Shooting back stage at a concert. What paperwork is needed?

<p>Our large church frequently hosts concerts for A-list Christian musicians. My wife & I handle all the food & green room setup, and the guy organizing the whole event is a close friend of mine. Each concert involves 12-16 hours of work for scores of volunteers.<br /> <br /> I recently proposed & got verbal approval for shooting a personal project depicting a day in the life of one of these concerts. I'll be wandering the building shooting both volunteers & musicians, including back stage & the green room, and hopefully even from deep within the wings during the show. I'll be shooting all day, from roll-in to roll-out.<br /> <br /> Most of my pro work is corporate events & family candids, which is photographically similar, but this will be the first concert gig that I've done. My intent was to use the images for a personal (not-for-sale) gallery show & allow our church to use them internally (as I always do). I'll also make the images available to the bands for personal use (Facebook, etc) if they like. Although I'm not intending for this to be a money-making venture, the possibility exists that the bands would want to use some of the shots for promotional use.<br /> <br /> If that happens, what sort of releases, licensing, or other paperwork should I have in place before the show starts? I'm assuming that I'd need a model release for any recognizable faces outside of the band's own crew. Wide apertures will help minimize those issues. What else should I be considering?<br /> <br /> Are there any good resources online for sample licensing agreements that I can place on the images before I give them to the bands for personal or Facebook use? Is that something that I would need the tour manager (typically the ranking official) to sign while I've got them on-site, even though I wouldn't send them a CD until a week or more later? Or should I wait to get even a personal-use licensing agreement until after they say they want the disc? Do I even need an agreement for free personal use images, or can I simply declare them to have that license without any signature from the band (much like I do when posting to Flickr or Facebook myself)? Perhaps a signed agreement can wait until they want to pay for increased usage. Of course I would register my copyright on these images before distributing them, just in case.<br /> <br /> Where's a good reference for pricing, just in case the band wants to use my shots for promotional use? Most of my corporate event work has been paid by the hour with no distribution to worry about.</p>

<p>First off you're going to want to check with the band(s) involved and get their approval. Many bands that tour have clauses in their contacts which limit and prohibit photography, the use of any photos for any reason, and the times when photos may be taken.</p>

<p>Then you're going to need release forms from all people in the photos - which basically say "we agree that you can use our images for personal, non-commercial usage....etc"</p>

<p>As for the charges for band usage - not really sure what I'd charge - probably my day rate, plus $xxx.00 per image that they use.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

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<p>I know that it's traditional for normal photography to be limited to the first three songs during a show. The event organizer, who's been doing this for several years and whose brother is himself an accomplished professional musician, said he didn't think most of the bands would have any problem with it. Still, I've requested that he get approval from our next band before hand.</p>

<p>I know that the group that normally photographs the first few songs from the front of the stage doesn't get any sort of non-commercial release signed. I wonder if it's covered by the standard contract that the performers sign with the venue. I'll check on that...</p>

<p>I would expect that any fee would be based on their usage, not on my day rate. I'm just looking for a good way to calculate that sort of thing.</p>

<p>You don't need releases. If the band wants to use them for promotional purposes, they can get themselves to sign releases. Releases are required at the publication end, not the photographic end. All of my contracts state that I am not responsible for releases, even if I have them.</p>

<p>For Facebook and other personal use, all you need is something signed by whoever is responsible for usage that it will be limited to non-commercial use.</p>

<p>Pricing is dependent on the type of usage and the size of the bands. I don't know anyone charging day rate unless it's a studio or location shoot specifically for promotional usage.</p>