By way of undertaking this exercise, I wanted to write down the general processes for photographers like me who want their images published on a music website in the rock and metal genre.
A few years ago, I interned as a photographer for a music website so I am familiar with the processes. At the time, I was in level 1 of this degree pathway and really wanted to get my gig photos seen. A lot of these independent music sites are always looking for contributors whether it be writing articles, reviewing bands or reviewing/photographing bands. I was lucky enough, after sending a small portfolio in, to be selected to intern for one.
Unfortunately, interning took up a lot of time that I already didn't have much of. Even though I was interning as a photographer, every intern was required to post news articles on a weekly basis, set to a certain template and I found I was doing more of this than actually photographing gigs. Eventually, due to this, I had to give it up, which was crushing to me but necessary at the time as I didn't feel like I was doing any photography.
But the word intern is key here. These independent sites don't have budgets or payrolls but they need people to contribute or "work" for them without paying them anything. The norm is that you contribute to the sites and in return they will arrange passes to get you free access to the gigs you are reviewing/photographing or give you loads of free CDs for you to review, normally before they are on sale.
So this is why I wont be selling my photographs but I will attempt to contact some websites following the gig to see if any are interested in publishing my photos. Most of the music sites I follow are still looking for contributors and so these might be the ones to contact first. But there is no harm in trying them all. They should all have an email to contact them or some even have contributor sections showing you who to contact and the email to do that. It would be unrealistic for me to contact more high profile music magazines as they have their own teams of paid photographers so it is better to search for independent sites who are looking for people to contribute.
Some of the sites I will try are:
- The Alt-Entertainer
- Planet Mosh
- RAMzine
- Indulge-Sound
- Get Your Rock Out
- Reflections of Darkness
- Hit The Floor/MOSH
- Bristol Live Magazine
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