The Business of Fame: 1920-2020

But after listening to Brud CEO Tyler McFedries on Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale podcast, I’m coming around to the concept.

The Kardashians took Oprah’s playbook and applied it to the Internet.

successive technologies have made celebrities more accessible to their fans, while also enabling more people to achieve fame and influence.

New technologies will completely dissolve the line between virtual and in-person, so that your favorite celebrity becomes just another member of your friend group.

First, digital media enjoys the zero marginal costs of both software and content. Each incremental user to join Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube costs nothing. And when that user shares a piece of content, that content can reach a theoretically infinite number of people at zero cost. Some people would argue that these companies aren’t media companies, ... See more

A recurring theme as technology has changed celebrity is that content output goes up and production value goes down. The production value of a Kardashian social media post is orders of magnitude lower than the production value of an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In the summer of 2019, D’Amelio was a 15-year-old teenager living in suburban Connecticut. She downloaded TikTok and posted her first video. Less than 12 months later, she became the most-followed person on TikTok with ~40 million followers (she has 91 million today).

Livestreaming is another example in the trend toward authentic connections. Livestreaming has moved beyond gaming, and it’s becoming natural to “hang out” with your favorite online celebrities over livestream.

The next generation of celebrities will make money through a combination of subscription and micropayments. Fans will pay recurring revenue to support and gain access to their favorite celebrities, but will pay additional money for à la carte items.