Photo agencies boycotting Oasis reunion tour due to restrictions
Photo agencies are set to boycott the rest of the Oasis reunion tour over unfair restrictions imposed on how newspapers, magazines, TV broadcasters and digital publishers can use images from the shows.
The Oasis management team have told photo agencies and publishers that they will only own the rights to any images taken for just a year. After that has passed, they will lose ownership of the images. This will ban any future usages, too.
Publishers are normally permitted to continue using the shots for pieces such as band retrospectives and tributes. This is a deal struck especially with independent photographers from agencies.
Photographers present at the first two shows in Cardiff agreed to these rules, however have since decided to boycott the remaining 39 dates in the UK and overseas after further negotiations with Oasis management failed to improve the existing terms.
The News Media Coalition (NMC) lodged a complaint after the first show. The NMC represents national newspaper groups such as Guardian News & Media, the Telegraph, the Sun and Times publisher, and News UK. It also represents many agencies such as Getty Images, Shutterstock, Associated Press, and Thomson Reuters. The NMC said these rules were “highly unusual.”
The reunion tour brings Noel and Liam Gallagher together after 16 years apart, and they are joined by Gem Archer, Andy Bell, Bonehead, and Joey Waronker. The set included 23 songs and concluded with a four-song encore that ran through ‘The Masterplan’, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’.
It is not only photographers who believe there is an air of unfairness cloaked around the huge reunion. According to Lloyds Banking Group, the Britpop brothers have cost fans over £2 million collectively in scams. Lloyds reported that fans on average lost £436 per scam. This is £200 more than the average concert ticket scam loss usually seen by the bank.
The Britpop brothers will next perform at Manchester’s Heaton Park, which has a larger capacity of 80,000. Cast will begin the show at 18:00, while Richard Ashcroft will take to the stage at 19:00. Liam and Noel are set to arrive at 20:15 and play a two-hour show.
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