- Rap star Kanye West has his own internet search engine (it's called Search With Kanye West).
- Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has his own line of "hot sauce".
- The R&B singer Usher teamed up with Mastercard to launch a range of credit cards.
- Justin Bieber has, curiously for a 16-year-old boy, his own line of nail polish called "One Less Lonely Girl".
- Madonna opened the Hard Candy Fitness centre in Mexico City, the first of what she hopes will be a worldwide chain of "first class" gyms.
- Lady Gaga has released her own range of Heartbeat headphones
.
- Jennifer Lopez sold the first pictures of her twins Emme and Max to People magazine for a reported $6 million.
- Beyoncé is now focusing on her clothing ranges, House of Dereon
and I Am Sasha Fierce.
- Jay-Z has non-musical business opportunities including the clothing label Rocawear
and the New York nightclub 40/40.
- 50 Cent, Eminem and P Diddy all have their own clothing ranges, while P Diddy has also carved out an extra source of income for himself in promoting the vodka brand Cîroc.
- The popular Guitar Hero
game now has Metallica and Aerosmith versions, while stars such as Ozzy Osbourne (who made himself into a product with a reality TV show about his home life) are playable characters.
- X-Factor winner Leona Lewis was signed up by the game Final Fantasy XIII,
where she appeared in advertisements for the product and allowed one of her songs to be used in the game.
- Last year, pop star Katy Perry said: "I have a job, I know my responsibility and I'm always trying to take it to the next level ... most of these bitches just hawk breath mints or shoes. No offence to them, but maybe I'll hawk shoes later in life." She seemed to have forgotten all that, however, when she debuted her own perfume, Purr
, last month.
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1 comment:
I think there are few people who are willing to turn down huge amounts of money and since musical pop stars can't make money on their music anymore they have to try and make money on their celebrity. It is however too bad when you see music become their side job while celebrity becomes their main focus.
This is nothing new. There are accounts of opera singers living off their celebrity as far back as the 18th century. Let's face it; once you have the attention of the masses it's easier to maintain a career as a celebrity than as a commercial artist. A commercial artist has to produce an acceptable product for public consumption. A celebrity just has to stay appealing and available for public adoration.
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