Uncommon Cents
Media Life is bullish on the new BBC spoof series Celebdaq, which trades shares in celebrities in a Nasdaq-like marketplace. Similar to the US-based Hollywood Stock Exchange, Celebdaq reminds me of the Celebrity Dead Pool and parallel projects, in which people bet on when celebrities will die. Chicago artist Ben MacNeill has sold shares of his artwork as part of a printmaking project. And musicians such as James Brown and David Bowie have also sold bonds as shares of their future royalties. How far off is something like Celebdaq or the Hollywood Stock Exchange? Apply Cory's concept of whuffie and the old-school egoboo of fandom, along with near-realtime cultural currency trackers such as Blogdex and Daypop, and we're almost there.