(I know this is long but I'm desperate here!)
If you're not into concert photography you probably don't want to waste your time reading all this.
I hope it's ok to ask this question in this forum...

I know there are a couple "pro" photographers on here specializing in concert photography and I was hoping someone experienced in that genre can help me out.

I work for a local paper and have been shooting more and more concerts but I have a couple questions.

Some venues have a process and contact for getting a media / photo pass. Others do not. Those who handle the media in a professional manner with their procedures
are great and I have no problems there.
The problem is the smaller venues without some sort of media rep.

Recently I tried to get in contact with a venue to shoot a particular band
(this venue is 2 hours away from where I live BTW)
and called every number listed and sent emails to every email address listed on the website as well, requesting their standard procedure or for just requesting a media pass. I spelled out who I was working for, with contact information and everything that I could provide them. I heard nothing back.
I never managed to speak with anyone...
The day of the show (I went hopeful!) the guy at the door said "no photography."
I explained who I was and who I was working for and he told me "You have to request a media pass." I told him that I done all that.
I asked him "Who handles that for your club?"
He said "I don't know."
He asked around. Nobody at the club knew. ()
I asked "How can I get a media pass when nobody handles that?
He said "I don't know what to tell you.."
He asked the tour manager who told him all media passes have to be approved in advance.
He wouldn't let me talk to the tour manager.
I'm sure he was busy... I understand that..

Anyway..
At a Katy Perry show I met a guy who regularly shoots for Pollstar.com and he told me to bypass the venue all together and to go directly to the band/tour manager to get access.
He said that way, when the band arrives, your name is already on the list. We were both running around shooting and never exchanged cards so I don't even know his name!
(I'd email him directly to ask him all this if I could..)
We only conversed for a minute or two..

My question is this:
How do you find WHO that person is for a particular band?
Looking at some upcoming bands websites there is all sorts
of contact info if you're a fan and want to be added to
a mailing list and such but I have found no way to legitimately
contact a person officially affiliated with any of these bands.
There has to be a way to find this information out for any band
I would think anyway.

Can someone provide any helpful tips or hints on what
is my best hope for avoiding the hand at the door?

Sorry this has been quite wordy..

Thanks so much in advance...

The first step would be to find out if the band has a publicist. They're the first person you should check with if you can get through to them directly. Next up if you cant find their publicist would be their management or even the label if need be. They will put you through to the correct party. Also always try to get an onsite contact, usually the tour manager unless you're in a major city where they might have label/pr present, this way when you get there and are not on the list (which will happen) you have someone to call.

If it's an alternative act (ie. band you might find on the set for Warped Tour), you can usually find the publicist's contact information on their MySpace.

Unless you are a house photographer for the venue, they will usually not be able to help or care to help. Band PR, label PR, or tour mgmt are the only ways to get "on the list". There are several online publicist databases, they are expensive $750/year+. Otherwise, do what I did, grow your contact list organically, every gig will give you a new person who knows a dozen others in the biz. One tip, don't trade your photos for access. Give them watermarked low rez, don't let them make you think you "owe them" for getting you in. Happy to help more if I can, just PM me.
Gene

So far none of the bands I'm looking at have any "official" contact info in their
website. Myspace or otherwise...
It's frustrating..

SOMEBODY at the venue can pass on a request to the band...
grrrrr....

You can often find a contact person's name by looking for press releases related to the artist or current tour. Then use Google to search for their contact information or the name of the company for whom they work. Record labels usually have a few publicists in a central office that can provide you the right "next person" to contact or the name of the tour manager, etc. Definitely network with other concert photographers you meet at shows and exchange contact info. I've gotten very good contact info from other photographers.

depending on the venue and the size of the band, see if a local radio station is covering sponsoring them......sometimes you can be the stations photographer of choice and they can get you in........but again...depending...around here there is a large local radio station that sponsors basically every show........i know of a guy who is the station photographer and he gets in to all the shows.....

I think either make it easier to get a pass or
just let photographers in. Everyone there has
a point and shoot with the flashes going off
like fireworks. I'd be the one guy there NOT using
flash and aggravating the band!

Im working as a photographer at a big local news paper over here and most of the time i get to shoot music shows ,
been doing this for 2-3 years now .

like you wrote the guy at the enterance isnt suppost to know nothing , his just the guard and stuff +all media \ press passes are suppost to be ready before the show , couple days before .
also if your taking pictures for the paper itself , you should ask the writer who manage your articles to get a contact with the company who does publicity for that band\show so they will know your coming to take photos for an article .
if your coming to take photos for your self , try to figure our whos the company that does publicity again and talk to thier music manager , also you need try make contacts with managers and companys who bring bands to preform .

From what I've done myself for photo passes to concerts, and interviews of artists(usually the same person deals with the photo pass stuff of tours), is check their website. On their website, they usually have an email for their PR/Press person or their manager, contact one of them. If the site doesn't have that info, check their myspace for it... If not, go to google. I usually google: " " press contact info or manager's email. Something of the like.

If none of those work, then I go to sites like Spin.com(music magazine/website) and look for an interview with the band. Usually at the end of the article, there is an email for the person who did/wrote the interview/article. I contact them, seeing if they can help me out. It's worked. I did it for Tegan and Sara, for an interview(cause their manager on their site wouldn't get back to me, hah). I emailed Peter(who is one of the main writers at Spin.com) and explained myself and what I was wanting and he forwarded my email to their manager who then got back to me. Now I have built up a good relationship with their manager cause of him!

Some good tips here <Thanks!>
The Myspace/Facebook/Google searches has turned up nothing
so far on the 2 bands sheduled near here in the next
month or so.
I'll keep shaking the bushes....

Thanks guys!!

what bands are those ?

It is absurd that everyone shoots with their cell phone cameras or point & shoots (because the venues can't control it anymore), but they won't let other photogs shoot. At some venues and in some ads for shows I've even seen "no long lenses", which is because of the realization that they can't stop small cameras, so they'll still attempt to stop semi-pros and pros instead. Having said that, I can understand some restrictions because you don't want 50 photographers hogging the area in front of the stage, spoiling the show for those who paid to get in. And yet, YouTube proves that everyone is already shooting everything. As cameras get smaller and smaller, it can't be stopped and IMO it certainly doesn't hurt the band (in spite of their attempts to control their own image) unless you want to argue that a YouTube presence stops people from buying the band's records or DVDs.

I think one of the things you have to prove to the band's publicist is how your local paper helps them. Prepare a demographic breakdown of the readers or show some research that your advertising or circulation department has prepared that attempts to prove that people who read the paper are likely to attend the band's concerts and/or buy their records (even though your photos will appear after the fact). Is this a real local newspaper with an arts section? Or is it primarily a "penny-saver" with a few articles in it? Does the newspaper get concert/club advertising or local record store advertising? If not, it might be hard to prove that you're not simply trying to take advantage of your Press ID in order to take photos of something you happen to like. In other words, is your newspaper really assigning you to cover these shows or is this something that you've decided to do on your own?

I'm never shooting unsolicited (except for an occasional free outdoor concert), so I'm always already on the band's list. But even then, there's issues. Sometimes a patron will complain if I'm shooting with flash or if I'm in their way, even for a moment. Sometimes the door guy can't find my name because there are usually multiple lists. Sometimes the band forgets. Sometimes the band is supposed to get me a VIP seat, but they don't and the place is so crowded, it's hard to find a shooting position. In small venues, sometimes there's an area next to the stage to shoot from, but it's frequently crowded with patrons who don't belong there and the venue doesn't bother to get people out of there, even if they're standing in front of a fire door.

At big shows, they will tend to let the press shoot the first three songs only. I think this is reasonable because in most papers and magazines, only one photo gets published, if you're lucky. They don't need to shoot an entire show to get one usable photo. But I'm shooting for the band's websites and archives and while I don't overshoot (I tend to shoot no more than about 100 images per show), I do like to cover the whole show, especially because "special guests" usually appear later in a show. In fact, I usually never shoot the first three songs because I'm waiting for everyone, especially security, to "settle down" and get relaxed. Even when I have permission to shoot, I don't necessarily have permission to shoot with flash and so I try to keep low key.

While it won't get you in the door, one other thing I've noticed at shows is that people will walk up to me and say, "oh, you must really be a pro". I think they're looking at my long lens, but I always ask, "why do you say that?" They reply, "because you're wearing ear plugs." When you look like you don't want to be there, people think that you truly are a working pro and the plugs confirm for them that you must do this all the time. (And you should wear them anyway because even one over-loud show, which they all are these days, can give you tinnitus and permanently destroy your hearing.) And you should also dress like a pro. That doesn't mean you have to wear a tux like a wedding photographer, but don't look like you just rolled out of bed to shoot the show.

This is a very good point. Whenever I shoot a live show I always have ear plugs. Very important cause you can lose your hearing so quick if you do a lot of this type of work.

Evan

zoetmb wrote:


While it won't get you in the door, one other thing I've noticed at shows is that people will walk up to me and say, "oh, you must really be a pro". I think they're looking at my long lens, but I always ask, "why do you say that?" They reply, "because you're wearing ear plugs." When you look like you don't want to be there, people think that you truly are a working pro and the plugs confirm for them that you must do this all the time. (And you should wear them anyway because even one over-loud show, which they all are these days, can give you tinnitus and permanently destroy your hearing.) And you should also dress like a pro. That doesn't mean you have to wear a tux like a wedding photographer, but don't look like you just rolled out of bed to shoot the show.

zoetmb

what you say is so true. i guess it is the same everywhere (i am shooting in china). Especially the ear plugs. Last May i was shooting in a concert in the Bird's Nest (last year's Olympic opening ceremony venue) in Beijing, i was walked pass right in front of one giant speaker (about 10ft high) as the music suddenly came alive and my head was literally blown apart as the sound was so loud!

Obtaining press is easier than you'd think, provided you can convince the band that spending one of their guest list spots on you is worth their time.

Trying to contact the venue directly is worthless 95% of the time.

If there's a particular concert/show I want to shoot, myspace/google/facebook/whatever the headlining band AND OPENING ACTS. Name drop whomever is relevant that you have shot or media outlets you have worked for and provide links to your images. For instance, I tell people I've shot this similar band, that relevant band, these shows, Lollapalooza, Warped Tour, etc. Then people go to my website and know I know what I'm doing, and therefore make for good press. I'm sure one of the bands will at least take notice. Ask if there's any PR agents or tour managers that are better equipped at handling passes.

It also helps to know local promoters and venue managers and press editors, etc.


I'm not bragging when I say I can land a pass to about 1/3 of the shows I attempt to shoot by following this formula.

zoetmb wrote:


At big shows, they will tend to let the press shoot the first three songs only. I think this is reasonable because in most papers and magazines, only one photo gets published, if you're lucky. They don't need to shoot an entire show to get one usable photo.

I was at a free festival show for a big name band and got up right in front of the stage. After the 3 songs one of the bands 'guys' came around and told me I needed to put my 'pro rig' away and that I should not even be using it without a press pass, but that I was more than welcome to use my point and shoot, guess I need to get me one of those.

Something I want to add on this post, especially for anyone starting out, is to watch out for rights grab contracts when you're shooting shows. They're starting to gain traction and show up more and more because people keep signing them. NEVER sign one of these contracts. If you want to give away your photos for free thats your choice, but don't give away your right to do so. Below is an example I just got handed tonight in order to shoot a show. I refused to sign it as written and therefore couldn't shoot. It might be very hard to walk away but that's what you have to do sometimes.