How much is a Photo of you worth?

For me with the model release include, nothing.

On the other hand, photos of celebrities getting hitched, at Starbucks or crashing their car full of drugs while driving drunk are the hottiest commodity since sliced bread it seems. They are getting snapped up more than ice in the desert. All kidding aside, those photos can be bought for multi-million dollar payouts and the amounts are growing for shots that show our celeb idols in more everyday settings.

What is the most expensive celeb photo ever sold? Topping out the list of high priced photos were Brad and Angelina, whose photo of their baby Shiloh was sold to People magazine for $4.1mm. Doing the right thing, the couple turned around and gave the money to various African charities. Bravo Brangelina.

The trend points to a Celeb photo and footage market that is red hot and still heating up. The public's appetite for this type of content is insatiable and the competition between different publications is creating bidding wars that increase the price of this content to nose bleed levels. In addition, the trend has moved away from staged moments and more towards catching them in the act. I know. It's more fun to see Brittney Spears freak out on a bystander's car then it is to see her on stage or the red carpet. Stars have recently begun to control and profit from how their pictures are taken and used. Celebs have hired or tipped off the "paps" to be in the right place at the right time. There were also rumors that Spears was changing outfits during the day so she could have photos of her in different outfits which she could sell to the agencies. I don't know if that is crazy or really smart. Smart for Spears. Crazy for us that we care that much ;-)

I think this practice is something that will grow and open up a new category of celebrity footage and photos which can be licensed by the celebs to others. How will professional paps react to this? If they are on the outside of these deals, it could negatively effect their trade or make them more ruthless getting the shots. What is your take on how the celeb photo and footage market will evolve and where are the opportunities?

Shutterstock to sell Celebrity photos

About the Image had a good post on Shutterstock and their movement into the paparrazzi game. You can see the article here.

Do people who want to take pictures like these really need to get press passes from Shutterstock and what will this do for its user base? It will be interesting to see how this plays out. How hard is it to get the passes if you promise to give a percentage of your profits from the sales of the photos or video to the events themselves. So Shutterstock gets paid, pays a the producer and then pays the event. If this is true, what do you think would be a fair breakdown?