In early April, Australian-based photograoher Rohan Anderson had to deal with how alternative band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus address his claim about a photo he took of the band, Peta Pixel said in a report.
The photo in question, was taken during the band's concert at the UTS Glasshouse in Sydney on November 14 of last year, according to Anderson's account. Upon spotting the photo filtered, reduced in quality and cropped with his watermark out of the picture and subsequently posted on the band's official Facebook account without credit, Anderson decided to reach out Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
Anderson's initial email to the band's management drew a quick response following Facebook comments from him and a few of the photographer's friends about the copyright violation the operators of the Facebook page has not followed. Anderson was later credited after five hours, but the other demands he had made, including a removal of the photo were not granted.
Anderson's next email and Facebook private message restating his legal rights to the photo did not elicit a proper response from the operators of the band's Facebook page, if based on the screengrabs of their exchanges. Peta Pixel pointed out that one of the page's response was of a laughing emoticon with tongue out, followed by a statement that read "lol go for it."
The next email responses from the band's management had surprised Anderson, as he was taken aback from the band's crass behavior and threat to ban him from Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' shows or festivals. When Anderson insisted that he will take legal action should the band not comply, the image was subsequently removed, but not before getting in touch with the Sydney publication Anderson had worked with for the band's concert. Peta Pixel said that Anderson's employer expressed their full support for him, and went as far as blacklisting the band for their unprofessional conduct.
The band had decided to gather public support by publishing a tweet with the hashtag '#rohanisatool.' Peta Pixel observed that the operators of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' social accounts have backtracked their online statements either because the response was not positive or that a public relations manager has decided to step in. The last Twitter post finally acknowledged Anderson's earlier claim, and promised to pay the photo.
Although the band has yet to respond to Peta Pixel about the incident, Anderson was comfortable with the fact that he was able to assert his claim on his photo. In an update on his blog post, he said, "I think this is a big win for not only me, but all photographers around the world."
