The Brand that Built an Empire in the Music World
Beyoncé and Jay-Z Carter have been an item for over 10 years, and their power-couple status has hogged the limelight ever since their union. Beyoncé is 12 years younger than Jay-Z, but that never featured in their fiery romance. Neither Beyoncé nor Jay-Z needed to hook up with the other for monetary reasons; and that fact was never publicised by the tabloids as a motivation for them staying together. Beyoncé is one of the most impressive performers in the music industry, and her empire spans far and wide.
Jay-Z is a titan of hip-hop, and a financial whizz with his own brands. Together they rank as one of the highest-paid celebrity couples in the world, year after year. In fact, according to Forbes Magazine, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were the #1 top earning celebrity couple in 2013. That their star power dropped a notch in 2015 should not be perceived as anything more than the surge of Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris. Beyoncé and her man surely remain among the top echelons of the Celebrity 100 list.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z raked in an impressive $110.5 million between them in 2014, shy of Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris at $146 million. What is certainly most impressive about the former power couple is the fact that they have consistently generated massive annual earnings for several years. They’ve been married for 7 years and during the course of 2014, they collaborated on an impressive duo titled: On the Run. The concert was selling out to massive audiences at an incredible $342 a ticket. According to Forbes Magazine, the figures racked up by the musical duo’s tours only covered 22 shows. The tour became the fifth-biggest money-spinner of 2014. The business acumen of this power couple extends well beyond music into a broad range of product categories encompassing Jay-Z’s entertainment venture known as Roc Nation, D’Usse Cognac and Armand de Brignac Champagne. For her part, Beyoncé has mega-money endorsements with the Pepsi-Cola Company and retail giant H&M. She also sports her own perfume line.
What Dethroned Beyoncé and Jay-Z from the Top Spot?
Analysts have speculated about the reasons for the decline in earnings during June 2014 and June 2015 for Beyoncé and Jay-Z. One conclusion that has been drawn is that the hip-hop rapper’s Tidal is to blame for them being dethroned. Tidal is in fact a streaming service for music that Jay-Z purchased for a whopping $56 million. On a personal level, Jay-Z has a net worth of $560 million (March 2015), and according to estimates Jay-Z receives a nightly payment of $1.5 million while he’s touring. For her part, Beyoncé earns a cool $2 million per night when she is touring. Jay-Z’s Tidal purchase – a music streaming service akin to Spotify - has been slow in taking off.
And it’s not only Jay-Z who owns the Tidal music streaming service, its other artists like Madonna, Rihanna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Alicia Keys. Apparently when news broke of this music streaming service purchase, Jay-Z’s followers on Twitter expressed their deep disappointment. For every song that is played on Jay-Z’s Tidal, artists can earn $0.006 - $0.0084 a pop. Estimates place the total revenue of such figures at approximately $400,000 monthly for top performing artists. The pricing for Tidal is $19.99 for the premium service and $9.99 for the standard service. Before Beyoncé and Jay-Z were dethroned as the power couple by Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris, Jay-Z earned $60 million between June 2012 and June 2013, and his wife Beyoncé earned a whopping $115 million. Tidal may have tanked for Jay-Z, but his Cognac and Champagne brands remain immensely popular.
In fact, such is their massive net worth that’s this music power couple purchased a mega-mansion in New Orleans valued at $2.6 million. That they have been able to spend $150,000 monthly on renting an exclusive home in Los Angeles should not be discounted. The power couple reportedly has plans to send their daughter to a private school with a tuition fee of $15,080 per annum. Rumours have been rife about this couple’s marital problems with accusations of indiscretion swirling around Jay-Z. Beyoncé was reportedly seen shopping around for an apartment for herself in 2014, but it appears as if the couple has patched things over and is now determined to make their marriage work. Those in the know say that Beyoncé is working on falling pregnant or is already pregnant, and that will provide an opportunity for Blue Ivey – their daughter – to have another sibling to play with. Several names have been swirling about, but no consensus has yet been reached.
Who owns more of the bulk of the couple’s net worth?
As it stands, Jay-Z is the dominant partner in the couple’s $1 billion net worth. He has a personal net worth of $560 million, while his wife Beyoncé is worth a staggering $450 million. At that level, it is crystal clear that this celebrity music couple ranks among the elite of the most highly paid artists in the world. Jay-Z has a big hand in the running of Beyoncé’s career. That honor used to belong to Bey’s father until 2008 but since then Jay-Z has taken over and plays an integral part in her brand too. According to number crunchers, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are at the top-ranking music celebrity couple in the world, especially when one removes celebrity couples where one of the partners is not a celebrity per se. As a case in point, consider Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen, or Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Penault. When it comes to their actual asset holdings, the rumors know no bounds. There is talk of the couple owning an island in the Bahamas in addition to lavish homes worldwide. Beyoncé and Jay-Z Carter have a waterfront villa in Miami Florida, an expansive mansion in Westchester County, NY as well as a luxurious apartment in New York City.
