I know you and GP haven't said anything else about this, and I don't want to put words in your mouth by assuming your opinion. So this is not aimed at you specifically, but I'm sure there are plenty of people on the side of the photographer who would agree completely with you. For those people:
Are we seriously holding in mind that publicity isn't worth anything to artists so you should never say that, while also saying that the tattoo artist (whose compensation is only publicity on social media because she did this tat for free) has profited illegally from a copyrighted image and therefore should be sued for damages? I don't see how both of those could possibly be true.
Are we seriously holding in mind that publicity isn't worth anything to artists so you should never say that
no, there is a difference between an artist offering to do something for free (because of the publicity they expect) and directly asking an artist to do something for free because i promise they will get publicity out of it.
the later is an insult, because it is not for me to judge if the publicity is worth anything to them. it might not be.
if an artist is maxing out their capacity with paid work, then additional publicity may not help them. then doing something for free would only lower their income.
Even if they are not maxed out for work, there comes a time when an amateur turning pro has to say "no, I'm no longer available to do free work. Even more than publicity, I need the ability to assert that I have been paid money for my work."
That is an uncomfortable transition for an artist. Poking them with "do it for the publicity" is aggravating and unpleasant.
yup, i feel a similar struggle doing Free Software development. i'd love to just hack and code on projects unpaid, but i can't afford it and the publicity i can get out of it is not enough to attract paid work. at least within FOSS the work we do is for other FOSS users and contributors who all know that, so nobody is brazen enough to make such requests.
