Pixiq

What is it with album covers and disputed photographs? Hot on the heels of the Vampire Weekend fiasco, the astronaut Bruce McCandless is suing Dido for using the image of his 1984 spacewalk on her ‘Safe Trip Home’ album. He’s after unspecified damages from Getty Images, Sony Music, and Dido (or Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong, to give her her full name) for using his ‘persona’ without permission.

Thing is, he’s not physically identifiable in the image; he’s no more than a white blob. But he’s pretty famous for making that spacewalk and you can figure out it’s him with a bit of brain power. So does he have a leg to stand on? I honestly have no idea. You’d've thought that with all the money that is ploughed into the technical legal aspects of producing an album, some lawyers might’ve considered this one.

Headsup to The Guardian.