Danny Brown just finished making the rounds as part of this year’s Groovin The Moo tour, but he’s still found time to get himself in a beef with a member of the Australian music press after failing to properly credit a photographer on Instagram.
As Pedestrian.tv reports, Brown shared a photo taken at one of his Melbourne headline shows last week by local photographer Michelle Grace Hunder, who was there for Howl & Echoes. However, Brown omitted a credit for Hunder.
Lauren Ziegler, editor for the Aussie music blog, subsequently got in touch with Brown, asking him to credit Hunder’s work. Brown responded by taking down the photo and writing back, “How bout I just deleted them since of [sic] guys are so butt hurt.”
Project U Content Director Nic Kelly caught wind of the situation and shared a screenshot of the interaction to his Twitter page, writing, “Gross to see Danny Brown disrespecting music photographers on a major level. Tagging ain’t hard bro.”
Incensed, Brown hit back at Kelly, arguing that he did not ask for photos to be taken and suggesting he’d be better off if they weren’t. Kelly reminded Brown that accredited photographers are approved by artists and management.
Brown, demanding satisfaction, challenged Kelly to a duel, inviting him to “pull up” when he’s in Sydney. Brown has since deleted his tweets, so it’s not clear if he still wishes to resort to fisticuffs over the issue.
Meanwhile, Kelly has been copping serious flak from Brown’s fans. “I’m wearing a hat today so I don’t get bashed on the street,” Kelly told Music Feeds. “I found (the tweets) more amusing than threatening.”
Image via Pedestrian.tv
“Rap acts often have a fan base that is quite boisterous and loud, the support from them – that was also threatening.” Kelly told MF he became aware of the situation when Hunder shared a screenshot of Brown using her photo without crediting her.
“I saw that and then used my platform to go ‘yo, this isn’t right’,” Kelly told Music Feeds. “It’s such a simple concept to literally tag them (the photographer) in an Instagram post.”
“It’s really important for creatives to support other creatives because they’re such political and competitive industries. People going out there to do their best work every single night deserve to be credited for that work.”
“Danny’s got quite a platform, quite a loud voice. Him supporting the work of another creative would have a really good affect for [his] career.” Aussie muso Montaigne echoed that sentiment via her official Facebook page.
Weigh in on the situation, she wrote, “In this episode of ‘The Perils of Being a Music Photographer’, we discover ‘Celebrity Entitlement’. Today’s lesson is that fame does not give you a free pass for using other people’s work.”
The singer said Brown reacted “in an irrationally irritated manner” and suggested fans should check out Hunder’s work to show their support.
