Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

Re: Model Release Required for Book on Musicians?

If the pictures were taken and they are not "works for hire," then I believe you are in jeopardy if you publish the pictures without the consent of the musicians who, if they do not retain copyright in the pictures taken by you, still retain merchandising rights in those pictures. Merchandising rights is a concept being increasingly recognized by the courts. If the book is important enough to publish, I would go the extra mile and get the releases from as many of the musicians as you can and publish only the pictures that you have releases on. The musicians should be happy to sign the releases and get the publicity engendered by the book.

Re: Model Release Required for Book on Musicians?

to answer your question! No, we cannot provide case law or citations, without more information, such as what was the purpose of taking the original picture, where was it shot..i.e in public or at a photoshoot, etc. The people you took the pictures of, have a right to publicity to control those pictures unless, they contracted those rights to you or the photographs involve matters of legitimate public interest. It is impossible to go through how that standard applies here. Without looking at the 15 pages that the lawyer sent you, I cant comment on whether he is correct or not. As for your assertion that publishers have never been sued for putting out someting similiar without first obtaining permission, in some manner, I find hard to believe. I personaly would consider a published book a commercial venture and thus releases would be necessary, however, I do have not done any research on the subject, and without looking at all the facts and circumstances of each photo, a general conclusion would be hard to come by. Nevertheless, it seems that the legal department of this company has taken a position that they need releases or they will not publish, so I would advise spending your efforts on obtaining them, rather then trying to convince them that they are wrong. There may be some photos which clearly fall outside the need for release, so if you have a mix of both, you will have a better shot.

good luck

Re: Model Release Required for Book on Musicians?

It is my best guess that the attorneys are correct. To over-simplify the answer in most instances a release is necessary the exception is if the photograph is of a general nature and not of a specific subject which I presume is not the case with these photos . If you want to discuss this further you may contact my office to set up a consultation @718-834-0087.