First, it’s important to
realize that the Golden Age of Urban Modeling is
over. It happened about five years ago and a number
of factors coincided to end it. In 2005, a top urban
model might make $5,000 to host a party, $5,000 a
month on her website, and $1,500 to be the lead in a
music video. Nowadays a model is lucky if she gets
$1,000 to host a party, brings in $1,000 a month on
her membership-based website, or makes $500 to be a
lead in a music video. Even at its peak, urban
modeling was never really intended to be the
sole source of a woman’s income, but
more so to supplement it. That’s because the work is
too sporadic to count on for consistent income.
So on paper, urban modeling looks like a pretty bad
proposition from a financial perspective. But there
are a number of “fringe benefits” that can’t be
monetarily quantified and make it more palatable.
(That’s the subject for a different blog post.) Also,
once you become well known, sometimes you’ll get a
little bonus. A job that comes along and seemingly
makes it all worthwhile. In 2008, Bria was in an Xbox
game entitled “Don King Presents:
Prizefighter.” Bria played herself as a reward
to players that boxed their way to a certain
level. I personally attended the recording session
at Smashbox Studios here in Los
Angeles when Bria taped this. She made $1,700 and
earned enough credit to join SAG for four hours of
work, which consisted of her reading a few
lines of dialogue and taking some photos so that a
CGI version of her could be created. (There are
actresses out there struggling who don’t have
enough credits to enter SAG.) That was one of
those “cherry on top” jobs that happens every so
often for urban models who are consistent
performers.
Listed below are some general ranges of what a fairly
successful urban model like Bria Myles can make from
certain endeavors:
Party
Hosting:
$0 - $1000
(A lot of models host parties for free to get
exposure. Few make more than a $1,000 for an
appearance)
Music Video:
Lead ($300 - $500); Featured ($150 - $300)
Magazine Feature:
$100 - $200 (the BlackMen SSX issues are rumored to
pay up to $4,000, but those are far and few between
these days)
Membership Based Website:
$500 - $1,000 per month