Northern Soul Images - Keeping The Faith Copyright Letter

A tale of copyright issues, long (and I do mean long) time readers may remember back in 2004 a book by photographer John Barrett was published containing many stylish and unique photos of the then current Northern Soul Scene

The blurb on Soul Source back in 2004 went like the below and you can also re-visit the original 2004 article via the  link following the quote

A new book out now. 223 pages full of black and white images taken on today's Northern Soul scene, at venues all around the country, John Barret's stunning photos capture  the people and the whole aspect and feel of the Northern Soul Scene perfectly . Featuring a foreword by Dave Godin this book is the result of two years work by John Barrett as is detailed in his introduction.

Fast forward 15 years ago and you would think that in these days of strict 'online copyright' practices  Mr Barrett's works would have been treated correctly by the major mainstream photo agencies, however it seems that Mr Barrett has an issue with one of the major players, an issue which spurred him to draft the following letter
read on ...

Dear Friends

Since the mid 1990s I have been documenting, using reportage photographic techniques a British sub culture called Northern Soul. The visual research culminated in a book entitled ‘Keeping the Faith’ ISBN no: 09-548982-0-6.
The photographic collection toured the UK in various galleries and venues and the theme was very popular throughout the UK.

Just over a week ago I was following links to themed photographs on Pinterest and I noticed several of my images were shown on their website. The links led me to the Getty Images photographic library and I counted 23 photographic images of mine that were for sale on their site at £375.

To see the violation of copy write laws simply go to: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/man-attempting-a-back-flip-on-dancefloor-at-a-northern-soul-news-photo/175221196

As you may notice they have a PYMCA brand attached and details of the Getty images content Licence Agreement suggesting that they hold the full rights to my photographs. I believe Getty obtained my photos from PYMCA when I had a gallery show in 2007. At no stage did I give them any licence to use my work and never been contacted to agree to this nor have I ever received any monies from any party associated with on-line photo libraries.

I was given permission to publish the people captured in the photographs but Getty has never contacted anybody about gaining permissions in their quest to obtain immense profits via breaking all copyright laws.

If you can support me by passing this on to friends and contacts to expose these Getty practices then it will help myself and other photographers and ultimately protect the individuals shown in the images.

You can email Getty direct if you feel you need to. I cannot afford to pay for lawyers to represent me and Getty therefore does not respond to my correspondence. 

Thank you for your support.

John Barrett
 

The headquarters of Getty Images in London is:

Getty Images, 101 Bayham Street, Camden Town, NW1 0AG. 

Tel: 02032 272500

Email: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/customer-support

End of letter