A trickle of pennies has finally turned into a gusher of dollars for the entertainment
industry. Now the members of the Celebrity 100 are cashing in by the barrel
Streaming Grows Up
five years ago, spotify
was a fledgling music-
streaming service only months
removed from its US launch and
YouTube had just started its push into
original programming; Netflix was a
year away from doing the same,
starting with House of Cards. For
the members of the Celebrity 100—
our annual accounting of the top-
earning entertainers on the planet—
meaningful streaming income was
a distant dream.
But sometimes profound change
happens quickly. Streaming is now
the dominant platform for music
consumption, and it’s growing
rapidly—up by 76 percent year-over-
year, according to Nielsen. YouTube
has birthed a whole new breed of
celebrity: The YouTube star. And
Netflix plans to spend hundreds of
millions annually on original content.
“It’s not just about music—it’s
about every form of entertainment,”
Nielsen’s David Bakula says. “You
don’t really have to own anything
anymore, because for $10 a month, you
can do this: You can have everything.”
The members of our list have been
fattening their pockets accordingly.
While the aggregate earnings of the
Celebrity 100 are flat at just over
$5 billion in the past 12 months
compared with the prior year, income
directly related to streaming surged
to $387 million from $177 million.
For musicians, the going rate of a
little less than a penny per on-demand
stream may not sound like a lot, but
it adds up for the 14 performers on
our list who topped 1 billion spins
over the past year. Comedians with
devoted fan bases, from Adam Sandler
to Chris Rock, have been extracting
eight-figure cheques from Netflix.
And stars-turned-impresarios, like
Ellen DeGeneres and Dwayne ‘theRock’ Johnson, now have video-
streaming ventures they can call
their own, just as Dr Dre did with
Beats Music and Jay Z is doing
with Tidal on the audio side.
The indirect spoils of streaming can
be even greater. Abel ‘the Weeknd’
Tesfaye parlayed his play count—5.5
billion streams in the past two years—
into an estimated $75 million touring
advance. To him it’s all part of the
model he’s been following throughout
his rapid rise, one that applies to
all sorts of businesses: Create an
excellent product, make it widely
available and flip the monetisation
switch when the timing is right.
“I really wanted people who
had no idea who I was to hear
my project,” he says. “You don’t
do that by asking for money.”The Weeknd is grossing over $1.1 million per stop
on his Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 World Tour,
thanks to the ubiquity of his streaming music
PhotograPhed by Jamel toPPin at mohegan Sun
the Weeknd WearS a White Shirt by Saint laurent PariS; black Wool veSt; black Silk tie; black trouSerS;
gold tie cliP by dolce and gabbana; black leather lace uP ShoeS by Saint laurent PariS
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