To the casual tabloid reader, Britney Spears' life looks like a train wreck. To the Britney Industrial Complex, comprising everyone from paparazzi to perfume vendors, she is a gold mine.
Whether she's shaving her head or battling for custody of her children, Britney seems to grow more fascinating (and to some people, more lucrative) every time she stumbles. Recent court documents suggest she's amassed a $125 million fortune and continues to rake in about $737,000 a month, or nearly $9 million a year. But that's chicken feed compared with the overall Britney economy.
Britney has sold 83 million records since the release of her debut album in 1999, bringing in more than $400 million to Jive Records, her recording company. Even her 2007 album sold well, despite her troubles. Her tours have grossed nearly $150 million; the average take for her 265 solo shows is $583,138, according to Pollstar, which tracks touring data.
But there's a lot more of Britney for sale than her music: Pure Nightclub in Las Vegas reportedly sold seats at a table next to hers for $50,000 at a recent bash, and she still commands between $250,000 and $400,000 just for showing up at events. Elizabeth Arden has sold nearly $100 million worth of its Britney perfumes—Believe, Curious, and Fantasy. Pepsi Co. determined that it was worth paying her a reported $4 million to $10 million for a short-lived ad gig. (Estimated totals for records promotions, licenses, and others: $30 million to $40 million).
A Britney photo garners anywhere from $250 (for a run-of-the-mill shot of her at Starbucks) to $100,000 or more. The photo agency X17, which has a team trailing her 24-7, estimates that Britney accounts for 30 percent of its revenue: It sold $2.5 million worth of Britney photos in 2007 alone, including $500,000 for its exclusive Bald Britney pics.
Competitor Splash News says that Britney accounts for 10 to 15 percent of its business, boosted this year by $200,000 for photos of Britney in a hot tub. All told, Britney probably makes up a full 20 percent of the paparazzi business. (Estimated average annual take: $4 million).
If it seems like every time you see a newsstand, Britney is on the cover of another magazine, that's only because…she is.
A celebrity tabloid with Britney Spears on the cover sells 1.28 million newsstand copies, some 33 percent more than the average. Between January 2006 and July 2007, Britney was a cover subject of People, Us Weekly, In Touch, Life & Style, OK!, or Star a total of 175 times in just 78 weeks. During that period, newsstand sales of issues with her on the cover amounted to a staggering $360 million!
As for me, I am thoroughly convinced that that 'sweet- southern- porcelain- pure- lil' girl' wearing a scantly makeshift plaid Catholic school uniform with shirt hiked-up and tied in a knot adolescent person, Britney, had the remotest clue what—or—how she was being made.
Only in America can one take a child—unknowingly at that—and have them fixed up financially for life by doing everything that we (hopefully) spent the first years of their lives trying to teach them what not to do. Then lower all the standards and watch as they self-destruct…or reap the rewards?
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