Music photography isn’t what it used to be. No more J Jonah Jameson-type magazine editors, chewing on a cigar and sending the staff photographers out with a cast-iron brief of what was required for the next issue. They’ve mostly all had heart attacks and died. These days the creative direction is very much in the hands of the photographers, who have much more control over their work and a lot more freedom to pursue, and initiate, projects of their own. Musicians, too, have a far greater say in how their image is handled.

Even those in the music photography business have a hard time defining their own genre in the 21st Century, but what is clear is that the photographic image plays an ever more integral role in the music biz as a whole. The magazine editorial, once the cornerstone of music photography, is now only one small part of the relationship between music, image and audience. Fan pictures, tour and backstage photography, the band’s own candid snaps — you name it, we can see it via a myriad of distribution channels such as social media, photobooks and zines.

The Photographers’ Gallery is bringing the contemporary music photography dynamic into focus with a group show titled We Want More: Image Making and Music in the 21st Century, running at the Brick Lane venue until 20 September. The exhibition runs the gamut; sweaty, blissed out festival fans as captured by Ryan McGinley and Gareth McConnell, Daniel Cohen’s pre-encore backstage insights, commercial commissions and rehearsal room run-throughs all feature, as do a number of music videos directed by stills photographers.

@TPGallery

Ryan McGinley
You and My Friends 6, 2013
© Ryan McGinley. Courtesy of the artist and team Gallery

Ewen Spencer
Twice as Nice, Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 2001. From the series UKG, 1999-2001
© Ewen Spencer. Courtesy of the artist

Dan Wilton
Mikaiha Cannot Swim
From the series STOB EHT, 2012 © Dan Wilton
Courtesy of the artist