’t been touched, and tens of thousands more elsewhere in the United States and abroad in places like Brazil, Japan and Australia.

So, when they do a greatest hits package, they still have to call photographers all over the world to negotiate usage rights and fees, because they have no idea what they already own.

Just example number 5010 (approximately) why record companies are nearly extinct dinosaurs!

If I had a dime for every band that I heard say “Being on the road is really hard. We have to play for an hour four times a week!! We are so tired!” I would be rich. My thoughts go back to the Counting Crows, who, after opening for the Rolling Stones for a month (One hour a night, 5 nights a week in front of 50,000 people each night) had to cancel a month long sold out theater tour because they were too tired. WOW, that is really hard work!

Then there is Willie Nelson.

I photograph Willie every year at Farm Aid. He always opens the show, and he and his band close the show at the end of a long day. They usually play for about a half an hour, as the show is usually a little past close time. This year, the day after the show, I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel, editing photos and waiting for a few people to come down so that we could head back home. Mickey Raphael, Willie’s harmonica player and one of the nicest people in the business, sat down next to me to look over my shoulder at the photos. He asked me if I had ever seen a full Willie Nelson show. I thought about it and realized that I hadn’t in about 25 years! So he invited me out to Joliet the following week to see a Willie show.

And what a show it was!! Willie and the band played for 2 ½ hours. There were no breaks in between songs, just one great moment after another. He played country, blues and jazz. He played all his hits, and also played a ferocious lead guitar throughout the show. The band was minimal. Willie on guitar, his sister Bobbie on piano, Mickey on harmonica, a bass player and Paul English and his brother playing drums (a snare drum and a cymbal). The only prop on the stage was a giant flag of Texas as a backdrop. One standing ovation after another! After the show, Willie hopped on his bus and headed down the highway to his next show

Maybe those young guys should go and see a Willie Nelson show and see how it should be done!