Photographer J Salmeron of Metal Blast sparked a huge outpouring of support from other photographers and creatives last week after he shared how he was blacklisted by the band Arch Enemy while trying to protect his copyright. Now the clothing business at the center of the controversy has closed up shop in response to all the âhate and threatsâ it has received. Salmeron originally shared how he discovered that Thunderball Clothing was using one of his photos without his permission to promote its products. The photographer offered to let Thunderball use the photo and keep the post up by retroactively licensing it through a â¬100 donation to the Dutch Cancer Foundation. Instead of responding directly to Salmeron, Thunderball (i.e. fashion designer Marta Gabriel) decided to turn to Arch Enemy instead. After a little back and forth with the band, manager Angela Gossow (who was the previous lead singer) informed Salmeron that he has been blacklisted from all future performances. âWe have immediately removed the picture you took at FortaRock,â Gossow wrote. âBy the way, we are sure you donât mind that you are not welcome anymore to take pictures of Arch Enemy performances in the future, at festivals or solo performances. âI have copied in the label reps and booking agent who will inform promoters â no band wants to have photographers on site who later send such threatening correspondence to monetise on their images.â Unhappy about how the whole situation unfolded, Salmeron turned to the Web to share what happened. His post then went viral in not only the world of photography but in the music world as well. Less than 48 hours later, current Arch Enemy lead sinder Alissa White-Gluz posted the following statement to her Facebook page defending both Thunderballâs actions and Arch Enemyâs right to ban Salmeron: âThe photographer of this particular photo was ALWAYS fully credited for the ENTIRE duration of his photo being on my Instagram and Martaâs,â White-Gluz wrote. âAs soon as he expressed discontent the posts were immediately removed. There was never ANY attempt made by Thunderball or Arch Enemy to use that photo for commercial use, and certainly not without compensation. [â¦] âWe reserve the right, however, to decide who is allowed to photograph our shows and after having corresponded with him we didnât want any more issues like this in the future, especially when passes are limited and we know so many photographers who love having the opportunity to get a photo pass and have fun with us at shows. âIn conclusion, no one from Arch Enemy nor Thunderball ever denied paying the photographer in question for the commercial use of his photo: We simply did not use it.â This response didnât sit well with people, and White-Gluzâs has been flooded with angry comments and reactions. The next day, Thunderball Clothing issued an apology:
âI would like to publicly apologise Mr J. Salmeron for reposting one of the photos he took, on my Instagram page, without having his permission,â Gabriel wrote. â[â¦] As I did the repost with an app that included all original credits and watermarks, I thought that itâs OK. I meant no harm, and it wasnât my intention to promote any product, however, I do agree that it might looked like that, and I understand that the author of the photography could feel upset about it. And I am sorry about it.â Gabriel also states that she interpreted his original copyright infringement notice email as spam or a scam, so she decided to contact the band about it. âNot only Iâm willing to discuss with him how to compensate him and fix the situation, but also how to make sure similar situation wonât happen ever again,â Gabriel writes. âAfter all, weâre all playing in the same team, and we all have one thing in common. We love music.â But the next day, Gabriel announced that she has shuttered Thunderball Clothing:
âThe photographer, J. Salmeron, accepted my apology for reposting the photo he took, without having his permission, and as this was his request, I made a donation to the charity organization of his choice (the Dutch Cancer Society),â Gabriel states. âI believe we can say this ends the dispute between us.â But itâs the flood of âhate and threadsâ that she is unable to handle, the fashion designer says. âWithin last 2 days I received literally hundreds of comments and messages that Iâm a whore, a nazi, a communist, a worthless cunt, and that I either should quickly die, or that I should kill myself,â she writes. âThere is no anger in me, and I apologise everyone that felt hurt or upset by this situation. Anyway, there is no Thunderball Clothing anymore. You won.â Hereâs Salmeronâs response to the news of Thunderballâs closure: âWhat Marta made was a mistake, a mistake that in no way justifies her losing her livelihood or seeing her life negatively impacted to this level,â Salmeron writes. âShe deserves, like all the rest of us, the opportunity to move on from it and to continue her creative career.â â[W]hile we sincerely appreciate the support that we have received from thousands of people from around the world, we categorically and absolutely reject any and all threats of any kind made against Marta, Alissa, Angela or, frankly, anybody else. Nobody deserves to be terrorized, or to fear for their safety, because of things like these.â Salmeron notes that he too has received death threats â from supporters of the band â and that he will be passing the messages on to authorities. Band manager Gossow also took to social media to weigh in after Thunderballâs announcement. âI am reacting to the bully rally this photographer has set lose with his well crafted (he took 6 months to get it done and released), well timed mash up of different subjects at hand,â Gossow writes. âThe details often get lost in the emotion of the narrative â and the narrative is often controlled by who presents the story first. Mr photographer threw a bunch of different things into one pot and highly emotionalized it.â Gossow writes that (1) Arch Enemy didnât infringe upon any copyright and wasnât involved at all in that core aspect of the controversy, (2) Salmeron should have billed Gabriel directly and donated to charity himself, (3) she didnât ask anyone outside her âcircle of peopleâ to blacklist Salmeron, and (4) Salmeron threatened Gossow with legal action over parts of her original public statement, which led her to edit the post. âI took away the word sheep because those people who damaged Marta beyond repair, who are threatening Alissa and me in very serious ways are not sheep â they are much worse. They are bullies,â Gossow writes. âWe wish to move on from this and wish Mr Photographer the best with the career.â Gossow left the comments section open to promote discourse, but sheâs still being slammed for her handling of the situation and blamed for the outcome. âBecause of the way you âhandledâ this fiasco from the start, an actual good person, Marta Gabriel (who was the only one to apologize for the error) is now ending her clothing company,â writes a Matt Vicente in the most popular comment. âNice job. And you STILL donât get it.â from https://petapixel.com/2018/12/31/thunderball-clothing-shuttered-due-to-outrage-from-arch-enemy-photo-ban/
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Paul DeckerHi I Paul Decker,32 years old from Arizona,AZ,USA,working on 3D animation from the last 4 years.Here I am sharing tips about it. Archives
April 2019
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