A photographer is suing Napster for using his image of a musician without the proper license — in a case that could set a precedent that would require record labels to verify what rights were secured from photographers when their pictures were licensed for use on album covers.
The photographer insists that his agreement with Soul Jazz Records was restricted to the specific use of his image on the cover of. Boot alleges that any other usage of the photo required it to be licensed via his company Urbanimage. Napster says that Soul Jazz Records’ license to use Boot’s photo on Minott’s album cover “implied a non-exclusive license to distribute the photograph along with the album.”
Napster says this case is so cut-and-dry that Boot should cover the company’s legal costs for pursuing the lawsuit. The streaming platform claims that “to investigate and refute Mr. Boot’s claim required Napster to dig through reams of distribution agreements and trace the chain of a single photograph over the course of decades.”