Something about the entertainment industry bothers me a hell of a lot. Creative people generally like to be credited for the work they do. Why then, are so many creatives happy to disrespect and discredit the work of others?

I have seen it happen often but will give some personal examples.

I run NativeNoise.co.za at a loss (my problem for not sorting it out properly). I take photos of bands and promote them for two main reasons:
1. The love of music
2. The knowledge that it is appreciated

The first is a personal thing, but the second often goes missed.
I have never asked for financial remuneration for what I do (it has been offered once or twice). All I expect is a credit, a thank you, a place on a guest list.

In 2004 Pestroy performed live on Native Noise. The recording that I made of ‘Categories’ was later added to the Split album with The Narrow. The song was listed as Categories (raw and unplugged on UCT Radio). The band did apologise to me later, but I was never credited for my involvement in that recording.

Overgraze used my photos to design a beautiful poster… All I would have asked was for line on the bottom corner; ‘photos courtesy of NativeNoise.co.za’

Recently I walked into Roxy’s and saw a poster for a new band named Dimestore. It looked oddly familiar because all the photographs used were taken by me. Again a simple tag at the bottom of the poster is all I ask for. They used the low-res versions from my website, I would have provided Hi-Res versions if they respected my rights.

I received a friend request from Dawn Treader. Their profile picture was from a show at the Mercury a few years ago. My little tag had been cropped off. I have seen this done with a lot of my other photos.

I add two small unobtrusive tags on my photos to claim my intellectual property. Is it too much to ask that they are left there?

Very recently I screwed myself out of a credit in the Beeld newspaper. Jip did a feature on Fevertree and, when setting it up, I sent through a number of my photos from My Coke Fest. I did ask the journalist to credit me. The article contained a number of live shots by Alet Pretorius who was credited. The press photo that they used was one that I took. Press photos are never credited because the label usually pays the photographer for all rights to the images. Thus working for the label and using my own photos took away my opportunity to be credited.

This is just a bitching session really, there’s little I can do about any of the aforementioned events. I am learning that people are not inherently ready to give credit where it is due, so I have to ask/demand it.

Bands! Just think about it before you use someone else’s work. Sure the photos are of you but that doesn’t give you the rights to them. How would you feel if people were sending MP3s of your music around the world without your band name attached?