Paid to play: Stars add buzz to Vegas clubs

An easy payday
The pay scale for celebrity ranges from free drinks to thousands of dollars.

NBA stars command appearance fees from $5,000 to $30,000 and models can broker $2,500 to $25,000 “depending on whether she’s been in Victoria’s Secret or Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue,” said Ryan Schinman, president of the entertainment consulting firm Platinum Rye Entertainment.

In exchange, the stars are obliged to do little more than shine.

“Be (listed) on the invite, pose for some pictures and call it a day,” Schinman said.

For Blush’s second weekend, it is hosting a “gifting suite” for rockers getting ready to take the stage for the Sept. 9 MTV Video Music Awards. A list of up to 300 invitees includes Fergie, Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, 50 Cent, and U2.

Those who show up the day of the awards can get pampering from a barber and/or masseuse and will walk away with a gift bag stuffed with clothing, spa packages and jewelry.

“It’s for them to come in, relax, enjoy themselves,” said Blush marketing director Rosine Frangie, adding “there’s going to be a small press wall (red carpet) inside.”

Other than the requisite photo op, there are few rules for contracted talent appearances.

At Spears’ New Year’s Eve appearance at PURE, the new mother famously fell asleep around 1 a.m. and was helped out of the club, generating a barrage of scandalous Internet gossip.

Some said it didn’t matter a whit.

“Clubs don’t care about bad behavior,” said Steve Striker, the founder of trip organizer Striker VIP. “It creates media, good hype or bad.”

Light Group managing partner Andy Masi says his company doesn’t pay for appearances but will supply jets, suites, dinners and drinks for celebrities on special nights such as club anniversaries — with tabs often running into the thousands of dollars. The group generally makes celebrities pay when they visit on their own.

Masi said red carpets are set up for press when celebrities want to promote their own projects or for anniversary bashes when the club wants to show off who came.

All about the buzz
But unscripted celebrity appearances at Light’s 10 restaurants and clubs in Las Vegas can do a better job of generating interest, he said.

“Afterward, the buzz gets out. Someone you know, Leonardo DiCaprio, seen eating in STACK or Tobey Maguire seen at FIX restaurant or Kevin Connolly hanging out at Jet (nightclub),” he said. “That stuff comes out afterward, but we’re not crafting the entire night and spending money to create that. It’s just happening naturally.”

Both Light and PURE say building relationships with the stars and giving them great service is key to getting them to return. Both approaches appear to be working.

Light is set to make from $90 million to $120 million in revenue this year, and is set to open four new venues and manage a hotel-condo tower in the new CityCenter, Masi said.

Davidovici said it takes more than just buzz to keep venues making money, though.

“You couldn’t get 5,000 people three nights a week for three years to come if you didn’t run a real establishment, if our doormen were rude to people and the cocktail waitresses weren’t friendly,” he said.

“It’s more about the regular customer than the celebrity, because that person is spending money.”

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