Who is my customer?

publicists really do not handle the photo buying, neither do bands, that would be the managment/label that handles that, and normally they hire someone they know to do the shoot.

This has been my experience too. It is hard to get in with the record labels and management unless they already know you, or unless you are friends with the band and the band insists on using you (and has enough weight with the label or management to make that happen).

My customers tend to be the venues....  local and mildly popular bands don't usually have (or want to spend) money.  They will accept substandard images as long as they are free. Sucks, but that's the trend.

I think part of what makes substandard images acceptable to bands is the sheer quantity of competing substandard images. An artist's images only need to look as good as everyone elses. They don't feel compelled to pay for professional quality work when no one else is doing it. If the majority of existing bands had professional quality images, new bands would feel compelled to also pay for professional quality images in order to compete. Once poor quality imagery reaches a critical mass, poor quality for free becomes the new, lower, acceptable standard.

Some bands still appreciate and are willing to pay for professional work. I think that comes from bands that either are already successful and have the funds to pay for it, or that understand and take responsibility for the business aspects of a career in music. Most bands don't get the business and marketing aspects of being a band and the role that imagery plays in their branding. Those bands accept the lower quality free images and think they're great. Unfortunately, that includes almost all new bands who have not yet been educated on what it really takes to sustain a successful music career. That and cheap, good, digital cameras make it easy for poor quality images to get to critical mass quickly.