Posts Tagged ‘Vampire Weekend’

Vampire Weekend Sued

Vampire Weekend’s “Contra” debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts back in January of this year. They have been selling records ever since and everything has been going fine – until now. Vampire Weekend is being sued for 2 million dollars. Did they pull a Coldplay and plagiarize a song? No, but they did (well, maybe not did – we will have to see what the court thinks) use a former fashion models picture on the album cover without her consent. Ann Kirsten Kennis is the girl that looks like a doe in headlights on the Contra cover.

Kennis found out about the album cover after her daughter brought home a Vampire Weekend album and said “Hey, Mom, see your picture?”

The picture is from 1983 and Kennis claims that it is a picture her mother took and was never meant to be, or signed off to be, a modeling picture. Tod Brody, the photographer who sold the picture to Vampire Weekend for 5,000 dollars, claims that he took the picture and has had it for 26 years. So, the question is who took the the picture – the mother or Tod? Reportedly, the consent form is signed “Kirsten Johnson” in one spot and “Kirsten Johnsen” in another spot. Did Tod forge her signature or did she sign it back in 1983 and not know what she was signing?

So, what does Vampire Weekend and their label, XL Recordings, have to say about it? This statement was issued by the band:

“As is standard practice, Vampire Weekend and XL Recordings licensed the rights to use the photo on the cover of Contra pursuant to a license agreement that contains representations and warranties authorizing this use of the photo. Now that a lawsuit has been filed, we look forward to having the matter resolved in court.”

Well, hopefully for them, Tod took the picture because they are not going to be happy paying out 2 million dollars on top of the 5,000 dollars they already paid for the picture. While their album was number one on the album chart for like a week, or whatever, I highly doubt they have truly made that much money – well, the band anyway – and they seem awfully cocky in their response. So, what should happen? If the picture was truly used falsely, then yes, they should starting paying out. Now, whether or not they should pay 2 million dollars is a different question all together. If they didn’t use it falsely, then Kennis regained her publicity for a month and it will all be done with. Win-Win.