I am going off on a little rant but things must be said.
Being a concert photographer seems on the outside very glamorous. People see photographers in the area between the audience and the band, they see photographers on the stage with the bands, and they see these photographers at festivals, concerts, and shows of all their favorite bands… assuming that they are living the fun and dream life.
And honestly, it could all be true.
There are music photographers who live this life. They tour with the bands, they get paid for their work… but there are only a handful who do this, and the majority do more than just taking pictures. Most work for the band in other functions, like social media manager, roadie, or merch sales.
For the other 90% of the photographers you see at a concert, they are volunteers, or paid minimum freelance amounts to be there. They are there on a press accreditation, getting two or three songs to take those ten good shots that show how awesome the concert was and are told to get out and leave the venue after that. Some can stay the whole concert in the crowds but they really do not have the all access pass, the interaction with bands, and they don’t earn money on it.
And most of these photographers, do this, because they love it. They love the art of capturing the passion and the moments on stage. They love capturing these musicians at their best. And some of them even need this to forget about the misery or the pain from their ‘normal’ life.
Now, taking this into account, the source of my rant…
In the Netherlands, big festivals are considering charging the press for a fee to be allowed to work at their festival and do articles. The fee isn’t high to begin with but it is the thought that counts. They are asking people who already spend quite a bit of money to be there and to cover the festival, to show the rest of the world how awesome this event is, more money. The organizers of are asking money to get the press to give them free exposure.
And honestly this has me so angry.
Asking a fee, so you can provide a festival with exposure via your platform/publication is similar to ask an employee of a company, to pay part of his salary back to the company to be allowed to work there. It’s like asking a plumber money for being allowed to come and fix your broken water pipe, instead of paying him his travel costs…
It is hard to imagine volunteers will be wanting to pay fees for being there. Though, there are, world wide festivals who already charge the press an entrance fee with the price of a normal ticket and people are still agreeing to that. There are still photographers who agree with “you get so much exposure if you do this shoot”…
And why? because of the fear of not being able to do what you love. Out of fear to loose the tribe you have build at these events and in the photo pit. Out of fear to have nothing left outside your boring work days and sleep.
People claim that it is your own choice, shooting there or not, are right… yes, it is your own choice, to go or not, but the music world would loose a lot of people, because not all of them have the choice because it will cause them financial distress.
Imagine loosing half of the published pictures on your favorite e-magazine because many of their photographers choose not to go. Imagine loosing half of the posts on social media because many of the photographers could no longer afford the money and time to shoot that concert.
The online music world would become a boring and monotone place.
