If you're a music photographer, pricing your work can be a struggle at any stage of your career. Traditionally, guarding one's pricing and rates has felt like an asset or perhaps a necessity. This approach isn't specific to music photography, but it is one that is very common in this field.

I'd argue that being as transparent about rates and pricing is something only benefits the music photography community. If we can leave egos aside, understanding what our peers charge and earn can give us both goals and the aspirations to set our sights even higher.

To this end, I wanted to create a comprehensive music photography rates sheet that can serve as a community resource to encourage transparency about rates. Enter the Music Photography Rates & Pricing spreadsheet.

If you're looking for what to charge for music photography or have experience to share, read on.

If you want the sheet, skip to the end, but I'd encourage you to read about why this resource was created first.

Why is pay transparency necessary?

Like most aspects of business and employment, pay transparency benefits those doing the work. Conversely, being closed about what we charge only saves egos and protects low budgets.

Not sharing rates gives leverage to those who would take advantage of our passions and talents. It feeds on the doubts and insecurity of creatives and reinforces the narrative that we have to lower our fees or miss out on opportunities.

I feel sharing rates about what we charge as music photographers gives us strength collectively. It gives points of reference — both high and low — for the value of our work.

Rate transparency empowers photographers

Transparency about rates empowers photographers. Here's an example that was shared on the Music Photography Discord recently, where a beta of the rates sheet was shared in advance of its public launch.

Knowledge is power. Photographers being able to negotiate higher rates from the confidence of community knowledge is the exact reason we need rate transparency.

Creating a solution for the music photography community

With this in mind, I've created a Google form and linked Google sheet that I hope can serve as community reference point for rates in music photography.

The intent of this form and data are to give us a transparent look into music photography rates. The goal is to show real world rate reporting as a reference for estimates and fees so that we can help negotiate and leverage our value more effectively as music photographers. 

The more we can share and understand what clients are paying and what are peers are charging, the more power we have to advocate for our worth. All submissions are anonymous. All data, high and low, is valuable and encouraged.

Contribute to the Music Photography Rates Sheet

If you're reading this and have ever been paid for music photography, I'd strongly encourage you to enter work history and rates. The strength of this data relies on as diverse entries as possible giving as much detail as possible.

If you're looking to contribute rates, it's helpful to view the sheet first to understand the formatting. Take a look, then add your experience.

From local bands to world tours, if you've done work as a music photographer, we need your data. All entries are anonymous, but you can name the artist or clients if you wish.

And here's a plain link to the submission form:

https://forms.gle/zHxJ9g4DVPZCQS7T7

What do Music Photographers Charge?

If you're creating an estimate or you've been asked for a rate and want to a reference for what other photographers are charging, look no further.

You can see past entries from this form in the reference sheet for music photo rates here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n-9lzJ9aKmkT_N_cNsV4-xvz2otvCIZfTCzVn4Zs04c/edit?usp=sharing

I hope this resource is helpful. If you're looking for more help with business and pricing, or if you're looking for a place for community, join us on the Music Photography Discord.

The post The Music Photography Rates & Pricing Spreadsheet appeared first on ishootshows.com.

If you're new to live music photography, you may be new to photographing using high ISO settings. A common question for newer music photographers is, “what ISO setting should I use for concert photography?”

While there's no single setting that will work for all situations, overall what I'd say this:

Use the ISO you need to make the images you want.

Why avoid high ISO?

The biggest avoidance with using high ISO is due a decrease in image quality. Generally, with digital sensors, image quality declines in a few notable ways above (and below) the base or native ISO of the sensor. The base ISO is the sensitivity at which no digital gain is applied to the image capture. When photographing above the base ISO, the signal is amplified, and too with it digital nose.

Digital noise is the prime symptom that most people associate with photographing at high ISO. In addition, dynamic range, color fidelity and more also suffer.

High ISO is a compromise

In photography, there are three variables that dictate exposure:

• Shutter speed
• Aperture
• ISO

With concert photography, one is working in low light and the production. Using primes or even f/2.8 lenses, we're very often photographing at max aperture to let in as much light as possible. So here, aperture is fixed as well.

That leaves aperture and ISO as the main variables we may change in the dimmest venues for live music. So we are often left with the choice — motion blur or grain.

All things being equal, most photographers would prefer a pristine image, without significant blur or grain. That said, within the constraints of exposure, we must choose our compromises.

It's natural for many photographers to want to avoid excessive grain or digital noise, particularly if you're not used to seeing it in your images.

Why high ISO doesn't matter in music photography

So, back to the question — what's the “best” ISO for music photography? My answer is always this:

Use the ISO you need to make the images you want.

Now here's why:

If the “worst” thing someone says about your images are that they're a little grainy, that means you did everything else right. You nailed the composition, the angle, the moment, the emotion.

Consider every classic rock photo that's ever etched itself in your memory. I'm not looking at the iconc photos of Lynn Goldsmith or Jim Marshall or Mick Rock or Pennie Smith and thinking, “Incredible, but a little too grainy.”

Don't sweat the technique. This includes motion blur, focus, or any other technical bit of execution or image quality. So long as they're not distracting, these aspects can be often less important than the moment, lighting and emotional impact of the image.

My personal suggestions for ISO

I'm a hugely technical photographer and pride myself on my execution. Still, I will never hesitate to choose an image that captures a decisive moment imbued with emotion and passion over a technically precise image that lacks these qualities.

These days, most full frame cameras perform wonderfully at high ISO. Even with APS-C sensors, you should be able to comfortably use ISO 3200-6400 with proper exposure.

On my Nikon Z 9, I will use up to ISO 12800 without much hesitation. Most of my concert photography lives between ISO 3200 and 6400. It's a rare day when I photograph at ISO 1600 or below as a professional music photographer.

The post The Best ISO for Concert Photography appeared first on ishootshows.com.

As I always say, music photography is all about “low light, fast action and high ISO.” All these challenges mean that your camera gear can matter a lot more than in other genres of photography. This especially includes the right lenses for concert photography. At the very least, having the right gear makes the task of music photography much, much easier.

Do you have the right lenses for concert photography? Here's my recommendation on the essential lenses to photograph live music.

Choosing the right lenses for concert photography can seem like a daunting task. In this article, we'll cover the main lenses used by professional live music photographers. With this focus, this does exclude faster prime lenses, which can be extremely useful if not necessary for small, dimly lit clubs.

This list of lenses covers zooms exclusively, due to the fact that the utilitarian nature of a zoom lens has massive benefits for music photography, where the photographing positions, access and time are often extremely limited.

As such, the utility and convenience of zoom lenses is almost universally embraced by professional music photographers. If you're interested in seeing my full kit for music photography, visit my Concert Photography Gear Guide.

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Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the lens recommendations!

The Holy Trinity of f/2.8 Zooms

For professional music photographers, there's really only three main lenses that everyone seems to agree on: the “holy trinity” of f/2.8 zooms. An ultra-wide zoom, a midrange zoom, and a telephoto zoom.

In my kit, this set includes:

• Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8

You have everything from ultra-wide at 14mm to telephoto at 200mm covered in three lenses in a constant f/2.8 aperture. This three-lens kit covers nearly everything you could reasonably be expected to photograph as a live music photographer.

For professional music photographers, these three lenses are the ones you'll find in everyone's kits, almost without exception.

Now, let's look at these individual lenses and their uses in music photography, but slightly out of order. Instead, I'll cover these lenses in the order that I recommend you buy them as you build your photography kit.

24-70mm f/2.8 — The Midrange Zoom

A 24-70mm f/2.8 is called a midrange zoom because it covers the middle range of focal lengths, from wide angle to short telephoto. For most general concert photography from a photo pit, where you're not very close or very far from your subjects, this lens is often the most used. The 24mm to 70mm range is simply super useful for general music photography.

While a 24-70mm lens may not have the visual impact of an ultra-wide or a tighter telephoto lens, its often a single “do it all” kind of zoom range. The exceptions to this are for very large festivals where you have photo pit access, but when the stages are so tall that a 70-200mm f/2.8 becomes more useful.

For most photographers, the 24-70mm f/2.8 is the first zoom lens you should buy. It will excel in all but the very smallest venues right up to arenas and amphitheaters.

70-200mm f/2.8 — The Telephoto Zoom

After the midrange, a 70-200mm f/2.8 is an essential lens for live music photography. For most music photographers, this is the second zoom lens you should buy to round out your kit.

The telephoto range here lets you easily close the distance between you and performers, allowing for isolation and beautiful close-ups.

A 70-200mm is most useful for larger venues such as arenas, amphitheaters and festival setups. In addition, a telephoto zoom will be perfect for photographing individual performers and especially members of the band who may be further back, such as drummers. Remember: Don't forget the drummer!

14-24mm f/2.8 — The Ultra-wide Zoom

Lastly, the 14-24mm f/2.8 is the final zoom lens that most concert photographers will want to add to their bag. This is an extreme wide angle lens that gives dramatic perspective distortion.

An ultra-wide lens like the 14-24mm is ideal when you can get very close to a subject or the front of the stage, as well as for capturing atmosphere of a venue and the scale of a crowd at concerts.

My Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8S is the perfect lens for photographing a massive crowd in an arena or amphitheater. It's also one of my favorite lenses to use to photograph drummers when I have stage access.

The reason I recommend buying an ultra-wide lens last is that due the extremely wide perspective, the ideal situations for using such a lens are more limited than the midrange and telephoto zooms we've detailed above. In addition, the look of an ultra-wide lens is very particular and even with the ideal circumstances, the effect can come off as more one note

Summary of Essential Lenses for Concert Photography

These are my recommendations for the essential lenses for concert photography. Almost every single image of my photography portfolio has been made with one of these three lenses.

Of course, there are exceptions to these recommendations. Read by article on the Best Lenses for Live Music Photography for more options including prime lenses, as well as a lot of examples of images made with each lens!

The post Essential Lenses for Concert Photography appeared first on ishootshows.com.

So whether you're photographing for an editorial publication, an artist/band, or just want to know the standard images to create for live music, here's a list of common images to make as a music photographer.

First off, I'm not saying that you must create the images in this concert photography shotlist for every single client or every assignment. Everyone's vision is different, and concert photography is no different.

I'm presenting this list of common live music photography images as a reference for inspiration if you're a new music photographer or are looking for inspiration to increase the variety of your work.

Setlist

Fans always love seeing a setlist for a tour or show. The diehard fans will always try and score a setlist after the show. The next best thing you can give them as a concert photographer is a photo of the setlist.

Fans on the Barricade

Fans make live music, full stop. Showing fans seeing their favorite artists, rocking out, and enjoying the set is a great concert photography image to make. As I like to say, sometimes the best image isn't on stage, but right behind you.

Full Stage

Similar to images of fans, setting the context for a concert is essential for concert coverage. Tight images of a band member or artist could be made anywhere. What places it at your specific venue?

Venue/Production

Related to full stage shots, production photos focus on the production itself — lighting, effects, pyro, etc. These are images that capture the lighting design and full treatment, as well as the experience the tour creates.

Full Group/Band Photo

If you're photographing a band, it's essential to make an image that shows every member as clearly as possible. This can be a challenge for larger stages or bands with more than 4 members, but this image can be critical to concert photography storytelling.

Individuals of every band member

Beyond the full band photo, make images of every band member. This is often the easiest kind of image to make and one that you will likely gravitate towards naturally. But don't just focus on the lead singer or guitarist — make sure to create one great image of each band member.

The Drummer!

Drummers are special and sacred. Drummer photos are often the most difficult and challenging, but the exact reason why I'm calling them out now even after the above advice. As I always say, “Don't forget the drummer!”

Multiple Combinations of Band Members

We've covered individuals and we've covered full band images. What's left? Different combinations of members. Drummer and bass player. Guitarist and bass player. Singer and guitarist. You get the idea.

Multiple Angles

In essence this list is all about covering different perspectives, but what I mean here specifically is to make sure you get as much coverage as possible from different vantage points. For example, getting a variety of images from the stage left, center and stage right. This is in addition to images from the photo pit, on stage (if you have the access), front of house, etc.

Multiple Focal lengths

In addition to covering your angles, try to vary the perspectives you make in terms of using different focal lengths. If all your images are made with the same or similar focal lengths, you're going to get a very similar look to your images.

The standards of photojournalism apply to music photography in creating a wide, mid and tight shots as part of the storytelling.

The Reverse from Stage

If you're blessed with all access and the ability to photograph from stage, there's nothing like a reverse shot to make the most of that access. A reverse shot is made from stage, looking out to the audience. Literally the reverse of what the audience sees.

Artist Closeups

I sometimes like to refer to music photography as “low light action portraiture.” Artist closeups are essentially tight portraits of a performer. Instead of studio lighting, these are simply portraits using the existing stage lighting, but which otherwise may fall into a portrait study that creates isolation and insight.

Details

Similar to images of the setlist, it's always nice to have detail shots from a concert to fill out a set. Perhaps it's a closeup of a guitar, or the shoes a performer is wearing. Maybe it's an aspect of the show or venue that gives greater context or place setting. Whatever the detail, these images add variety and depth to the storytelling of your concert photography.

Artist/Fan Interaction

This one is situational and something that's pretty obvious in the moment, but artist-fan interaction photos are one that I live for. Particularly when you have photo pit access, this one is always great to create and gives you that feeling of being right there in the best seat in the house.

Special Effects (Pyro, Cryo, Confetti, etc)

If a concert has any special effects, these are a great element to capture that that help ground your images in a particular tour. Similar to capturing the particular lighting effects in the aforementioned production images, special effects at a concert are often one of the most memorable aspects of a tour or performance.

And more

There are countless ways to approach concert photography and images to make. These are just a few and by no means how you must approach photographing live music. These are just some of the images on my mental checklist when I do concert photography.

In addition this list doesn't even start to get into the more artistic kinds of images you can make in live music photography. From abstracts to silhouettes to motion blur or more stylistic images.

More importantly, don't limit yourself to how others approach concert photography. Photograph live music the way you want to. Take the ideas and inspiration that align with the images you want to make. It's really that simple.

Summary

If you're new to music photography or just looking for ideas on how to approach concert photography, I hope this article gives you some ideas. This is no by no means a complete or definitive concert photography shotlist, but just some standard images you can make as a music photographer.

Your style and how you approach music photography can be as different as you make it. But if you're looking for conventional images to make, I hope this list gives you some ideas. Have fun in the pit.

The post Concert Photography Shotlist appeared first on ishootshows.com.

The photo pass is a printed credential that identifies you to security and venue staff as being approved to photograph a band for most all medium to large concerts. It might take the form of a wristband, a fabric sticker, or a laminated card. Regardless of the form, the photo pass is among the holy grail (short of the AAA, or Access All Areas pass) for so many concert photographers, because it's the key to getting up close and into the photo pit for your favorite bands.

In this definitive guide, I'm going to explain what a photo pass is, why you need it, who grants permission, what the considerations are for those approved for photo passes, how to get a photo pass, and how to find the contact information for the gatekeepers of photo passes for concert photography.

NOTES:

The premise of the photo pass relies on the age-old barter system. You, the photographer and by extension your publication, are providing a valuable service to the artist (press coverage), and in exchange, the publicist is allowing you valuable access to their client. That's it. That's the deal.

It goes without saying that you must be shooting for a legitimate publication and are requesting credentials on the level. You will not go far unless everything is on the level, and if you lie to secure credentials, you will be blacklisted in short order.

Also, it's worth noting that while you can request access for anything you like, you are not entitled to access of any kind. It's within the right and in fact it is the job of the gatekeepers to ensure that only qualified photographers and publications are given access to their artists, and that the images produced produce the highest return on investment.

Now with that out of the way, let's get on with it.

What is a Photo Pass?

A photo pass is generally a fabric sticker that is produced by a tour that identifies people who have been approved with photo access. There may be other sticker passes for the tour that identity guest passes, VIP, artist meet and greet, and so forth. For smaller tours, there may be one generic pass for all uses and the specific use is written on it when it's handed out (ie, writing ‘PHOTO' for a photo pass, ‘VIP' for VIP, etc.

Every concert on a tour, venue security will be provided with a sheet that shows the appearance of each pass and what that pass can do. A security meeting should inform venue staff of what photo restrictions are for the headlining artist, which are generally enforced for all bands on the bill.

Why Do You Need a Photo Pass?

Most concert venues of this size may have a restriction on fans bringing professional photography equipment in — this rule is generally stated when you purchase a ticket and it's often printed on the backs of tickets from big vendors like Ticketmaster or Live Nation.

Artist management or an artist's publicist may want to limit photography to a small number of approved editorial publications because it helps them ensure only qualified or preferred outlets have media access. Thus, a photo pass is a simply a way of identifying approved photographers to venue staff and security.

It's important to understand that, at a certain point, media coverage to an artist can be viewed as a liability, especially to those entrusted with protecting and artist and their interests. Highly vetting which publications have access to their artists is simply a way of ensuring that they are presented in a way that benefits their clients.

How Do I Get A Photo Pass to a Concert?

So, how do you get a photo pass for a concert? There are just a few scenarios in which you need a photo pass (excluding music festivals, which are a different kind of beast).

1. You're shooting for an editorial publication
2. You're a wire agency shooter
3. You're shooting for the artist directly, but without higher access (such as AAA)
4. You're shooting for the venue, promoter, a brand, etc

We'll focus mainly first use, as that's the most common situation by far. In order to get a photo pass, you have to make a request and be approved by a gatekeeper, generally an artist's publicist or a promoter.

There are a lot of factors in requesting a photo pass and how requests are judged. First, there's the reason for the request. If you're a photographer who is just starting out and you're building your portfolio, from a band's interest, there is very little reason to grant access. Publicists will want to understand that the photos are being used for a purpose that will do work for them — generally provide positive coverage of their artist that promotes the tour, the current album, etc.

If you're posting images of the concert to Instagram with no publication, no written review, then in the eyes of a publicist or other gatekeeper, there's almost no reason at all to grant access for a photo pass. You have your best chance at getting a photo pass by showing that you're providing value to them.

Big Publications are Better

The most reliable way to get a photo pass is to shoot for the publications already covering the kind of concerts you want to cover in your city or area. Those are the publications that have the relationships with publicists already and are providing the value that bands want and are approving for credentials.

Established publications with a wide reach in their audience and readership are going to have to have the best access for your larger tours playing arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums, on down to all other small venues.

Smaller Publications Can Still Work

However, shooting for smaller publications can still grant you a lot of opportunities as well. From blogs to online music magazines, smaller publications may lose out for the biggest shows, but they should still provide good access for the midsized venues like clubs and theaters in your city.

Connecting with a Publication to Shoot Concert Photography

So you know that you need to be shooting for a publication in order to get a photo pass in most all instances. How do you connect with a publication and become a contributing photographer?

Make a Portfolio

First, you'll need a portfolio — it's the easiest way to showcase your work to a photo editor and illustrate the value you can bring to a team. Instagram may be fine, but it's not necessarily an ideal experience for the viewer if they want to see higher resolution work, and your Instagram feed may not be a true showcase of your very best work in the highly curated format you would want if you need to make a strong impression. For that, a dedicated portfolio website is ideal. Maybe a PDF. What you don't want to do is send a ZIP of loose images. No one's got time for that.

Regardless of the format, you want your portfolio

you'll need to do the research. A few things to consider:

• Who is covering the concerts in your area you want to access to?
• Do they have regular contributors already?
• Can you provide value to them outside of their normal coverage?

How to Request a Photo Pass

Requesting a photo pass is very straight forward, but it requires setting expectations. When you request a photo pass, the recipient — most often an artist's publicist — just wants to know one thing: the publication you're shooting for. The reason for this is that they want to know the expected return on the access they might grant. Again, they want to know that they images produced are doing work for them.

Publicists are also short on time. Imagine being the gatekeeper for perhaps 50-100 tour dates and approving or denying tens of photographers for each show. You can imagine that the number of requests for any given artist for a year would number in the hundreds if not thousands. Given this fact that a publicist may be dealing with a large number of press requests for a concert — not to mention all the other aspects of their job, like press releases, coordinating interviews, editorial coverage, etc — they just want the facts in a request for a photo pass.

Email subject line:

[Artist] Photo Pass Request [Date][City][Venue]

Email body:

Hi,

I'm a contributing photographer for [Publication]. We'd love to cover [Artist's] show at [Venue] in [City, State] on [Date]. My assigning editor is CC'd. Here's a link to an example of past coverage we've done: [link].

Is it possible to set a ticket and photo credentials for this show?

Thanks,
Todd Owyoung, Music Photographer

In the US, it's most common for photography credentials to be handled by a publicity agency. In other countries, a promoter may be the point of contact.

Regardless, this template assumes a few things:

1. This is a genuine assignment (it needs to be stated)
2. You are working for an editorial publication
3. You as a contributor are requesting credentials instead of your editor

I suggest this template simply because when I was shooting for newspapers, zines and other publications, I often preferred to make these requests whenever possible. Smaller publications may also allow or even expect that  photographers make their own requests. If you're shooting for a wire agency, you may also be making your own requests for access.

In most instances, photo passes should be requested by an editor and not the photographer, so keep this in mind.

Needless to say, it should be stressed that requests like this should NEVR be faked. Publicists know the major publications for each market and they know the music/photo editors for the publications that they work with regularly. If you request photo passes under false pretenses, you'll be blacklisted. It's as simple as that. The music industry is built on trust, so please consider all of this.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the tips of the trade on finding the contact information for photo passes.

When to Request a Photo Pass

Generally, publicists prefer requests for coverage close to the date of a concert. If you make a request at the start of a tour announcement, you'll likely be told to follow up closer to the show.

What this means is generally two weeks before the show, though some PR prefer a week before or even the week of a show.

The reason for this is publicists often have limited space on the guest list and allotments for photo passes. They don't want to commit to locking down a list because they want to ensure the best coverage for their clients, and that means larger publications.

However, if you're a small publication, you might just luck out. If there's space on the list and the publicist hasn't filled their slots, you may get a last minute approval the day of.

When Will You Hear Back on Approvals

Going off the above, you may not get confirmation of a photo pass until the week of the show, or even the day of the show. Again, publicists want to ensure the best and biggest coverage for their clients. They will want to accommodate late requests from larger publications if needed, and keeping the list open until just before the show allows for this.

If you're a photographer for a smaller publication, you may not get confirmations until just hours before the show.

Generally, you should hear back on confirmation 2-10 days before the show in many instances.

My Go To Sources for Photo Pass Contacts

Here are some of the very first sources I go to if I need to source a contact for a photo pass:

1. Facebook Page
2. Official Website
3. Google Search for PR Contact and/or Press Releases
4. Photographer Friends
5. Promoter
6. Manager

We'll go into this more in depth below, as well as other options that may lead you to the right information you seek.

The Usual Suspects

Artist's Facebook Page

A true go-to in recent years has been Facebook. Just about every single band or artist of every level has a Facebook page, and in the About section, they will list all sorts of useful info. Back in the day, this might have been a Myspace page — but now I'm dating myself.

Let's take Weezer for example. Right on their Facebook About page, they have their press contact listed, so that's basically as easy as pie.

Artist Website

Here's a natural one, but this can be hit or miss, but it's too dead simple not to try this very early on if you're searching. Generally, many artists's will include general info, just like the above About page from Facebook.

Music Label 

The label an artist is on is pretty common knowledge or easily discoverable if needed. Some record labels run their on in-house PR team that serves the needs of their artists, and so it's a matter of finding out who the correct contact is for your artist of choice. We'll get into this a little later as far as actual methods of outreach…

Gatekeepers for Photo Passes

Publicists/PR Agencies

For most larger bands/artists, publicists are hired to manage all of the PR aspects of their client's needs. This includes dealing with interviews, reviews, and photo passes for concerts. Finding the publicist's contact info is an ideal to secure a photo pass, and even if you don't contact them directly, you'll have to go through them in some capacity, even if they are behind the scenes approving publications if you go another route.

Promoters/Venue Reps

Some promoters like Live Nation may require or encourage you to go through them — it will depend on the venue or the regional market and how they do things. If you're a regular contributor to a publication, this setup of a single source can make things SUPER easy. When I was shooting a metric ton of concerts in St. Louis, I would actually send my Live Nation rep a list of a couple dozen shows that I anticipated covering for my publications, and passes would be sorted for the season — it was beautiful.

Managers

For smaller bands with a manager, the manager may handle tasks including PR, so going through them is a viable route. If you manage to find the contact for an artist's manager but NOT their PR, you could try reaching out, but I would hesitate to ask this since it's a bit of a waste of time for the manager to handle these inquiries.

Other Sources for Contact Info

Press Releases

Official press items like tour press releases and PR newsletters are the ideal sources with which to find the right contact for a tour, as the press releases are coordinated by the publicist. If you can find the press release, you'll find the right contact.

Simply searching for queries such as “[artist name] + press release” or [artist name] + tour press release” should turn up results. Refine by including the latest album release, the year, and so forth.

Newsletters and Mailing Lists

Once you build a relationship with publicists, you'll most likely be put on an email mailing list for that agency's clients. This will ensure you're notified of the latest tours and press opportunities from that agency. Established editors and publications should be on the mailing lists for all major PR agencies or labels for the genres that are covered.

Crowd Sourcing Artist Contact Info

Fellow Photographers

If you have friends in the concert photography scene who you trust (and you should!), you can always ask them for contacts.

Alternatively, if you see that someone has covered a show for the tour you want to photograph, you can always try reaching out to them via email, DM, etc. However, this should probably be a last resort and only done if you have truly exhausted every single other outlet. Even if you get a response, the exchange may not result in getting the contact info you want, so this kind of “cold call” may be unwelcome by some photographers.

A lot of photographers may view the proper contacts as well earned information, so you have to be considerate of this point of view.

Facebook Groups

There are various Facebook groups dedicated to concert photography and music photography, some of which allow for the sharing of PR contacts or requests for them. However, not all allow these kinds of posts, so do your research.

Who NOT to Ask for a Photo Pass

Band Members (probably)

It depends on the size of the band, but contacting artists or band members directly about photographing their set can be a tricky proposition. If it's a larger act, you're likely skirting around not only the official gatekeepers, but there's a larger chance of miscommunication to happen, so you have to be very careful with this route.

For smaller bands who have no publicist or manager, contacting artists may be reasonable, but if that's the case they are most likely playing small enough venues that you don't need a photo pass in the first place.

One other reason not to ask band members is that you automatically set yourself up to be in a position of bartering your time and photos for access. This is rarely a position you want to put yourself in with few exceptions.

There are circumstances with smaller, up and coming artists where this can be a mutually beneficial situation. But outside of very small artists, this kind of relationship is highly imbalanced and ultimately devalues the work of all music photographers if you're giving away images for free.

Google and Searching for Photo Pass Info

If you're searching for PR contacts, you're going to want to get good at Boolean operators and searching to include, exclude, and parse phrases. Here's a good breakdown on Boolean operators that you can use in Google:

Searching using Boolean operators, wildcards and special characters

Common searches you may use may be:

• “[artist]” pr contact
• “[artist]” press contact +”@recordlabel.com”
• “[artist]” + “press release”
• “[artist]” + “media contact”

and so forth.

There are a million ways to use Boolean operators to search, but the above are ones that I've personally used with success.

If you're getting a lot of false positives on dead ends or unrelated content, Boolean operators are a fantastic way to up your Google game and fine information that would otherwise be too obscure to show up or wade through otherwise.

Cold Calling for a Photo Pass

Sometimes you have to pick up the phone to get results when trying to set up photography credentials for live music. You may only get so far as the PR agency but no specific contact or find yourself in other situations were you may need to make a call to get results. Years ago, I was in a situation where I was trying to set up credentials for N.E.R.D. and this was a show that seemed to have almost no promising leads. I ended up tracking down a general contact and had to call the office to find out the correct contact. It's a last resort, but a phone call might be necessary to go the last mile.

Photo passes for Music Festivals

Photo passes for music festivals work in much the same way as photo passes for regular concerts. There may be the potential for higher selectivity of publications at music festivals as these larger events might draw press from larger region than a single concert, so you may be vying for a limited number of passes with not only regional press, but national publications.

On the bright side, music festivals almost always have their press contacts very clearly listed on the event websites, usually under information, contact or press headers.

There is often a formal application for festivals where they collect common information about the requesting publications — website, readership, social media following, etc.

If anything, applying for a photo pass for a festival is the most streamlined and easy kind of pass to get because of the fact that the contact information is clearly stated and that there are often streamlined applications. That said, larger festivals can afford to be much more picky about who they credential, so very small publications may not have a lot of luck scoring passes for this kind of event.

Building Relationships

In music photography, like so many things in life, relationships are the goal and the one thing that will enrich your life. The real goal in music photography with regards to access is truly  to is develop relationships with  publicists, your publication, venue promoters, and so forth that you don't have to work so hard for the access you need.

Once you develop your skills and forge the relationships you need as a music photographer, the goal is that you'll outgrow the need for this guide.

End Notes

There you have it. I've been photographing live music since 2006 and while the industry and music photography in general has changed dramatically since then, I know that the issue of access is as persistent as ever. One of most difficult aspects of getting into music photography is simply getting your camera into shows. To this end, I hope that if you're a music photographer trying to get access, this guide will help you find the contacts you need to get the access you want for that ever elusive photo pass.

Eventually, your goal should be to develop deeper relationships with artists, managers, labels and the people who are truly making decisions so that you can leave the need to Google for contact info far, far behind.

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