Beyonce Baby: Blue Ivy Carter’s First Photo Could Sell for Over $100K

Like lions circling prey, the paparazzi are on the hunt for the first photo of Beyonce's baby Blue Ivy Carter's first photo.

As it goes in Hollywood, the celebrity baby race is all about the dollars, notes USA Today. There is speculation over whether Beyonce and Jay-Z will even sell their baby's photos, if the paparazzi are not lucky enough to snap one themselves. If they power couple does decide to take a bid, they could collect big bucks. After all, other Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reportedly got an eight-figure sum for the photos of their twin babies, Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon in 2008.

If it's the picture everyone wants, which is Beyonce and Jay-Z together with their baby enjoying her for the first time, and it's exclusive, it could be well over $100,000 for first rights in the U.S., and up to half a million for global rights depending on how long it's exclusive, said Gary Morgan, CEO of Splash News, a celebrity photo forum, to USA Today.

With the media frenzy surrounding the couple and the birth, the photos are a hot commodity.

Everyone wants to see this baby, and photographers will do whatever they can to get that first photo of Blue, preferably with her parents and especially her mom. They're very hot. Beyonce is A-list. People are always wondering what she's doing. These are high-demand photos, said entertainment photographer Dennis Maryannakis.

Right now, baby Blue is center stage.

This is the be-all, end-all of celebrity spawn - until the next celebrity spawn, said Gillian Sheldon Heckendorf, vice president of programming at Buzz Media. One trumps the next. But this is different because these are international, global celebrities, a power couple. Everyone wants to see what this baby looks like.

Another alluring facet to the saga is how private Beyonce and Jay-Z have been since they started dating in the late 90s. Their relationship was kept out of the public eye until the couple wed on April 4, 2008, in an intimate ceremony in New York City. A tent was reportedly erected in his newly renovated Manhattan penthouse where 70,000 white orchids decorated the setting. In attendance were the singer's parents, Tina and Mathew Knowles, Destiny's Child ladies Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and the couple's close friend Gwyneth Paltrow. No photos were ever seen.

After the wedding, the couple began to appear in public together more and more, especially at basketball games. But Beyonce insisted that the coming out was not a calculated move. We never really consciously talk about anything. Even when we do records, I've never sat down and said, 'hey, let's try to do a song, she said. It's just natural. We never said 'OK, now we're going to go to games.' We just live our lives.

Now that their family has extended to baby Blue, and the world is clamoring for a look, the private couple is under the microscope. The couple did release a statement reading: Hello Hello Baby Blue! We are happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, born on Saturday, January 7, 2012. Her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful, we are in heaven. She was delivered naturally at a healthy 7 lbs and it was the best experience of both of our lives. Jay-Z's song Glory was released Monday was well, describing his love for Blue and the struggles the couple has faced, including a miscarriage.

Janice Min, editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter said, As someone said to me before we knew it was a girl, this is like the coming of hip-hop Jesus. You can't have two bigger musical stars producing a child. Any kind of personal glimpse you get of them is fascinating.

They're very discrete, Min said. They don't walk red carpets together. They don't talk about each other much in interviews. The mystery of who they are and how they live their lives propels interest in their child.

Min does not think they will release the photo to a magazine. I bet they will tweet a photo and that's it.

If a paparazzi happens to snap a pic, that will be one lucky fella. You're talking a six-figure photo, Min said. In this land of the Internet and too much celebrity press, it's hard to have anything special anymore, and this would qualify as special.

Others disagree. Samir Husni, the director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi's journalism school and an expert on the magazine business, does not think Beyonce and Jay-Z compare to Angelina and Brad.

We are overcrowded with babies! he said. So many celebrities are having babies or adopting babies that the supply is becoming plentiful, so maybe there is not as much demand for pictures of Beyonce's baby as for Angelina's twins. I don't think right now there's that appetite, Morgan says. Beyonce and Jay-Z don't have quite the same following (as Angelina and Brad). It's not quite the same apples to apples. Angelina and Brad's baby photos were reportedly sold for over $11 million to People magazine.

As for Beyonce and Jay-Z, the world awaits. The Huffington Post reported that the couple has a net worth of more than $700 million. If Beyonce and Jay-Z do decide to share their child with the world, they will probably go the same route as Tom Cruise and Katie [Holmes], a magazine editor told the online news publication. Instead of selling the images to a weekly publication, they would give them away for nothing to lock in a cover of a monthly like Vanity Fair. But knowing this couple, it is unlikely we will ever see a staged picture of the child.

Here is a list via Entertainment Wise of the most expensive baby photos sold thus far. Without a doubt, hip-hop's royal couple would land at the top of this list if they decide to make a deal.

Most Expensive Baby Photos

1. $11+ million - Knox Leon & Vivienne Marcheline (Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie)

2. $6 million - Max & Emme Anthony (Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony)

3. $4.1 million - Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (Brad Pitt /Angelina Jolie)

4. $3 million - Levi Alves McConaughey (Matthew McConaughey/Camila Alves)

5. $2 million - Dannielynn Smith (Anna Nicole Smith/Larry Birkhead)

6. $2 million - Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt)

7. $1.5 million - Max Liron Bratman (Christina Aguilera/Jordan Bratman)

8. $1.5 million - Honor Marie Warren (Jessica Alba/Cash Warren)

9. $1 million - Harlow Winter Kate Madden (Nicole Ritchie/Joel Madden)

10. $1 million - Maddie Briann Aldridge (Jamie Lynn Spears/Casey Aldridge)