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Who owns your concert photos in France
In France the photographer owns the copyright in a concert photograph automatically, as its author. What a promoter or artist receives is a licence to use it, not ownership. Agree the scope, duration and medium in writing before the shoot — almost every dispute is about usage rather than fee.
You almost certainly own the copyright. That is not the same as being free to publish, and it is not the same as the promoter being free to use what you sent them.
This is a general explanation of how the pieces fit together, written for photographers rather than lawyers. It is not legal advice, and for anything with money or a dispute attached you want an actual professional — in France, a lawyer specialising in droit d'auteur, or one of the photographer unions that offers members legal support.
With that said, most day-to-day confusion comes from mixing up three separate rights that all apply to the same photograph.
1. Your copyright in the image
Under French droit d'auteur, the person who takes the photograph owns the rights in it from the moment of creation. There is no registration step. This holds whether or not you were paid, and whether or not you were accredited.
French authors' rights also include moral rights — notably the right to be named as the author and the right to object to distortion of the work. These are treated as personal to the author and cannot simply be signed away in the way economic rights can. In practice this is the legal backbone behind the credit line you should be insisting on anyway.
What you licence is separate from what you own. Granting a promoter the right to post an image is not selling them the photograph.
2. The performer's image rights
Separately, the people in the picture have rights over the use of their own image. This is the part photographers most often get wrong, because it operates independently of your copyright: you can own an image outright and still not be free to use it for any purpose you like.
The general principle in France is that using someone's identifiable image — especially commercially — needs their agreement. Editorial and news-related use of a public performance is treated much more permissively than advertising or merchandise, which is why a review photo and a poster are not the same question at all.
The practical translation: publishing a shot of a set on your portfolio or sending it to a music publication is ordinary practice. Selling prints of an identifiable artist, or letting a brand use the frame in an advert, is a different conversation and needs permission.
3. What the venue or promoter imposes
The third layer is contractual rather than statutory, and it is the one that actually bites. When a room lets you in with a camera, they can attach conditions — and by accepting accreditation you are usually accepting those conditions.
The common ones: use limited to editorial coverage of that show, no resale, no commercial licensing, sometimes a time limit, and sometimes a requirement to supply images to the artist's team. Larger tours hand out release forms at the pit door that are considerably more aggressive, occasionally to the point of demanding a transfer of rights. Read them. You are allowed to decline and not shoot, and photographers do.
What to actually do
- Get the terms before the day. If a release exists, ask for it in advance rather than reading it in a queue in the dark.
- Say what you are granting, in writing. One line in your delivery email — what they may use the images for, for how long, and with what credit — prevents most later disputes. There is a worked approach in delivering the photos.
- Keep your raws. They are the practical evidence of authorship.
- Do not assume a free pass means free use. Accreditation is access. What each side may then do with the pictures is a separate agreement, and if nobody writes it down both sides will later remember it differently.
None of this needs to be adversarial. The overwhelming majority of promoters are not trying to take your work; they simply have not thought about it, and one clear sentence from you settles it permanently.
Common questions
- Do I own photos I took with a free photo pass?
- Under French law authorship sits with the photographer from creation, regardless of payment. What you have licensed to the promoter is a separate question, and accreditation terms can restrict your use.
- Can the promoter use my photos in adverts?
- Only if you granted that. Editorial use of the show and commercial advertising are different licences — state which one you are giving when you deliver.
- Do I need a release from the artist?
- For ordinary editorial and portfolio use of a public performance, generally not. For commercial exploitation such as prints or advertising, you need permission — image rights are personal to the performer.
- What about photographing the audience?
- Individuals in a crowd have image rights too. A wide shot of a crowd is routine; a close identifiable portrait used commercially is not. Be more careful with minors.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It is a general orientation for photographers. For a real dispute or a contract that matters, consult a lawyer specialising in droit d'auteur.
Liaison keeps each show's accreditation terms, delivery and payment in one place instead of across three inboxes.
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