Esperanza Spalding Lawsuit: Sued by Photographer Over Album Cover

Esperanza Spalding is being sued over the cover art for her 2012 album Radio Music Society, reports the New York Post.

The cover finds Spalding sitting on what appears to be a classic 80s-style boombox radio. Except it's not a radio. It's a sculpture -- by Ryan Humphrey -- made out of pictures attached to a wooden box Spalding found at Galapagos Art Space, in Brooklyn.

57-year-old photographer Kevin Ryan manned the lens for the pictures used to create the sculpture and says that Spalding failed to credit him or license the photos, even after requesting that she go ahead and do so. As a result, he's filed a $500,00 suit in Manhattan federal court.

"I love Esperanza, and I love her music, and, actually, I like the image," he says. "But you wish people would have done their due diligence."

Ryan maintains that the image including his photos is being sold on e-cards and t-shirts. Now, he wants the money that he feels is owed to him.