A warning to photographers (or anyone for that matter) who deals with Jay Quinn, or the band The Brenham Lights, out of Texas.
On June 27, 2008 I made a deal through email with Jay Quinn for him to use one of my photos
(this one)
for the cover of The Brenham Lights’ forthcoming
CD, Night Sky Mile. The agreement that I proposed was that he would pay
to my PayPal account a fixed dollar amount, send me two copies of the CD when it is released
in late July 2008, and also give me credit as the photographer of the cover image in the CD
liner notes and on The Brenham Light’s webpage, in exchange for the right to use the
photograph. He responded the same day, agreeing to the terms, and wrote that I would ‘receive
payment asap’,
and he would even send me more than simply two copies of the CD once it is released.
That evening, I forwarded a high-resolution digital file of the photograph in question to him. Since then, I have not heard from him again and he has not replied to my subsequent email, which I sent on on July 4, 2008, expressing my concern at not hearing anything from him, or receiving payment, since he received my photograph.
If you are a photographer or artist, be wary of Jay Quinn and The Brenham Lights if he/they should contact you to use your work. Demand payment up front, and don’t expect Jay Quinn to honour any other part of your deal. He’ll be courteous and prompt in responding to your emails up until the moment that he no longer wants anything from you.
Updates:
July 17 2008 — Jay Quinn responded to the last email I had sent him (on July 4, 2008) assuring me that he is ‘not dishonest, just lazy’ and
he reiterated once again that he would ‘send payment asap’ (apparently logging in to PayPal
is quite a time consuming process for some people). He did, however, finally add a credit for the photograph to
the Brenham Lights’ web
page.
So, as of now, one out of three promises kept. In fairness, one of the promises — to mail me 2 copies of the CD — is not one that could have been fulfilled immediately. Just doesn’t look promising given that visiting the PayPal website is such a hassle, I can't imagine that visiting a post office has a chance.
July 27, 2008 — One month has passed, still no payment.
