Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money

by Jo Piazza

Why do celebrities get paid so much more than regular people to do a job that seems to afford them the same amount of leisure time as most retirees? What do Bush-era economics have to do with the rise of Kim Kardashian? How do the laws of supply and demand explain why the stars of Teen Mom are on the cover of Us Weekly? And how was the sale of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s baby pictures a little like a street drug deal? After a decade spent toiling as an entertainment journalist and gossip columnist, Jo Piazza asks the hard questions about the business behind celebrity.

Make no mistake: Celebrity is an industry. Never in the course of human history has the market for celebrities been as saturated as it is today. Nearly every day most Americans will consume something a celebrity is selling—a fragrance, a sneaker, a song, a movie, a show, a tweet, or a photo in a magazine.

With the benefits of Piazza’s unique access to the celebrity market, Celebrity, Inc. explains in detail what generates cash for the industry and what drains value faster than a starlet downs cChampagne—in twelve fascinating case studies that tackle celebrities the way industry analysts would dissect any consumer brand.

“An economist at heart, Jo Piazza has consistently dug deeper to try to figure out why celebrities behave the way they do and what the consequences of their behavior will be. This book puts celebrities in context, but it also puts the consumer of celebrity in context. No one should feel bad about enjoying pop culture, but they should understand how it is being marketed to them. [Celebrity, Inc.] gives the reader the tools to do exactly that.”
—Bonnie Fuller, President of HollywoodLife.com

Genres: Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Business, Finance, Popular Science

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I write books about strong women defying the odds. I love an adventure and a book that both sweeps you away and starts a conversation with your friends.

Book club visits are one of my favorite things to do and I zoomed into hundreds of them for my Good Morning America Book Club pick You Were Always Mine. I'm a former travel editor who has gotten to visit 47 countries and I met my husband Nick in the Galapagos islands on a reporting trip. After living in NYC and San Francisco I have settled into Philadelphia (the greatest city on Earth) to raise my three feral children.)

Reviews

[Pete Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

How I Heard About The Book...

This book had been sitting in my Audible wish list for a while before I downloaded it, so I can't recall the exact referal... but I think it might have been mentioned in a Dan Kennedy newsletter a few months back.


The Lesson/Argument in Three Sentences...

There is no real applicable lesson in here, as the book is basically a documentary in print detailing how the quote unquote, famous, actually make their money and play the fame-game. It also talks/reveals a lot about the mechanics of the entertainment business; covering things like how to "buy an oscar win" . I guess if you are trying to be the next Paris Hilton it may help you forecast/project/plan out your income streams, but it's more of a education on 'how the game is played' than a playbook.


Why Read It ...

Maybe you're not obsessed with celebrity like Fleur (my wife) is, but if you are at all interested in learning the 'economics of fame' this is well worth a read.
And if you're not overtly interested in discovering how 'celebrities earn their income', you should! 'Celebrity' is one of the largest, hottest and most in-demand 'industries' ... and as savvy entrepreneurs we should continue to stay abreast of other industries and how they work ... especially if we want to partner with a celebrity on an endorsement deal (and there a are only a few better ways to get attention in this day and age than with a celebrity spokesperson)


Key Chapters:

*Baby pictures: how celebrities pit magazines against one another to bid for photos of their children
*Reality TV: how it works, what it takes to get on a show, how much of it is really real, etc.
*Weight loss: can you believe some people gain weight just so they can get paid to lose it in the spotlight?
*Celebutantes: people who are famous for being famous and how to turn fame into a career
*Perfume: ever wondered why there are so many celebrity perfumes out there and why they're marketed the way they are?
*Feuds: how launching a fight (even a fake one) with another celebrity can mean you both make more money
*Internet: how Ashton Kutcher pioneered on Twitter and how celebrities are getting paid to advertise online
*American Idol: all about the show and how it was created to make money, as well as the fame of those who do (and don't) win
*Charities: how celebrities use charities to boost their image
*Consistency: the importance of maintaining a consistent and reliable image to Hollywood success
*Fame after death: some deceased stars are making more money decades after their death than living ones.


Consumption Method [Audio,eBook,Paperback etc] ...

Given it's not a 'how to' style book, that I felt I needed to take notes on, I've opted for the audiobook version. [There are some really interesting facts, stats and numbers shared in the book that I would have liked to note down though - and some reviews refer to charts and graphs being in the book.]


Other Similar Books Worth Checking Out ...

Celebrity Leverage: Insider Secrets to Getting Celebrity Endorsements, Instant Credibility and Star-Powered Publicity, or How to Make Your Business - Plus Yourself - Rich and Famous - Jordan McAuley [If you want to go down the path of using a celebrity to promote your business, project or charity; Jordan's book covers the 'how-to', that 'Celebrity Inc' left out.]

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator - Ryan Holiday [Ryan pulls back the curtains on the media and blogosphere in a similar way; but Ryan mixes his own experiences in with the investigator/reporter angle.]


What Was Missing ...

The celebrity industry is so large that this book could become a series, exposing every trick under the sun celebrities use to cash-in on their fame. There isn't one specific 'monetisation' strategy I was left wanting to know more about .. but a sports version of this book is something I would really enjoy.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I imbibe gossip like a delicious, low rent wine. I check it every day, whether it's LaineyGossip's at times condescending commentary or Anne Helen Petersen's academic capsule pieces. I'm also an accountant. So the lure of a book that combines my love of gossip with my tepid everyday interaction with numbers and business was irresistible.

It's a fun, breezy, at times horrifying look at the economics behind stars anywhere from the A-list to the F-list. It covers the areas I would usually expect, such as how Shiloh Jolie Pitt's baby pictures were sold to People for $3.1M and her younger twin brother and sister's pictures were sold for $14M. It also delves to the monetization strategies of reality "stars" like Speidi, how Kim Kardashian outplayed Paris Hilton to $67M a year, and how celebrities make money on twitter (three dudes in an office imitate the online voices of various celebrities to tweet product placement after the celebrity has been matched up to an appropriate brand).

The chapter on gossip magazines and online blogs and the differing cost structures between the two was awesome. It's amazing to see actual marginal costs laid out and being able to then figure out whether or not the magazines made money from all of those huge celebrity baby paydays. Despite all of the numbers involved, it's an engaging, easy read if you are interested in the subject (and as I've confessed before, I'm very, very interested in the subject.)

[LATOYA JOVENA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read on celebrity branding and how they capitalize on them.

[John William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Famous people make money through a variety of channels, leveraging their public recognition and personal brand. Celebrity earnings often stem from diverse sources such as acting, music, sports, and endorsements. They also capitalize on lucrative deals for merchandise, book publications, and public speaking engagements.
How Famous People Make Money offers a compelling exploration into the lucrative business of fame, dissecting how modern celebrities monetize their public personas in diverse and ingenious ways. The book masterfully blends insightful analysis with engaging anecdotes, revealing the sophisticated strategies behind endorsements, personal branding, and entrepreneurial ventures. Through thorough research and sharp observations, the author unveils the mechanisms behind celebrity earnings, showing how stars turn their fame into financial empires while navigating the delicate balance between public image and personal privacy. Whether you're fascinated by the economics of stardom or curious about the mechanics of celebrity culture, this book provides a thought-provoking and entertaining read that illuminates the often-unseen world of celebrity finance.

[Heather V ~The Other Heather~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really do wish Goodreads gave us half-star options, as this was definitely a solid 3.5/5 and almost a 4 star book, but it got weighed down in a couple of chapters by a bit too much on the Hollywood Industrial Complex algorithm-speak for me, so I found myself skimming rather than absorbing. But the rest is certainly eye-opening, and I'd recommend it to folks who are interested in pop culture and the intricacies of their favourite famous peoples' lives.

Piazza covers everything from how reality TV has changed absolutely everything about fame - and her examples include an entire chapter dedicated to Spencer Pratt of "The Hills," which I expected would bore me but was rather interesting after all - to the calculated risks inherent in every celebrity endorsement of a charitable cause (who knew it was that bloody complicated??). She dissects the "stars" and "cash cows" that have come out of "American Idol," versus the "problem children" and "dogs" (in order, the examples she gives for each are: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, and Taylor Hicks), and despite me never having gotten through an entire episode of that insufferable show, I still came away from that chapter feeling like I understood the game plan behind it all.

There's a full chapter dedicated to how rap beefs have evolved over the past 10-15 years, having always been good for business but now making a decided shift toward the East Coast/West Coast throwdowns being one of words rather than violence (a brief history of the Tupac vs Notorious B.I.G. and their still-famous cohorts being a good illustrator of when and why this shift began); it was interesting to look more closely at the "beef" between 50 Cent and Kanye West not too long ago and to see who benefitted most from it, financially and in terms of reputation and recognition.

We also get a look into how Kim Kardashian actually managed to out-Hilton her friend Paris, and the fine art of being famous because you're famous. The number of people who become ridiculously rich for selling themselves as product is staggering, and the shameless lengths to which many of them go (like taking multi-million dollar endorsement gigs overseas) will jade even the most fervent star-gazer.

Contemplating the "Brangelina" situation as one that happened by committee rather than it being about two beautiful people who fell for each other is not surprising, but like so much of this book, it's a little depressing. Looking at spreadsheets explaining how much of a sales boost People Magazine got after paying millions for the photos of the Jolie-Pitt babies (which Brad and Angelina "donated to charity" - the way this is phrased makes one wonder if that is ever true) is another dose of cynical realism. Even babies have a price tag when you're famous. And so does death. The final chapter of the book shows that a great many dead celebrities make more than living ones.

I think the sociology major in me was most fascinated by how agencies and networks and studios can market practically any product, even a terrible one, as long as said product (read: celebrity) is consistent. The public is willing to forgive a celebrity who has a "redemption narrative," or even one who's always been marketed as "bad" (Charlie Sheen is given as the antihero in this thesis), but is likely to reject someone like Lindsay Lohan, who is all over the map and never sticks with any one thing - good girl, bad girl, drug addict, rehab fanatic, embracing/existing within the LGBT community, declaring herself 100% straight - long enough for fans to get reacquainted and comfortable with her. Piazza put it in simple terms: You go to the grocery store and buy the same peanut butter every week. You wouldn't do that if one week it was sweet and the next it was bitter and then smooth and then crunchy, without ever knowing what you're going to get. Turns out we consume our movie stars exactly the same way. We'll buy the bitter stuff if that's what we know we're meant to expect. We don't want unpleasant surprises, even if they're an improvement. We are all about predictability.

The couple of chapters that felt a bit off-key to me were those which focused almost exclusively on numbers. Yes, this is ultimately a book about the big business of show business, and Piazza does a pretty good job of simplifying percentages and medians and such for the layperson, which is good, since I'm far from being a master economist, but I felt my interest drifting away in the places that veered into pie charts and studio losses per annum instead of using the formula of current celebrity examples to get a point across. There's also a chapter given to Ashton Kutcher and how he apparently got in on the ground floor in terms of monetizing absolutely everything he does; I glazed over during the number-crunching of his ventures, too.

Overall this is a quick, light read, with a number of interesting points to make about how the celebrity machine really works. The chapter about David Arquette's involvement with the Feeding America charity is especially surprising (with an excellent example of how any famous person can do things anonymously if they so desire, which means if you see or hear about it in your entertainment news, that celebrity's activities are almost certainly staged for that very reason & exploited to maximum benefit once the paparazzi or gossip rag have been tipped off by their own camp), and gives a really good look into why famous people choose to associate themselves with which philanthropic ventures, and how much of themselves they're willing to commit, and what happens if these charity boards decide their celebrity spokesperson isn't doing their cause any favours anymore. It's a little depressing to have confirmed what many of us already knew: that everybody on screen or in our CD collections or on the sports field...they're all their own "brand," and every single thing about their lives revolves around what can make their "brand" as lucrative as possible for everyone in their food chain. Staged romances, splashy charity concerts, weight gain and loss, awards given and their acceptance speeches, association with a corporate sponsor...none of these things are organic in the least, and are instead carefully orchestrated to fit into each celebrity's predetermined "narrative." In other words, everything you love about Celebrity X is fake.

If you can handle the raw data that supports such a thesis and still enjoy going to the movie theatre or turning on the radio, this book is a worthwhile read. If you'd rather leave at least a little bit of mystery and allure there in order to still get a kick out of tabloid covers and benefit concerts, maybe you're better off not taking this peek behind the curtain. It's not pretty back there.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty boring, and the page-long conclusion at the end of each chapter was just repetitive. I would have rather just read a book made of the conclusions. Maybe ten years ago I would have found this much more fascinating.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting look into the world of celebrity money making. Had I read this when it was released it probably would’ve ranked higher for me but so much seems out of date in 2024 that I glazed over entire sections.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on Feeding My Book Addiction: http://feedingmybookaddiction.blogspo...

The concept of celebrity in today's information overloaded and social media saturated culture fascinates me. I have no idea what useful skills the Kardashian clan has that allows them to command millions of dollars a year for appearances, endorsements, and their chain of reality television shows. I often wonder why I'm drawn to the tawdry tell-all magazines at the supermarket checkout line rather than the ones with the delicious looking meals and promises of easy recipes inside. I certainly don't understand Bieber Fever (I think I'm too old) nor do I get why celebrities have so many followers on Twitter. Yet, none of these questions or thoughts stop me from checking the Huffington Post's Celebrity page on my cell phone's HuffPost app at least once a day for the lastest celebrity gossip. I find that the Huff provides me with a great overview of several celebrity media outlets so I only have to go to one place for all my news.

Yes, I've thought this out.

What does that say about me? Well, I'm not so sure. What I am sure of is that Jo Piazza's tell all book, Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money, is an eye opening and salacious account of the inner workings of the Hollywood Industrial Complex. Us average people may think that Hollywood is teeming with talented and attractive people looking to create the next great American movie, television show, or musical album. In reality, the Hollywood Industrial Complex is the epitome of high school where who you are and your buzz at the moment (aka popularity) determines how much money you make, which is really what it's all about.

That's right. It's all about the cold hard cash.

That's why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt sold photos of their babies. That's why Ashton Kutcher started making all those crazy videos of his company's office. That's why hip hop stars are always arguing with each other or why any one who is anyone is lending their name and likeness to a bottle of perfume. It's not about the person, it's about the brand.

Kim Kardashian made smart choices in creating her brand. She makes millions of dollars a year. Paris Hilton, on the other hand, made poor choices and now she is a has been. She's still a filthy rich has been, but she's old news nonetheless. Ashton Kutcher was a biochemical engineering major in college when he was discovered by a modeling agency. He took his success and sought to make as much money out of it as possible. He revolutionized the concept of online marketing. Lindsay Lohan was once the teenaged it girl of Hollywood, but she tanked her brand by not being able to stick to anything - alcoholism, sobriety, acting, singing, even her sexual preferences.

Author, journalist, and resident celebrity expert Jo Piazza details the ups, downs, successes, and failures of big named celebrities and wildly famous people to detail just how they make their money. It's not from the movies, television shows, or record sales. It's from the perfume sales, appearances, and product endorsements. These are how the reality stars with no verifiable talent make their money.

The information Piazza presents in the twelve chapters of her book deal with everything from American Idol, celebrity endorsed charities and perfumes, how the Oscars are bought not necessarily chosen by merit, and famous people can make more money when they are dead. Piazza is an engaging narrator, whose real life experiences and first hand knowledge make her a fun and reliable guide on the adventure into the back door dealings of the Hollywood Industrial Complex.

More important than all of the information you'll learn (Did you know that Puff Daddy's nickname came from his days of playing high school football at a private school in Westchester County, New York? p. 135), this book will make you think. As I read, I kept wondering how I played into these money making ventures. How have my choices as a consumer been influenced by famous people trying to make money? I also felt an overwhelming sense of pride that I'd never watched an episode of American Idol and that I had figured out that Heidi and Spencer from MTV's The Hills were hamming it up for the cameras, especially Spencer. But that's besides the point. Celebrity, Inc. made me a better educated observer and consumer of entertainment pop culture.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Piazza's Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money. It left me with a lot to mull over and a sharper critical lens to analyze pop culture and entertainment. I highly recommend it to anyone with a healthy (or unhealthy) fascination with famous people and their net worth.

[Rachel Kramer Bussel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid reader of celebrity gossip magazines, websites and memoirs, I thought I knew a bit about how celebrity works. At the very least, I knew celebs often court the press and get paid for photo ops. But from reading Jo Piazza's excellent expose Celebrity, Inc., I learned so many more ways celebrities can and do earn money and position their brands in what she calls the Hollywood Industrial Complex. Tackling everything from the rise of the celebrity baby market (and its source, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt), one of the most remarkable chapters in that the numbers are so astronomical, to how Kim Kardashian outdid Paris Hilton in the world of reality TV and its attended much more than fifteen minutes of fame, to Tim McGraw's fragrance line, how rap beefs boost sales, and how celebrities' popularity is measured, Piazza offers up lessons that have stayed with me every time I read a magazine or see a piece of gossip. Piazza also makes it clear that whether it's creating a more charitable image or creating a digital footprint, celebrities must continue to innovate and analyze their own images to stay in the game, lest someone new come along and usurp their role in the power hierarchy. Anyone active online will appreciate her chapter about Ashton Kutcher and his involvement in the tech world, which has both made him plenty of money via various income streams but paved the way for companies to capitalize on celebrity brands online. Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the inner workings of the financing of celebrity, persona and fame.

[Starswirl the Bearded · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting... and extremely over-priced at £12.35 for kindle.

This was an engaging read; full of funny commentary and interesting insights.

Though not particularly interested in celebrity culture, I stumbled across a reference to Piazza while off-handedly researching the following question: "What does Kim Kardashian actually do? And is it worth X million dollars?"

This book not only answered that question, but gave a fascinating insight into the celebrity/entertainment/advertising complex - including an revealing chapter on how celebrities use twitter to leverage their fame into cash.

I would not recommend the kindle version though - unless it drops in price to under £7.50. It simply isn't worth it, unless you are a newcomer wishing to work in this industry/have a piece of coursework due relating to the topic... and even then, I would beware of using it as a reference guide - despite having only a vague grasp on celebrity culture I spotted the odd factual error; and the statistical analysis was sometimes weak and open to debate. These things don't necessarily detract from the books value (an engagingly written peek behind the curtain of celebrity inc.), but they do contribute to the vague feeling of being a ripped off.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a non-consumer of most celebrity gossip-based media, the underlying subject matter of this book is outside the scope of what would normally get my attention. After reading it, however, I almost think that on some level it's intentionally directed to people like me -- people who are less interested in the celebrity stories themselves than in the strategic business interests that many of us suspect are secretly driving them.

Full of candid insights and disclosures from the players actually involved in marketing celebrities (through increasingly unconventional and evolving outlets), it's a fascinating read if you've ever wondered what's actually going on in the celebrity world, who's pulling the strings to make it happen, and how they and their clients get rich as a result. The analysis is backed up with hard statistics, including charts and graphs, but the prose is breezy and engaging. I highly recommend it both to the celebrity news audience and to dubious outsiders.

[James Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thorough analysis of the business of branding oneself to maximize total earnings throughout and beyond a lifetime of being a celebrity. It was very well written and I really enjoyed the charts and graphs that supported the authors facts.

A great read by a person with years of experience in the industry. Not only is it a great read for those interested in the entertainment business but for those who are interested in the consumer business industry. I work for a cpg (consumer product goods) company and found the correlation of branding a person as a product utterly fascinating.

[Lori Paximadis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Interesting look at the very big business of celebrity, especially from a branding standpoint. Rounding down for a few things stated as fact that struck me as pure assumption -- or at least not very deeply investigated -- i.e., I'm not sure you can lay Jersey Shore and assorted Housewives and faux backwoods duck hunters squarely at the feet of the American consumer's insatiable need and absolve the media companies of any blame at all in creating these atrocities.

[Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring...

i expected to learn a lot of interesting things about the celebrity aspect of the film industry, but the amounts involved are quite small compared to other forms of investment, or even the amount celebrities earn for a staring role or their residuals.

also, for most businesses, the numbers discussed are just a small slice of their advertising budget, let alone overall marketing or sales budget.

if you aren't a TV watcher, this is not for you...

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my guilty pleasures is celebrity gossip, but paired with information about branding and economics, it becomes a decidedly less guilty pleasure. Celebrity Inc. is a timely and insightful read. That said, I am glad I read it now and not, say, a year or two from now, when some of the examples may seem a bit dated. Lots of good stuff here.

[Rita Arens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned more than I probably wanted to know about the Hollywood Industrial Complex. Particularly the market for "delebs," or dead celebrities. (Einstein dominates.) Had a bit of an existential crisis while reading, as an author.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book on how celbritys make money, and not just from the movies.

[Angie Banicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!!

[Kelly Thomson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah

[Joanna Slan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives you insight into today's celebrity culture, and how they use us to make money.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting, Malcom-Gladwell-esque book. Fascinating.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was better than I thought it would be. Easy read. Some interesting business stuff. The chapter on getting a branded perfume or scent was fun.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assumptive, speculative gossipy book- the paucity of material is better suited to a podcast than a book

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part economic text, part celebrity gossip. Written in 2011, it felt a bit dated but was still a fascinating look at how celebrities monetize their fame.

[Kathleen Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will revolutionise how I read celebrity news. Fab well structured.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good insight into how money is made by celebs. Very enjoyable read

[Quinn Arruda]

Slightly dated at this point (no mention of Instagram!), but still a pretty good read.