Yes, this is true. One thing a lot of people don't know is that if have your pix taken by someone with their camera, for pay or no pay, THEY own the copyright of the pix, not you, unless otherwise agreed upon. Same with book covers.
The pix owner might give you permission to use a pix you hired him to take of you on your book, but NOT on a poster for the major motion movie that someone decides to make of you... without extra royalty payment.
Many photographers consign their pix to a large company that puts out catalogs and who do the marketing to publishers, ad agencies, etc. If I want to publish your book on insurance I would go to one of these catalogs to find just the right cover pix for the book and pay a fee to the company who takes cut and passes the rest on to the original photographer. For $300 I may get to use the pix on a print run of 20,000. If your book is a big seller I need to pay more to the the pix company.
Same with graphic artists who design book covers, and other items. Unless it is stipulated that it is "work for hire AND that the results are the property of the buyer" the artists owns her work. Some artists give up this right, but not all. Depends on how 'famous' the designer is, and what the project is.
