Rapper Logic has been accused of lying about the nature of his music video, saying it was a “summer school project” in order to deceive the location owners and avoid a hefty shooting fee.
We’re all guilty of trying to haggle a location hire fee down, or have pretended we’re shooting a University project. As that old saying goes, “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” right? But if you’re a Def Jam-signed rapper, it may not be quite so easy to get away with.
Logic released the "Super Mario World" music video in 2016, where he can be seen dancing alongside someone in a Mario costume atop a tanker. Now, the owner of the nonprofit that operates the tanker in question, Carolina Salguero, has come forward to reveal the deception. At the end of the video, which now has 10.5 million views on YouTube, we see the team negotiating with the owners claiming that they’re shooting for a school project and will only need five minutes. Salguero insists it wasn’t staged, and she granted permission as they pretended to be from a local high school. She told Indiewire:
I looked at Logic; he’s so scrawny, I mistook for him a high school student. I thought the videographer [Justin Fleischer] was his dad, graying hair at the temples, and his friend was dressed in the [beat-up] Super Mario costume — I was busy and trusted I was helping high school students.
It resulted in an email agreement that they could film aboard the tanker, entitled the Mary A. Whalen, should it be credited. Salguero has since insisted on a $5,000 payment, the going rate for a half-day aboard the tanker. In December 2016, she was allegedly promised the budget could be “revisited in the new year,” but has since not received any payment.
"... he's so scrawny..." LOL
Ha, can't say I haven't used this excuse a time or two. I'm fine with paying a location fee but usually the people that make a big fuss out of this sort of thing don't know the law or don't really have an easy policy in place.
Everyone is a baller until they have to pay the same fee everyone else does.
This also says a lot about our industry.....
I'd say well played. Been using fancy "excuses" sometimes on my own, always went well ("shooting for a TV show", "shooting for <insert big name here> etcetc), the "simple" people in the area i live here are fast believers...and every one knows, the real killer shots are mostly the ones u get when u enter territory you are not allowed to ^_^
A friend of mine did some car photography on an historical race, just by using a yellow "warning" jacket, and telling he is from the press..he got access to all areas and could shoot in the driver boxes etc..a little "truth-bending" never hurt nobody ;)
I have to disagree that "a little truth bending never hurt anyone". First it can hurt photographers getting access in the future when the con is discovered. Second your example of your friend getting access to locations that could be dangerous if they don't know what they are doing could hurt someone. And it might not be the photographer who gets hurt. I photograph the Monster Energy Supercross series and having someone around the track not knowing what they are doing can easily cause harm to lots of people.
Hey I get it. We don't want to pay location fees and we want to get into the best location to get the shot, but lots of times there are reasons for the fees and the restrictions. We want people to respect us as photographers and then people pull crap like you mention. Want respect - earn respect.
Points taken, sorry i didn't add that he was experienced around cars, so it was no trouble at all, it was just funny cause the organization of the event was sort of bad..the next years he had credentials for the event, and they did some proper checking, too ;) And for the record, i don't want to encourage people to do illegal stuff or stuff what gets them into real danger..not at all.
But that’s exactly what you said. „Lying doesn’t hurt anybody“
Sounds like something I would do :/
Let's just mention that this boat is in the registry for national treasures and that those fees pay to keep it in shape and open for visits...
http://portsidenewyork.org/mary-a-whalen-history
If he had hustled to get onto a private boat owned by a large corporation that doesn't give a fuck, I might have cared less.
It sounds like a school project...
I spent 2 minutes waiting for it to start, not my cup of tea.
Wait... I don't get it. Are some photographers here saying they try to take pictures in places where they should pay a fee(big or small) and they try to avoid that using any type of lies or tricks? Isn't the same when somebody use your photos for their gain without paying you or the author the applied fee or royalty.... ?No excuse for that. I have jumped many places because the fee I consider it too high ... just find another place . If not, Don't complain when they use your photos.
Totally get and support broke emerging artists and photographers who have no money and are not doing a commercial shoot to lie or just shoot guerilla style without a permit. However Rapper Logic is a commercially successful artist signed to Def Jam. He has a budget. He has money. The tanker was run by a NON-PROFIT. How is this different than another entity using a photographer's labor without pay or expecting their creative team to work for free on a project that has a commercial client that is paying the principle artist.
As the contract/ agreement to shoot for free was made on false pretenses, the agreement is legally void. The non-profit has every right to demand their standard location fee.