Musicians are increasingly voicing frustration with outdated and unflattering photographs used to represent them on Wikipedia, a problem that recently prompted a public appeal from Perfume Genius, the stage name of musician Mike Hadreas. On Wednesday, Hadreas posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking for assistance in updating his artist photo, which he described as a “corpse in red lipstick” and dated back to 2017.
Hadreas’ post quickly gained attention, and he was able to enlist the help of a follower to change the image. However, the issue extends beyond individual artists. Swedish pop star Zara Larsson has also publicly addressed the problem, claiming she is engaged in a persistent effort to replace an unwanted photo on her Wikipedia page.
In a TikTok video, Larsson directly addressed the user repeatedly reverting her photo changes, stating, “I will never stop changing that picture to a nice one. I will never stop.” According to reports, Larsson’s page, like those of many prominent artists, is subject to “extended confirmed protection,” a restriction that limits public editing. This means that changing the image requires the assistance of a user with a substantial editing history – at least 500 edits – or a site administrator.
While updating a Wikipedia artist photo can be challenging, several avenues are available. One method involves posting a suitable image on social media platforms like Instagram or X, accompanied by a licensing statement. Utilizing licenses such as the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) or Creative Commons Zero Public Domain Dedication 1.0 ensures proper attribution or releases the photo into the public domain.
Alternatively, images can be submitted directly to Wikimedia Commons via photosubmission@wikimedia.org, along with a copyright ownership statement and a licensing agreement. The copyright holder, typically the photographer, must provide the necessary release statement if the uploader does not own the rights.
Users can also directly upload images to Wikimedia Commons by creating an account and utilizing the “Upload file” feature. Once uploaded, the image can be cropped and captioned. To update the artist’s Wikipedia page, editors can access the “Infobox musical artist” section, replace the existing image file name with the new one, and publish the changes, including an edit summary explaining the modification.
Another option is to utilize the “Talk” page on the artist’s Wikipedia page. By initiating a “Photo Edit Request” topic and linking to a suitable image online, along with a rights holder confirmation and licensing agreement, users can request assistance from experienced Wikipedia editors.