I have a few thoughts on this, really, and I think that many factors come into to play in each situation, and how they are involved is what decides my feelings on it for the most part. I’ll see if i can answer without generalizing (or rambling) too much.
First of all, I RARELY use stock photography for myself. If I do, it is rare and always a last resort. Something that has to be a photo, yet i could never possibly (or timely) photograph myself. For example, maybe someone wants a picture of mars in the sky or has specifically requested a certain type of animal or structure that is only in certain parts of the world and wants it the next day and doesn’t have the budget to fly me to the location. 99% of the imagery you see in my art is mine.
These are the only times I will consider it, and even then thy will only be small elements in the picture. I try to avoid it because I like to keep my images as personal as possible, and using premade or stock stuff takes away from that a bit. Rmember, I’m speaking for mysefl here. Unless specifically asked to, I would not make an entire cover image from a stock photo, (at least without changing it a bunch, if allowed) and if I did, I would not take an art credit for it. I wouldn’t be able to take a stock photo, do a few adjustments, put a logo on it and call it “mine”. If that’s what you want, why ask me to do it in the first place...? Of course, other factors can figure in as well (Even in these cases I have friends with photos that might help and I sometimes trade elements with them - If i need an image I lack, i prefer to do this before stock - it still keeps things a bit more original, and I will always credit them). This is a personal preference, and not a judgement. Sometimes a band might provide you a photo themselves that they want used but see what you can do with it, so many things can be involved.
Some people do use it to be lazy. I know this because I know people that do. They don’t really care all that much and just wanna get the job done. I can’t really speak for them and say this is wrong, as It depends on the connection you have or want to keep with your work. If it’s fine for you I don’t see a problem with it. But i think for me there’s more to be proud of, a better feeling of accomplishment, and a more personal connection when it’s “all you”. However, as stated above, sometimes there are impossibilities with this and exceptions have to be made. I think it’s up to each one’s perspective where that line is drawn and when it’s been stepped over.
With that said, and now, if i dare, moving to the topic of the post - the DTB cover - there are a few things to consider, and if I had to give my (outsider's) opinion on this, my thought is that Geoff wasn’t being lazy when he did this. Having worked with Dev before, I know that he knows what he wants, and doesn’t settle. When he sees it, and it’s perfect, that’s all that matters. If a picture says what he wants it to, I don’t think he’d be overly concerned where it came from. I mean as far as it being a stock photo or not. Also, I assume he was given a few things to look at and choose from and this was one of them. It probably struck him a certain way and that was it. I would imagine (hope) he knew it was stock at the beginning to avoid something like this popping up negatively later on, but imagine that where it came from was seconday to it’s being the right vision in the first place. It’s a good looking picture, and
probably speaks for the music very well, or else it wouldn’t be there. It is also my understanding that the cover is a small part of the overall picture, so we’ll see how it all fits in.
In this particular case, the only negative i see right off hand is the release itself being a bit overshadowed (precursored?) by this little cotroversy, if I may call it such. I’ll be anxiously awaiting it nonetheless.
