There is a lot of competition in the known-but-not-that-well-known bands space in any genre. Having world class pictures gets you in magazines and online public

There is a lot of competition in the known-but-not-that-well-known bands space in any genre. Having world class pictures gets you in magazines and online publications, it creates a presence, especially since metal is a very visual genre. I don't think it's that much of a stretch, but we can agree to disagree there I hope. > a strong bargaining position relative to the band He doesn't need a bargaining position. A clothing company infringed on his work, that's the whole of it. The band is not even involved. It's just it turned out someone in the band was likely closely related to the company and it was perceived as some sort of extortion so they decided to get personally involved apparently without being very clueful about the matter. It really seems like a misunderstanding as was suggested ("Wait, photographs are subject to copyright too?") that should have ended at the manager, or at least their legal counsel, but somehow management was an idiot and doubled down being defensive and vindictive for no reason at all for what is really not some extraordinary practice. I'm unsure the photographer is trying to leverage the law or get a better bargaining position here, but he sure should try to retain access to venues by explaining his side of the story, hoping that other bands and organisers are a bit more clueful about copyright and realise that coverage and good photos don't appear out of thin air. P.S. I really doubt a simple message from the band stating that the clothing company was small business and a personal friend would not only have prevented the situation, but delighted the photographer in lieu of any monetary compensation.