A professional photographer for more than 20 years, and published in Q, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone, Pat Pope has worked with many of the biggest names in pop and rock music, including Oasis, David Bowie and Radiohead. One act with whom he has worked several times are 90s indie titans Garbage.

Indeed, they admire Pope’s work so much that recently, as they put together a forthcoming self-published book, their management asked his permission to use one of his pictures of them. So far, so good – Pope owns the copyright in the image, and revenue from reuse of old shots makes up a reasonable chunk of his income. There was just one problem: the letter from their management said that they did not want to pay him for his photograph, although they were prepared to offer him a “proper credit”.

It wasn’t the first time that Pope had been asked to let people use his work without being paid. “‘Free requests’ have become more and more commonplace,” he says. “Back in the day, it was more about working cheap with the promise of ‘big money’ when the band sold.”

But this time, he felt that enough was enough, because “Garbage are a successful band with plenty of resources to pay for images. I have many times been paid something by tiny bands or bands with no money. Payment in these cases is often minimal and more symbolic.

“If Garbage had personally come to me with a limited budget, chances are I would have agreed. It’s more about principle than cash grabbing.

“Garbage have been incredibly vocal in the past about how everybody should pay for music and how artistry should be respected,” he adds. “This was too much hypocrisy on their part, and for content providers everywhere, whatever their profession, something had to be said.”

He wrote an open letter to the band, which he posted on Facebook. In it he declined their offer, saying: “I’m proud of my work and I think it has a value. If you don’t think it has any value, don’t use it. I’m saying no to a budget that says you can take my work for free and make money out of it.”

Pope got a reply from the singer Shirley Manson on behalf of her band, saying: “We regret that you interpreted our request so negatively … Historically, artists have been known to help each other out in an effort to get their work seen and heard. We are proud and grateful to be part of this artist community. Over the years we have happily compensated many photographers, film-makers and other kinds of content providers for their work and will continue to do so in the future. We believe completely in the concept of the artist being compensated fairly whenever possible.”

Pope says: “They could have just held their hands up and admitted they were wrong to ask, or get their management to ask. It’s not really their fault. Everybody has devalued the photograph over the years. It has become so common for people to see nothing wrong in using images and expecting to pay nothing. I was just highlighting a point and making a stand.”

The practice of being asked to work for nothing is prevalent in other creative professions too. The Facebook group Stop Working For Free has more than 14,000 members from a range of fields sharing stories of exploitation and seeking advice on how to deal with an increasingly difficult economic climate.

Harlan Ellison explains why we need to pay the writer, in the documentary Dreams With Sharp Teeth.

It isn’t a problem confined to the UK. In Erik Nelson’s 2008 documentary Dreams With Sharp Teeth, US writer Harlan Ellison rants entertainingly about being asked to appear on a Warner Bros DVD for free, saying: “They always want the writer to work for nothing. And the problem is there are so many goddamn writers who have no idea they’re supposed to be paid ... I don’t take a piss without getting paid for it. . I get so angry. You get undercut by all the amateurs. They make it tough for the professionals.”

Ellison’s point resonates with John Toner, who looks after freelancers’ interests for the National Union of Journalists. He says: “If publishers are prepared to accept unpaid contributions it means they are prepared to accept poor work. Why would anyone make an effort to produce work of decent quality if the publisher places no value on it?

“And because there are so many amateurs prepared to work for free, it means their work is squeezing out work of a professional standard.”

When Pope’s open letter went viral he was subjected to online threats and abuse from a significant minority of disgruntled Garbage fans (“watch your back” because “we will find you”), although most people commenting on his post were broadly supportive.

A week later he felt obliged to try to draw a line under the affair by explaining his thinking. He wrote that when asked to work for free: “Your two choices are to give them the permission, valuing your work at zero, or to refuse permission, in which case they will quietly remove you from the list of freelancers they work with so you won’t get any future work.

“The next request you receive for some free content, write your own Open Letter. Let’s get this practice out in the open. When the budget for your next project gets put in front of you, ask where the money is for the artists. All the artists.

“Unlike Garbage, I think the work of artists, including my own work, has a value that is at least equal to everything else being done in a commercial project, and I’m not prepared to reduce the value of it to zero by giving it away.

“Stop Working For Free. That’s my final word.”