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Taylor Swift’s Reps Respond To Photographer’s Two-Faced Claims

By Chanel Adams
Published on: 10:17 PST, Jun 23, 2015

Taylor Swift’s reps aren’t afraid to support the singer. Now, her team is hitting back at a photographer who called her out for her hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to supporting the work of freelance photographers.

Jason Sheldon, a UK-based freelance photographer, said that the 22-year-old singer required him to sign a contract that prevents him from profiting off the photos or reusing them for his portfolio. Her reps didn’t sit still on the matter though. Swift’s reps fired back at the photographer, claiming that the contract is standard for the industry and the copyright lies within the photographer, not the entertainer. According to Swift’s reps, it’s also a standard practice to protect an entertainer’s image and name.

“This agreement does not transfer copyright away from the photographer. Every artist has the right to, and should, protect the use of their name and likeness.”

Sheldon responded to Swift’s team by taking to Twitter. In a series of tweets, the photographer said that the singer and her management missed the point of his post.

It all started when Sheldon posted his own open letter on his blog, along with a copy of his contract on Monday. In the contract, it states that Swift’s management team, Firefly Entertainment Inc., has every right to destroy a photographer’s equipment if they break the terms of the contract. Sheldon’s exact complaints stemmed from at 2011 concert photo contract from Swift’s management, and not for any recent tours.

“This contract is particularly egregious in that it not only contains an all out rights grab on the photographers’ work, whilst limiting their editorial control and ability to earn from that work — and does so without compensation — but because it does so under threat of criminal damage or destruction of property.”

Sheldon’s blog post and contract quickly went viral on the internet and started circulating on Twitter and other social networking sites. Sheldon was obviously upset with Swift’s open letter explaining the reason why she decided to pull 1989 from Apple’s new music service, Apple Music. Swift explained that Apple wouldn’t pay royalties to its artists during the three month trial period.

Apple later reversed their policy. While Sheldon applauded Swift for her letter, he also slammed her for exploiting other artists.

“You say in your letter to Apple that ‘Three months is a long time to go unpaid.’ But you seem happy to restrict us to being paid once, and never being able to earn from our work ever again, while granting you the rights to exploit our work for your benefit for all eternity.”

“How are you any different to Apple? If you don’t like being exploited, that’s great — make a huge statement about it, and you’ll have my support. But how about making sure you’re not guilty of the very same tactic before you have a pop at someone else?”

“Photographers need to earn a living as well. Like Apple, you can afford to pay for photographs so please stop forcing us to hand them over to you while you prevent us from publishing them more than once, ever.”

Taylor Swift’s team have not responded to Sheldon’s new claims. Sheldon says the reason why he’s speaking out is because he’s supporting photographers who are afraid to speak out in fears of being blacklisted by entertainers and denied access to events.

[Image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

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