Rude rapper refuses to give credit where it's due

Although the economic value of a credit is zero, the important of receiving one, or having your images tagged in sites likes Instagram, carries much currency for photographers, especially when someone is using their images, and not bothering to pay for the privilege.

Recently, Melbourne-based music photographer, Michelle Grace Hunder, got caught up in a storm when an image she shot of hip hop artist, Danny Brown, for Howl & Echoes, was used by the musician on Instagram, without permission or paying the courtesy of tagging her image with @michelleghunder. The editor-in-chief of Howl & Echo, Lauren Ziegler, sent Brown a direct message on Twitter requesting a credit. His response was less than cordial. The exchange was made public by youth music social influencer, Nic Kelly.

Suffice to say, Brown was less than pleased at being called out over the incident and responded with much vitriol.

“I was a big Danny Brown fan,” she says. “It was the third time I’ve shot him too; I always put my hand up to cover his shows because I do love his music. This has totally changed my opinion of him. It’s hugely disappointing.”

However, as ugly this incident has been, it has shone a very bright light on the issue of copyright, and the importance of respecting the craft of photographers, and providing a credit where appropriate. For many music photographers, whose love of their work centres around what they produce, instead of how big a paycheque is, the tagging of their work on social media is paramount. “The only possible way [music photographers] have for any future paid work is to build a solid following and be commissioned directly by artists. Crediting and tagging artists is literally everything for a music photographer,” Hunder says.

Hunder, who has been shooting professionally in the music scene for the last five years is, sadly, accustomed to the public, and musicians, not respecting her art. “This exact same thing happened to me with the same artist two years ago, and I chose to stay quiet, because I was scared of the backlash,” she says. “This time I think that enough is enough. You don’t learn something is wrong if no one tells you.” Hunder’s view is that photography, and especially live music photography, is undervalued and copyright is not understood.

One of the positives to come out of the Danny Brown debacle is the waves of support from photographers and artists around the world. In many ways, what happened with Hunder symbolises the constant struggle for photographers to gain recognition, respect and remuneration for their craft. “The general assumption is that anything shared online is fair game for anyone to use however they want, and that’s simply not the case,” Hunder says. “In a world where it’s all about sharing imagery online, I think there should be better education for people to understand the value of art in the online world.” And Hunder thinks that the issue stems from a lack of understanding about how the art of photography and copyright works in the real world. It’s an issue that photographers everywhere constantly face. “Some people mistakenly believe if they appear in a photo they own it or have rights to use it in whatever way they wish, which isn’t true,” Hunder says.