A few days ago I covered a story here on Fstoppers about an online altercation between a massively popular music producer, Diplo, and a Canadian based photography collective under the name of Visualbass. Diplo has recently stepped forward and has made a statement on Fstoppers about the incident.
After the article was posted it was met with the ire of concert photographers in the industry. Diplo came forward on the post and made himself available to any questions that our readers may have had. Below is a direct quote with his general response to the article.
Photo by: David Graff
"i couldn't figure out how to post under neath the questions…
but i want to say I understand this is awkward and i have no disrespect to photographers, i created a book with an amazing photographer 2 years ago… http://www.amazon.com/128-Beat... (@shanemccauley)
I've built many relationships with great photographers and video directors and I take pride in my photography as we..
its awkward to discuss this online but i didn't crop out the photo on purpose.
my instagram is run some time by mgmt, we posted over 1000 pics on my IG an sometime they aren't credited.. some are just JPGS.. my instagram is not a credible source of information its more of a tumblr page ..
but when the photographer attacked me online ( this photographer ..he has my email .. he sent pics to me before)..
but to attack me online to create a lil buzz for himself.. its unprofessional. i could shave resolved it immediately but for him to call me names online , i just took it down, i didn't try and do anything maliocuos. i know about artists. at the end of the day i consider myself a visual artist first…u may not believe but thats how i started .. but when people tell me a pit photographer made me where i am today that just ridiculous. i have lots of photographers on payroll for shows .. live DJ photography is a lot different then a fine art fashion or digital editing in my opinion..
for people to tell me i owe him my career i could care less if you like me or not.. its obvious that u have made your mind up. .i didn't come here to be attacked i came to make music that i love. this side of it is not interesting to me at all. i t would shave been resolved quickly if he just contacted me directly, i don't know where most of these photos come from at this point , many times they are just google images with the watermarks already cut out!
at least 5 photographers u posted in this article have my contacts and i know them and have requested more work from them.. but not visual bass.. if anyone on this site would like to photograph our parties in toronto next year that would be nice too.. just don't go round calling us assholes it hurts our feelings..
& those of you posting that DJs are worthless.. i feel u.. but lets just be honest what more boring then photographing a DJ.. probably nothing.. maybe a plant?
but yes I'm proud of my job and my art i hope one day u check it out beyond this controversy" - Thomas Wesley Pentz (DIPLO)
Photo by: DKOphotographyAlong with the general quote he also responded to a few questions that our readers had.
Photo by: Tyler Hill
I want to first point out that the fact that Diplo took the time to respond is incredible. Usually when artists face negative press their PR teams automatically take over and the artist is told to stay silent and not comment hoping that the whole issue will blow over. Diplo did not take that route, and that in itself deserves a little respect. I also want to point out that he recently had a death in the family, so taking the time to respond during a difficult time just shows how much he cares about his career and public image. Kudos to you Diplo for that.
I am going to break down his general response and reply with my own opinions on the matter.
"my instagram is run some time by mgmt, we posted over 1000 pics on my IG an sometime they aren't credited.. some are just JPGS.. my instagram is not a credible source of information its more of a tumblr page .." -Diplo
I think the free use of images on social media is a huge misconception with not just artists, but people in general. Whether the photo is a JPG, PNG or RAW is irrelevant. I'm going to assume that when he says JPG (JPEG) he means simple snapshots. Regardless if an image is a quick snapshot or a photograph with full production behind it doesn't give anyone the right to take that image and use it without proper credit or license agreements. It's this type (and I hate to say it) ignorance that is a huge problem in this new age of digital photography. I'm not saying that Diplo himself is ignorant (on the contrary), but many people just don't understand how image copyrights or the idea of fair usage works. Although, I will say that his management team should know better. That's their job, after all.
Photo by: Chris Sullivan
"but to attack me online to create a lil buzz for himself.. its unprofessional. i could shave resolved it immediately but for him to call me names online , i just took it down, i didn’t try and do anything maliocuos [malicious]."- Diplo
I don't think Visualbass made his initial tweet as a scheme to get more attention to his name. No, I think like a lot of concert photographers, after seeing his work used without credit, was just frustrated. Wouldn't you be after working in the industry for over ten years and having artists constantly stealing your work (whether intentional or not) to promote themselves? I do agree though that after the initial response from Diplo whether it was pleasant or not should have been handled at that point privately through an email to his management team. At least that's how I (and most concert photographers) would have handled it. The fact that this did get as much attention in the media was not because of Visualbass's comments, but Diplo's himself.
"but when people tell me a pit photographer made me where i am today that just ridiculous." - Diplo
Before I say my opinion on this statement from Diplo, let me first explain what he means by "pit photographer". Unlike other photographers of other genres of music, EDM (electronic dance music) photographers work a little differently. Just as in normal concert photography you have house, venue, and artist photographers, but with EDM photography if you hold one of these positions you normally get more access to the artists. EDM photographers are not usually stuck in the pit unless you are shooting for press or the artist has strict rules. Most concert photographers are stuck shooting from the photography pit of a venue no matter what position they hold, because of the nature of the show. We as EDM photographers have a lot more freedom to move around the stage and can get very close to an artist while they are preforming. That's one of the reasons why I love shooting EDM. That freedom allows for some amazing imagery of the event. Like the photo below.
Photo by: Rebecca Britt Photography
I'm going to assume that he's referring to a press photographer, as Visualbass was at the particular show Diplo is referring to. In the hierarchy of EDM photographers, press photographers usually get the least amount of access. Only a few people caught on this in the original article, but in Visualbass's comment he admits to sneaking in backstage to get the shots.
"I was given a media pass at the gate but not a AAA [All Access] pass and there was no contract of any sort to sign when I got the pass. I was able to go into the media pit and everywhere else but NOT BACK STAGE, but I snuck back there anyways because I had a lot of friends who are artists and I just wanted to say hi.” – Tobias Wang (owner/photographer Visualbass)
I can tell you and hopefully speak for other professional photographers in this industry that behavior like this is deeply frowned upon. We are given certain access because we are hired to do a job and when another photographer or any person for that matter sneaks onto the stage it can become pretty frustrating if not dangerous for both us, the stage personnel (like the stage manager) and to the artist, as well. So, I can understand Diplo's irritation, but while I in no way think we are directly responsible for his success, we are the ones responsible for making him look as good as he does and for keeping his visual image in the spotlight. I mean, that is after all our job.
Photo by: Max Kaplan
"live DJ photography is a lot different then a fine art fashion or digital editing in my opinion.."- Diplo
How so? This comment honestly makes me a little sad. So, is Diplo trying to say that the type of work concert photographers do is worth less than a fine art fashion photographer or retoucher's? Why? Because it's over saturated? So is retouching. Heck so are all aspects of photography. Because he assumes that the amount of work behind concert photography is less? I am both a respected commercial photographer in my area and an EDM (electronic dance music) photographer. I am proud of both aspects of my work. Concert photography is hard. People assume that it's easy, when in fact you have to be on top of your game and shoot from the hip under some of the most undesirable lighting conditions not to mention work with a wide range of personalities. Just because the industry and non-professional concert photographers undervalue our work (which is pathetic) does not negate the work that we do. I'd like to have any EDM artist try to tell that to Rukes who is an EDM photography industry leader. Then again, Diplo has the right to his opinion.
Photo by: Steve Pham
"at least 5 photographers u posted in this article have my contacts and i know them and have requested more work from them.. but not visual bass.. if anyone on this site would like to photograph our parties in toronto next year that would be nice too.. just don’t go round calling us assholes it hurts our feelings.." -Diplo
Every photograph that was posted in the original article and in this article was submitted by members of the EDM Photographers group on Facebook. I created that group back in February of 2013. Honestly I created the group on a whim for local EDM photographers in my area to come and chat. I never in a million years thought it would be as successful as it is today. Within a matter of weeks after I created the group we had some of the best in the industry join from across the globe. In my career of being a professional photographer I have two things that I am particularly proud of; first being a contributor here at Fstoppers and second for running the EDM Photographers group. We have a strict screening policy that potential members have to go through before being accepted to ensure not only that everyone there is an EDM photographer or videographer, but to make sure that we have the best of the best there. We are ridiculously active and have come together as a tight-knit community. We are an online family. We respect one another and we support one another. We also have a sister group just to cater to EDM Filmmakers.
It was the group that tipped me off to this story. It wasn't the fact that a photographer didn't get credited, we're unfortunately used to that by now, but it was Diplo's tone in his tweets that caught us off guard. Yeah we were like, "what the hell" at first, but once we caught wind of the fact that Visualbass was selling mass prints of Diplo our concerns switched to the legalities of selling prints. For the most part we don't call artists "assholes", we know that we have to deal with some very strong personalities in the EDM industry and we make due just fine for the most part. By the way Diplo by not crediting us, you're kind of hurting our feelings, as well.
Photo by: Scott Roth "& those of you posting that DJs are worthless.. i feel u.. but lets just be honest what more boring then photographing a DJ.. probably nothing.. maybe a plant?"- Diplo
Oh come on now, Diplo. I don't know whether to take this a simple attempt at poking fun of yourself or saying that what we do is boring. Surely he's just being facetious and not ornery. Diplo if there is one artist in the EDM scene that is boring to shoot it certainly isn't you. Major Lazer is one of the most awesomely-insane shows I have ever had the pleasure to shoot, and I got the pleasure to shoot them twice! I would love to shoot them again, because they keep me on my toes as a photographer and are all over the place to the point that it can be disorientating. By the end of the show you're exhausted! I will be the first to admit, shooting a Major Lazer show is an experience.
Photo by: David J. MillerI want to end this article with a huge thank you to Diplo, no matter your opinions based on us concert photographers. The fact that you took the time to address this controversy says a ton about you. I hope that after this incident that you can see our work as more than just some guy/girl hitting a button on a camera and that you will see the worth in the services that we provide to you. I hope in the future that you treat us with the same respect that we treat you. If you are ever in need of our services (we have over 300 members in the group) let me know and I will connect you to not just a photographer or videographer, but a true professional.
-Rebecca Britt
Staff Writer for Fstoppers.com
Owner/Admin EDM Photographers
All images used with permission.
Diplo was right though. The photographer should have handled him self with more tact. He had an oppertunity to start a friendly professional conversation with a high profile artist and he totally botched it. Diplo has lots of artists working under him that he could have sent visual bass's way. But that's not happening. I feel like this is a good lesson on how not to act when your photo gets used by a major artist with out your permission. I mean come on its Instagram. It's not a magazine cover. There is no money involved. He could have asked him to ask his Managment to tag him in the photo... He would have at least got something out of it. Oh wait I guess he's got his pride:-/
Was it more un-profesional than violating the DMCA and the photographers copyright?
Let me come to your house and steal your stuff without permission. Will you have tact?
That's a new one! We should be more grateful that rich musicians steal our work for their own promotional purposes. That totally makes sense!
I care about copyright.. But sometimes people should just STFU and handle these kind of things in an other way. Like contacting the management.
As for Rebecca Britt.. You're just as bad as this visualbass guy imo... What you're doing is putting Diplo in a bad daylight by only showing negative unsupportive comments about him from his social media... (this is what happens in the News alot)
And you're not burning him to the ground because that could hurt your business as well. You're a hypocrite! And you take things way to personally just like a ton of other photographers here..
For example -
"
“live DJ photography is a lot different then a fine art fashion or digital editing in my opinion..”- Diplo
How so? This comment honestly makes me a little sad. So, is Diplo trying to say that the type of work concert photographers do is worth less than a fine art fashion photographer or retoucher’s? Why? Because it’s over saturated? So is retouching. Heck so are all aspects of photography. Because he assumes that the amount of work behind concert photography is less?"
You're entitled to your opinions just as I am to mine just as Diplo's has to his, and no I'm not worried about my business, because the people I do work for value my work, but sure go ahead and call me a hypocrite for bringing these issues into the public's eye. I do think that Visualbass handled this horribly, but to say I am just as bad as him, well others feel differently. I'm just a journalist doing my job. By the way I do defend Diplo and having his likeness used commercially without his approval. Does that make me a hypocrite? Maybe you should read the articles again.
Dude if people do bad things, they should be called out for it. That is one of the good things about the internet is that we can speak up.
Diplo is not the victim here. He stole something. It's just that simple.
This whole argument is dumb. As a working photographer myself, Its a matter of solid business practice. Don't like that someone used your photo? Than stipulate that in your working contract.
I care about copyright.. But sometimes people should just STFU and handle these kind of things in an other way. Like contacting the management.
As for Rebecca Britt.. You're just as bad as this visualbass guy imo... What you're doing is putting Diplo in a bad daylight by only showing negative unsupportive comments about him from his social media... (this is what happens in the News alot)
And you're not burning him to the ground because that could hurt your business as well. You're a hypocrite! And you take things way to personally just like a ton of other photographers here..
For example -
"
“live DJ photography is a lot different then a fine art fashion or digital editing in my opinion..”- Diplo
How so? This comment honestly makes me a little sad. So, is Diplo trying to say that the type of work concert photographers do is worth less than a fine art fashion photographer or retoucher’s? Why? Because it’s over saturated? So is retouching. Heck so are all aspects of photography. Because he assumes that the amount of work behind concert photography is less?"
You're jumping to conclusions here Rebecca, he isn't saying that you're work is worth less than fine art... Although in my opinion it is worth less than fine art, unless you're trying to make a documentary about this guy with you're EDM photographs. Not all photo's are art.
And all the photographers bitching about not getting credit or paid for their concert photography should also STFU!
You don't ask for credit you earn it...
You all say: I love concert photography but it's hard work for little money.. -> Than go do something ffing else, and make your work your hobby and not the other way around.
And last of all: Concert photographers don't make the DJ's "Big" Just like the DJ's shouldn't make the photographers "Big"
You get "Big" by delivering quality: Hard work, a lot of practicing, falling down and crawling back up.
There is no easy way up... so SHUT THE F UP!
I'm done now... So direct all your Ffing flaming on me ;) so maybe i'll get known and find the easy way up.....
Angry, and I don't agree with everything, but I think your point about misunderstanding his comment on the difference of concert photography v. fine art is more true than not.
It is different. Fine art is usually a single person's vision. Concert photography is collaborative between the photographer and the performer (and his lighting designer, set designer, stylist, etc.). And, there is also some difference in expectation of usage, which I think was actually Diplo's point. I am guessing that he doesn't believe that putting a photo of him doing his thing on twitter violates any kind of usage agreement (no matter who made the photo, or whether they are credited). After all, it is him making his art. The photographer has different expectations, because the photo is him making his art. Personally, I think an argument could be made for either side in this case.
I think that he makes two points: one correct and one not.
The correct point is that he is a human with feelings and should be treated with a minimum of respect (no name calling).
The incorrect one is that the people who voiced their opinions against him are just haters. Some may be, but others are just passionate about this subject and have a different view point. And who can blame them? To some, the way society reacts to this could end their livelihood. However, having your opinion dismissed as being nothing more than a hater is infuriating and counterproductive.
That he is a human being with feelings and should be treated with a minimum of respect is undermined by his original response to the photographer where he showed no respect for that person's humanity or professional integrity. You get respect not because your human, but instead because you act in a way deserving of it and you show respect to others. In other words, "that which is distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow." -Hillel.
Massively popular producer that nobody has ever heard of. I haven't downloaded much music off file sharing sites in the last 10 years since streaming is much less hassle, but if it would hurt jerks like this guy, I would start doing it out of spite. Except from reading this, it sounds like he's not even a musician but a DJ. A DJ! You know, a record player, player. A DJ is a guy who picks out music someone else made, on a record player, and pushes play. That record player may be fancy now days with a USB connection and fancy logos and stuff, but the guy who pushes play still has the exact same job - play other people's work.
Imagine if all us photographers were business savvy and actually made our contracts benefit our own business... #Rising Tides Raises All Ships ...our industry would be valued even more so and this petty stuff would be insignificant.
I imagine the contract in this case was multi-layered. There is probably a contract between the performer and the venue, between the venue and the media company (Visualbass) and one between the photographer and the media company he works for. Not to mention promotion companies, publicists, etc.
I wouldn't want to try to make that air tight.
No one said being a professional was easy. Hiring a lawyer would take care of all that... these are the little things that bring value to what we do.
"i don’t know where most of these photos come from at this point , many times they are just google images with the watermarks already cut out!"
Say what now? Google takes free pictures for you? Nice.
Thank you Diplo for responding. From your response in this post, it sounds like you should fire your mgmt. and hire someone else that has ethical standards. Apparently, it was your mgmt. company that created this firestorm of "Screw Photographers" by tweeting "Go to Hell" as a first response.
I've ever thought we here in Germany are fussy but sadly there are other places in the world where people are like Germans.
I don't think it's okay what he Diplo did and his apology is a litle bit easy, but in my eyes he deserves respect for answering these questions and doing a personal statement.
Especially in the photography area people are so hard. If someone makes a mistake or does a copyright violation you hate them so much instead of giving them a second try.
Do you think other big artists would come here and do apologize like he did? Thinking of Rihanna or Madonna...
Calm down, belive in your own and let them do it their way.
How hard was it to send the photographer a private email explaining the situation? Ego was the case here. Negligence isn't an excuse to use copyrighted work though, so try another excuse DIPstick.
Seems like it was more his management's fault for not crediting. That being said, he could have handled the situation better.
I think most of the outrage is over him being a ... well, not a nice person.
The level of vitriol seems to come from a sense of him/society not respecting photography rather than the relatively minor thing he did.
Yeah, his whole argument seems to boil down to how he's this famous musician but we're just worthless photographers so we should be so grateful that he is doing us a favor by ripping us off.
I've said it before, but no one is interested in solving problems on the internet... These sites that post about how "anyone can be a photographer", and even title their DVD's like that, is doing far more to hurt the industry. Figure out lighting and retouching on your own. Photography websites shouldn't be bitching that people don't know enough about copyright, licenses, taxes, etc., when the vast, vast majority of what they do is tell GWC's what buttons to push. If you're talented, you'll figure out the camera stuff. Tax codes? That costs more time and money than I have. Fstoppers has gotten slightly better about this, but it's not good enough, and every other site makes no mention of it at all.
It should be so widespread that if a photographer doesn't mention a licensing fee, a client should drop them for being a fraud.
Um, who is diplo again? Sorry, I thought I knew all the famous ones..
I agree with Diplo....
Deal with issues personally at first, not publicly.
Concert photographers should be replaced by drones.
Drones can work from any angle and they never argue about copyright.
i think photographers take themselves too seriously. all you needed is a credit right? than why don`t you contact the team or the artist directly? Diplo is right, photographer could do it silently, but when you tweet with @ marks at artist, and you take it online - a bunch of angry people would follow up, the artist is a human being so he will be frustrated and react to it as people who achieved success through hard work sometimes react (but when people tell me a pit photographer made me where i am today that just ridiculous.).
If photographers don't take themselves seriously then no one else will.
The fact that stealing images is considered "no big deal" is because photographers have been very lazy in standing up for themselves up to this point.
I agree to a point, but when they take themselves "too seriously", they undermine their own point. I think we have a real problem that a lot of us are beginning to be out of sync with society when we value our own photography.
Yeah, Diplo was an ass, but think for a moment about the impact of what he actually did. He posted a photographer's photo of him on instagram. A lot of people might see it, but are they really looking at it? Or are they glancing at it and then forgetting it?
The photographer was correct to ask for credit (which lead to Diplo just taking it down). However, look at the amount of hand wringing outrage the photography community has heaped upon this very small infraction. Why do we do it? Personally, I think we have this fantasy that society at large will join us with pitchforks in hand and we will be valued for our expertise and skill.
But they are not going to. They are going to roll their eyes and say that we are all a bunch of cry babies because no one cares that a single picture on instagram, that no one really took notice of, did not get credit. <b>Society at large values the free exchange of information on those services more than they value the skill and talent of photographers.</b> I am not saying they are completely right, but we can either beat our heads against the wall trying to tell society they don't know what they are talking about, or we can re-evaluate our position in society, pick our battles, and shape our future.
Yeah, I do agree with the basic gist of what you're saying... With sites like instagram, etc., people are being bombarded with a non-stop stream of photographs (most of them of terrible quality), the value of a single photography becomes less and less...
But the way that Diplo responded just totally sums up the attitude of the Youtube generation that has no respect for anyone else. I was at a movie yesterday and some people were talking during the movie. We asked them to please be quiet and they yelled at us as if we were somehow wrong. People just don't care anymore. They just do what they want and tell everyone else to f-ck off
I must say that the gushing fangirl rant about Diplo being so great to gracefully pee on our heads pursuing his condescending, disrespectful and ignorant image, is pathetic to say the least.
Rather than admit he was wrong and try to make amends, he comes across as arrogant and hostile. There is a special place in hell for artists that abuse other artists.
I dunno. What can you say about a guy who has a tattoo of Florida on his shoulder?...
"Owner/Admin EDM Photographers"
Owner? LOL! Facebook owns YOU honey!
At the end of the day I consider DJ's visual artists too. ;-)
They're record player, players.
A Kardashian in his own little world. Non news, non issue, irrelevant period.
Trash.
Credit should always be given as a common courtesy especially if you didn't buy the photography. On another note, music and DJ photographers in the pit deserve some tiny amount of respect.
Sincerely,
-Chris "AoxoA" Hooper
https://aoxoa.co/austin-edm-photography-dj-photographer/