Thursday 28th June 2012 by David Renshaw | Photos by WENN.com

Photographers are staging a boycott of The Stone Roses reunion shows in Manchester this weekend after excessive claims over the image rights on photos taken at the shows.

As it stands, photographers wanting to take pictures at the Heaton Park shows have to sign a contract which stipulates that they will not use the pictures for advertising or commercial use or distribute them to any publications unapproved by the band or management.

Photographers are being offered a fee of just £1 to sign the contract and waive their rights.

Speaking about the strict contract, photographer Ian Tilton told Dangerous Minds, "This kind of contract maybe standard when a band pays for a dedicated professional photographer to shoot a performance, but not for invited Press Photographers.
 
Adding: "A photographer employed by a top band to take photos at a gig, to be used by the band for publicity purposes only would earn £350-£1000 to take the photos. If the band then want to use the photos in a book the payment would be £80 to £250 per picture. If they wanted to use it on a CD or DVD cover the fee would be an extra few hundred pounds. The Stone Roses were just willing to pay £1 for an ALL RIGHTS buyout. This is insulting exploitation at its worst. - sign the contract and give the Roses ALL RIGHTS or they won’t allow the photographer to take any pictures at the gigs."

A boycott of the three Heaton Park dates is being organised by music photgraphers. More details are available on Ian Tilton's Facebook page.

Below: 'the reunion isn't happening' - and more Stone Roses quotes