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A freelance photographer is calling Taylor Swift a hypocrite after the singer published an open letter that led Apple to reverse its decision not to pay musicians any royalties for its three-month free trial of Apple Music.

In the letter, Swift said she was asking for payment not for her own benefit but for that of artists who couldn't afford to go three months without music-streaming revenue:

This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt.

But according to photographer Jason Sheldon, Swift's heartfelt pleas lose gravitas when you take a look at Swift's policy toward image licensing.

Sheldon published an open letter on his blog in which he described how Swift's attempt to control the use of her photos means photographers might not get paid for their work.

Sheldon points to a "contract authorisation form" photographers are expected to sign in order to take pictures of Swift on behalf of a publication. His problem is that any photograph he takes of Swift can be licensed only once to a single publication, and so he would be unable to sell that photograph again if the publication decided to drop the story for something more pressing. Swift's label, Firefly Entertainment, would also retain the rights to the photograph.

Sheldon says:

As a freelance photographer, I am asked to photograph concerts by publications. I get paid IF and when the photos are used, not for turning up to a show and shooting it. Therefore, if the newspaper has a bigger story to run and doesn't have enough room to use my photo, I don't get paid.

When I'm not allowed to do anything else with the photos, that means I've incurred expenses to work, which I can't recover. Therefore preventing me from licensing my photos to more than one publication, or even (as later versions of this contract stipulate) preventing me from using the images for my own self promotion in a portfolio, while they can use them without licensing the usage, is highly unfair and unjustified.

Sheldon said that by doing so, Swift was exploiting photographers in the same way that she accused Apple of planning to exploit artists:

You say in your letter that three months is a long time to go unpaid. But you seem happy to restrict us to being paid once, and never being able to earn from our work ever again, while granting you the rights to exploit our work for your benefit for all eternity. How are you any different to Apple?

Photographers need to earn a living as well. Like Apple, you can afford to pay for photographs so please stop forcing us to hand them over to you while you prevent us from publishing them more than once, ever.

In her letter, Swift asked Apple to change its policy, contending that nobody asks Apple for free iPhones, so the company shouldn't be asking for free music from those who create it. Sheldon made a similar argument in his letter to Swift:

Photographers don't ask for your music for free. Please don't ask us to provide you with your marketing material for free.

Sheldon signs off by telling Swift that it is "time to stop being 'mean.'"

A UK representative for Taylor Swift told Business Insider via email:

The standard photography agreement has been misrepresented in that it clearly states that any photographer shooting The 1989 World Tour has the opportunity for further use of said photographs with management’s approval. Another distinct misrepresentation is the claim that the copyright of the photographs will be with anyone other than the photographer — this agreement does not transfer copyright away from the photographer. Every artist has the right to and should protect the use of their name and likeness.