Vampire Weekend: Why The Cover Model of Contra Sued The Band

Why the model on the front cover of Vampire Weekend's album Contra sued the band.

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

When people who appear on album covers end up suing the band for using their likeness or image it usually comes down to whether a release was signed, but it’s rare that another element is thrown in. That’s what happened to band Vampire Weekend and that’s what were going to discuss in today’s video.

Vampire Weekend would form in 2006, by four students attending columbia university . Their first album, which was self-titled would come out in 2008, and sold nearly 600,000 copies, impressive by indie standards. The band soon landed on the cover of Spin magazine and the band would release their second album through label XL Records titled Contra in 2010. The album cover featuring a polaroid of a girl . The photo was found by one of the band members who used the search terms ‘New York City 1983’ on Flickr.

It was around the time of the album’s release that the band’s frontman Ezra Koenig (kay-nig) would tell pitchfork why they chose the photo for the album cover saying “the first expression that I read into her was some sort of hesitation. We had a lot of discussions trying to figure out how old this person was when the picture was taken-- she could be 15 or 27. The ambiguity of her age and expression made me feel like she was on the cusp of something, which really matches the vibe of the new album. When asked who she was he would add “I don't want to give away all the details about the photo just yet, but I learned that she's now living in Malibu.”

The band had offered the owner of the photo Tod Brody on flickr $5,000 to use the photo on their album cover believing since Brody posted it on the site he owned the copyright to it. Brody claimed to have taken the photo during a casting session for a television commercial several decades prior.

The photo of the woman on the album cover was heavily used to market the record. A few months after the album came out, the band and XL Recordings their label were hit with a 2 million lawsuit by the woman on the cover. The woman on the cover was named Ann Kirsten Kennis She would claim the photo was used without her permission.

Kennis for her part was already used to people using her likeness and image to sell products. She had enjoyed a modelling career where her image was used to sell products for L’Oréal, Revlon, Fabergé, and Vaseline to name a few. These instances didn’t result in a lawsuit. She signed a release and received a payment for her services.

Contra would hit number 1 in america on the album charts and charted throughout the rest of the world.. Kennis only became aware of the record after her daughter saw a banner ad online from barnes and noble advertising the album. Kennis for her part, had never heard of Vampire weekend before or even knew the photographer who claimed to own the rights to the picture.

For Kennis, It was a moment of rebirth for her as she was now retired from modeling after 10 years in the industry. She would meet her husband after developing something called Space Bear teddy bears, which are now called cosmic cubs club. By the time Kennis saw her photo she had just completed her last session of chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Once Kennis became aware of her image being used on the album cover it became inescapable as she went about her day to day business. As she strolled through new york city she’d see posters of the album around the city, she’d hear Vampire Weekend playing in clothing stores she visited and. She’d even learn from reading the new york times that the band was using the image during their live shows. Friends of the former model from as far as Europe would claim to have seen her image in advertisements for the album in their country too


According to Kennis the photo was taken back in 1983. She claimed that the release forms that are typically signed for these photos was not signed by herself, but rather forged.

In one of the strangest parts of this story, Vanity Fair would write and i quote “if the Contra case does go to trial, the outcome could hinge on a key docume