How The Fast Times Of The Paparazzi Came To A Screeching Halt

 The rise of social media, and the ability of stars to manage their own brand, was bad enough for the paparazzi. But then the recession hit in 2008, and suddenly, consumers balked at paying $5 for a magazine. Eager to fill the void was a surge of celebrity gossip blogs and websites that offered 24-hour access to the stars — for free.
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But it was the 2011 acquisition of the Splash News agency by Bill Gates’s powerful Corbis that really changed the compensation game.Corbis was already offering subscription deals for unlimited use of certain categories of images, but now they were able to include paparazzi photos — all for a monthly subscription fee. That allowed a photo editor access to the best photos without having to deal with the nasty business of haggling over price.
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To be sure, the paparazzi industry hasn’t completely flatlined — there is still money, sometimes a lot of it, to be made.
The aerial shots of Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s wedding, which everyone initially thought was just a birthday party, reportedly netted $180,000. And that was without any photos of the bride or groom.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiarosenbaum/downfall-of-the-paparazzi#.dhnX5L24Yl