Spencer Pratt and Heidi Monday planned to celebrate the 15th anniversary of “Superficial” when tragedy struck: the California wildfires burned down their Pacific Palisades home.
“It’s just the weirdest, craziest time,” Pratt shares Amount via Zoom. “When it was all going on, I saw an email that the album was going live, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I just made a TikTok reminding people to stream. I was looking for something income wise.”
On January 8, he shared the news that both his house and his parents’ house were lost in the fires, posting videos of their evacuation and the damage they saw from afar via security footage – including one of their two sons’ beds catching fire in the form of a heart.
“I know people are like, ‘You’re rich, you’re going to be good.’ Yes, I wish. Everything in our house has been paid for by Heidi and I, hustling how we could,” he wrote on TikTok at that time. “Everything we’ve worked for was in this house… we’re starting from scratch now.”
So, Pratt started writing — a lot. His follower count has increased by more than a million since the fire (he hit two million on Friday), and he has encouraged those watching to do so stream Montag’s music. Even as he hyped Montag’s album continuously, he didn’t expect the album to actually soar to the top of the iTunes and Spotify charts, or for celebrities like Paris Hilton, Julia Fox, Emily Ratajkowski, Alix Earle, Flavor Flav and many more. post with it on social media.
However, he is not sure if he is actually making a profit. “I have no idea how much money (the music has made). I don’t know if it’s coming in checks or when, but everyone tells me all the time, don’t expect any money. I’m more excited about the energy and the opportunities that come from it. I don’t think these streams and all these charts (make money),” Pratt says. “Based on what people tell me, the music business is about touring, it’s about merchandise, it’s about everything that comes with it; that’s how the artists make money unless you’re doing billions of streams, which I’m still vigorously (pushing). It’s not happening yet! I am optimistic because that’s really the only way to get through all of this.”
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag arrive at the premiere of ‘The Hills’ Season 3 in 2007
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Pratt has been outspoken on TikTok and Snapchat about creating longer videos and posting frequently to make money. But, he says, although we often hear about creators who earn so much, his RPM (which means revenue per thousand impressions) is extremely low – 10 cents. Pratt says he watched a fan-made video breaking down TikTok’s financial model to figure out why his rate is so low, and discovered that because he doesn’t talk about topics, the TikTok algorithm can make money with ads — say on a cooking account – his RPM is lower. And because he won almost a million new followers in a week, his RPM is also lower, because the TikTok algorithm doesn’t know what to do with his account.
“I heard it last night at 3am and I was like, amazing. I’ve never been so excited to get a million followers in a week. I think I’d make more money from following and just being engaged, he says.
Unlike with music, he can see directly on TikTok how much he earns.
“I made, like, $4,000 on TikTok this week, but on TikTok Live, where people can just give me directly, I think maybe $20,000. So it’s phenomenal and life-changing. It’s the power of individual supporters, people just giving back you and get behind you,” says Pratt. “And that’s the most powerful thing when you don’t have to rely on ads or AI and algorithms when only real people just want to give. It is incredible and incredible.”
Also, once he can get into his Pratt Daddy offices in Palisades, he’ll start shipping new “Shallow” T-shirts, and about 5,000 orders have come in. While he used to print them himself, now there’s a bigger company helping out. He’s also reached out to businesses to collaborate on creating hummingbird feeders — something he often shared from the backyard of his home.
Pratt hopes paid partnerships will also be beneficial. Lo Bosworth, who starred in “Laguna Beach” and later met Pratt on “The Hills,” shared that her women’s health company, Love Wellness, is ready to partner with him. There’s nothing official yet, but he says he’s so grateful for her support.
Since the fires, many fans and celebrities have asked for a studio to produce a reality show featuring the couple. While Pratt first mentioned Huluhe says he is open to any meeting with any producer who would like to talk about his family’s rebuilding process.
“I wish we had started filming already because it’s so raw and so real. We’re connected to so many people whose stories aren’t being heard, and all the small businesses that we’re a part of. It would be a great opportunity to document that, he says. “We already do that on social media, so I’d like to rest my thumb and have a bigger camera that does that while I deal with emails and things that come in.”
For now, Pratt tries his best to look at the silver lining — the anniversary of the “Superficial” album dropping at the same time as the fires — and helps remind Montag of it. “Since I met Heidi, she’s said — because I complain about a lot of situations — she’s like, ‘God uses everything for good.’ I ask how and she says, ‘It could be God’s timing, you don’t know God’s timing,'” says he. “She’s been upset and I’m like, ‘God’s timing. We don’t know. It could be something big coming out of it.
“I obviously feel crazy,” he continues. “I’m faking the positivity.”
One thing that is not fake is gratitude. “We’re so grateful. There’s always going to be negative trolls and people who try to tear you down, but there are so many more people who have really gotten behind our family and want us to be successful,” Pratt says before ending our interview “I also understand how lucky we are to have it, and I look forward to the future and to being in a position where I can help other people.”
