<\/p>\n
\n\tThe intimate photos of late-\u201970s Bruce Springsteen<\/a> on concert stages, train tracks and hotel-room beds, due in an upcoming book that documents his Darkness On the Edge of Town <\/em>period, are not Lynn Goldsmith\u2019s most important images of 2023. It turns out that the veteran photographer\u2019s 1981 shot of Prince<\/a>, which Vanity Fair <\/em>licensed for $400 but never published, carries far more significance. In May, Goldsmith won an intellectual property case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the late Andy Warhol infringed on her copyright<\/a> with his Prince rendering.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFrom her Nashville home, Goldsmith, 81, recalls how the legal battle ravaged her financially and why she\u2019s putting out Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Darkness On the Edge of Town<\/em> through Taschen after her 2022 book, Music in the \u201980s<\/em>, was released by a different publisher. <\/em>\u201cI have that identity, of a quote-unquote rock and roll photographer,\u201d says Goldsmith, who has published 16 photo books \u2014 including for KISS<\/a>, Marky Mark and The Police<\/a> \u2014 and dated Springsteen when she shot the intimate photos included in the Darkness<\/em> book, available for pre-order here<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t quite get it, but at my age, it sounds very sexy, so I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition to the photos of Springsteen, I notice the intimacy between members of the E Street Band \u2014 there\u2019s a striking series of the late organist Danny Federici sort of cuddling up against the late saxophonist Clarence Clemons<\/a>. How did you capture this camaraderie?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tOne of the motivating factors for the book was, I felt that most people focus just on Bruce Springsteen. The band itself never got anywhere near the coverage that I felt should be brought to the attention of people. What Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show is that when there is a brotherhood, the power of something increases exponentially. You have a group of individuals, led by someone, who are totally aligned with rock \u2018n\u2019 roll being the spiritual vehicle for saving people\u2019s lives, for bringing people together, for celebration as well as for reflection.<\/p>\n \n\tWhy put out this Springsteen book now?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t[Art-book publisher] Taschen asked me if I would do a Bruce book. I\u2019d already done a book on Springsteen<\/a>,<\/em> which I made intentionally small. It was when they did the reunion tour [with the band in 1999-2000] and I wanted it to be affordable. It was like 20 bucks. I wanted a real rough paper. It\u2019s not that I wanted it to be cheap. I wanted it to reflect something. All these people who loved that period of time now have kids, and they could go to the show and they could mark it off. And that\u2019s not the kind of book you do with Taschen.<\/p>\n \n\tSo how did you come to do this book for Taschen? You\u2019d just put out<\/strong> Music in the \u201980s<\/a> <\/em>in September 2022 with a different publisher.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tUntil the surprise success they had with the Bowie book<\/a>, Taschen was known for books that were architecture, high-end fashion photographers and artists like [Ai] Weiwei. It was unexpected. The sales were so great. Taschen\u2019s looking at, \u201cWhat else do we want to do?\u201d After I did my Patti Smith book<\/a>, an editor there asked me if I would do a book on the \u201980s, and I said, \u201cAh, I hate the \u201980s, I don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d He said, \u201cPlease, Lynn, put something together.\u201d Upon looking closer at my files, the \u201980s were probably one of the most amazing decades of music, because so many different kinds of music were popular, from Herbie Hancock<\/a> to Thomas Dolby to Barry Manilow<\/a> to Bananarama<\/a>. So I got really excited. Then the editor at Taschen who had suggested the book in the first place called me and says, \u201cListen, we decided we\u2019re not going to do any books on general subject matter, we want it on a specific artist.\u201d I told Taschen I would ask Bruce, and if Bruce was on board, then I would do it. Bruce said, \u201cGo ahead.\u201d I sent him PDFs, just to make sure there were not any images he did not want in the book.<\/p>\n \n\tSo how did you put out <\/strong>Music In the \u201980s<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI went back to [publisher] Rizzoli, who would do whatever I wanted to do because of that New Kids [On the Block] book<\/a> and they said, \u201cSure, we\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey agreed based on your New Kids book?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn 1980, there weren\u2019t any art-book publishers that would handle rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. If they did a celebrity subject, it was only Elvis<\/a> or Marilyn Monroe<\/a> \u2014 until I got Rizzoli to do New Kids on the Block. I had gone to every art-book publisher on the planet and everyone, including Rizzoli, had turned me down. It wasn\u2019t until Kodak approached me and said, \u201cWe would like to do a book with you, whatever book you want to do,\u201d [that] I said, \u201cWell, this is what I want to do.\u201d There were companies that said, \u201cOh, these little girls, they\u2019ll buy anything.\u201d I felt it was important for somebody to give [New Kids fans] something that would be sacred to them. That book sold 350,000 copies. Art-book publishers then went, \u201cOh, there\u2019s a market here.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2019, you estimated your defense in a copyright-infringement case against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts at $2.5 million. Did you get to recoup any of the costs?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tNo. The costs were well above $2.5 million. I knew from the start that there were not damages in there for me to collect on because I\u2019m beyond the statute of limitations. Also, I didn\u2019t sue them, they sued me. Not only did I want to stand up to the bullying \u2014 wealthy individuals as well as companies or foundations can weaponize the legal system to grab rights \u2014 but all photographers were just sick of people thinking they could just take things without permission.\u00a0<\/p>\n