Washington D.C. newspaper to buy smartphone pictures of Foo Fighters

The WCP follows a similar tactic by Ireland paper Irish Times when dealing with Taylor Swift's recently-notorious contract for prospective photographers.

Nice guy Dave Grohl & Co., as well as a score of massive music names, have all been accused of "restrictive" photography contracts, but it's the rock titans that've drawn the ire of the WCP, who disagreed particularly with: "the band approving the photos which run in the City Paper; only running the photos once and with only one article; and all copyrights would transfer to the band... the right to exploit all or a part of the Photos in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised, throughout the universe, in perpetuity, in all configurations without any approval or payment or consideration for the photographer."

So, instead of signing of the contracts, they're just gonna pay fans who are taking snaps on their smartphones. The camera's aren't super high-quality, but they still pack a multi-megapixel punch.

"The great irony of all of this is that there will be tens of thousands of cameras in the audience at RFK in the form of smartphones, something that the band and its overzealous management company can't police. If you take a great photo of the show, send it to us at editor@washingtoncitypaper.com or tweet it @WCP. If we run it in next week's print edition, we'll pay you for it. And we won't ask you to sign over the copyright or your first born, either."

[via Washington City Paper]