When do you go from an aspiring singer to a successful one? Ashley Alexandra Dupré, the high-priced call girl at the center of the scandal that felled New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, may just have crossed that threshold — if the answer is "when you make a million dollars off your music." Since her identity was revealed on the New York Times website on Wednesday evening, the singer/lady-of-the-night formerly known as "Kristen" has reportedly seen her two singles downloaded off the internet music site Amie Street Music as many as two million times — which means that she's pulled in approximately $1.4 million in two days off her two songs, thanks to the Amie Street business model, which nets artists 70% of their online proceeds. That nets her 69 cents per sale. Yes, really.
[UPDATE: The 69 cents is right, but the 2 million figure was conjecture based on pickup from this site, which has since updated and corrected. Nevertheless, based on Dupré's Amie Street Page, the song has been viewed/listened to close to 500,000 times, and that is not the only place from which to purchase it (we spoke to the Amie St. people this weekend; there are other spots on the site where you can listen and purchase, and there are widgets to embed the song on your own site, like for example at Salon's Machinist). So a million off her music is probably not happening quite yet, but a cool few hundred thou? Definitely. And she can top that off with her other offers if she wants...so we kept our original title. Even so we regret the error and have informed the other online sites we linked to that the 2 million download number was printed in error.]
This, incidentally, does not include offers to pose for Penthouse and Hustler — Penthouse has said they'd pay "high six figures" for the spread (and possibly a cover), and Hustler scion Larry Flynt has reportedly offered her $1 million for the privilege. Industry experts predict a big payday across media, depending on what direction she takes.
In short, as NY mag's Daily Intel puts it, "Kristen is rich." And you thought $4,300 an hour sounded like a good gig.
Update: The New York Post is reporting a smaller number (300,000) though that number is unsourced and seems to have been taken directly off the Amie Street website (scroll down) and is different than the number of downloads, which the Amie Street execs have refused to confirm to the press. Also, the NY Post erroneously reports that the price of the song is $0.68; it's actually $0.98.
For Ashley Alexandra Dupre, selling music beats selling sex [Salon]
By the Numbers: An Economic Analysis of 'Kristen' [Radar]
As Spitzer's Star Falls, Ashley Alexandra Dupré's Is On The Rise [ETP]
How She's Making Money:
What The Hell Is Amie Street Music? And What Does Eliot Spitzer's Taste In High-End Hookers Have To Do With It? [HuffPo Biz]
How This Guy Wants To Make Money Off Her:
Grooveshark Helps Eliot Spitzer's Mistress Sell Her MP3s [Grooveshark]