Photo Agencies Won’t Attend Oasis Tour After ‘Highly Unusual’ Image Rights Restrictions
Photo agencies will not send photographers to the remainder of the Oasis reunion tour after the British rock band demanded the rights to their images after one year.
On Monday, PetaPixel reported that the band was embroiled in a row with news media over licensing rights. Oasis wants the rights to the photos taken by professional news gatherers one year after the fact. This goes against the usual practice where photo agencies and news outlets retain copyright in perpetuity.
The Guardian reports that photo agencies will now stage a boycott for the rest of the reunion tour, which is expected to be the UK’s most profitable tour ever — generating over £1 billion ($1.36 billion).
“All news publishers, now and back in time, have created news photographs for use on the day and to illustrate future news,” Andrew Moger, the chief executive of the News Media Coalition, tells The Guardian. “News agencies want to cover the tour from Cardiff to Brazil, but not having the freedom to share news into the future is a big factor in editorial planning.”
Two dates have been played so far in the ‘Oasis Live ’25 Tour’, and the agencies agreed to the draconian demands. But members of the NMC — which includes Thomson Reuters, Associated Press, Shutterstock, Getty Images, the AFP, and others — say negotiations have failed to improve the terms and they will therefore not attend the remaining dates, which starts with a huge homecoming concert in Manchester, England, this evening.
The NMC calls the restrictions “highly unusual” and says news media have played a large part in the band’s popularity and have been publishing old images of the band playing together from before they split in 2009 to build hype for the reunion.
“Since the comeback tour was speculated upon and announced, news publishers have reached into their news archives to reproduce imagery which tells the story of the band and its influence since the mid-1990s,” Moger says. “As the band prepares for its UK and overseas legs, this is not a time for the band to tell news organizations they want to be invisible.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
