Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/04/new-study-shows-that-literally-every-billionaire-under-30-was-born-wealthy-also-water-wet.html
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A few are self-made, having built notable companies like Snap (Evan Spiegel, 33), Gymshark (Ben Francis, 31) and Oculus VR (Palmer Luckey, 31).
I don’t know about Francis and Luckey, but Spiegel was born into privilege: lawyer parents, Pacific Palisades upbringing, expensive private schools, unpaid internship, Stanford. And of course white cis-het male, another commonality amongst the young American billionaires. So he had a lot of help too.
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I’m sure they were born into privilege but what makes them billionaires rather than merely wealthy (the kind Peter Thiel says can’t afford the justice of shutting down media outlets they don’t like) was their companies.
I mean nobody’s “self made” and it’s an extremist ideological position to pretend they are.
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Agreed. It was just jarring that they implied someone who I know for a fact was born into wealth wasn’t.
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We have internalised that propaganda and it needs to be called out every time. You are right.
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Taylor Swift wasn’t exactly born into poverty, either. I like her a lot, but her parents had the resources for the best private schools and private music and vocal lessons, and to move her to Nashville when she was 11 to begin pursuing a music career. You can be born into poverty and become a millionaire. It’s not easy, but you can do it. Becoming a billionaire, though? That almost always requires a head start.
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The world needs people who didn’t inherit emerald mines too. But not for much longer.
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As far as the “great wealth transfer”, that’s mainly for the wealthy as well as medical costs eat away at the boomers’ money in their old age. There's a good chance Boomers may leave their kids nothing. Here's why
I didn’t plan on my parents leaving me money now I’m just hoping my father has enough to live on but worry some of these more far right state legislators start cutting Medicaid
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True, but there are a TON of a people in the music industry, children of established music stars, people with the connections and privilege to make it big - but they lack the talent, charisma, and/or luck to connect with an audience.
When it comes to the rich, people like Taylor or movie stars are the people I have the least problems with. They are producing a unique product which makes a ton of money and getting rewarded for it. They are the exception to people getting rewarded properly for work and talent.
Of course, once they hit it big, if they play their cards right with investments, they are now on easy street with passive income; increasing their wealth with out really doing anything. I suppose I have an issue with that, but at the same time, I don’t blame them. If I won the lottery I would be doing the same thing.
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Yeah, but it’s not like they got where they are JUST due to their talent. Swift is fine, but how many song writers are just as talented (if not more so) who did not have her economic advantages and support of her family? It’s never just about talent, success in the music industry is about access, too, and certainly Swift had greater access due to who she is. That criticism isn’t about her talent, it’s about how the industry actually functions, which matters.
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Having the money on hand to make money is a much huger factor than most wealthy people would openly admit to. The Swifts had the cash from day trading and financial sector stuff to buy that christmas tree farm and to rent a lot at the tri-state to sell the trees from said farm.
Heck, this factor even helped Paramore when they we’re getting started. Taylor York’s dad Pierre was a pretty high profile guy in the christian/praise music industry in Nashville, Taylor’s brother Justin had dated Katy Perry back when she was a christian artist and Katy’s dad even knew Pierre. Much to everyone’s shock Katy had openly admitted on twitter that Justin took her virginity and a bit later on in a GQ interview she said that happened in a church’s parking lot in the back seat of a car 
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I never said she didn’t have talent. She clearly does. As I said, I like her. All I’m saying is she started on first or second base. It’s a big advantage over someone born in poverty. Success wasn’t guaranteed to Swift. But she didn’t have a lot of roadblocks, either.
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Right, we are in agreement it isn’t just talent. There are a lot of talented people singing in churches or on small stages that don’t do it for a living.
There is a level of luck and having the right look and charisma to pull in a fan base. If you have that AND have some money and connections to get seen, then you’re more likely to have broad success.
But like I said, conversely, it isn’t just money and connections, because people have had both but gone nowhere even if they are talented, because they didn’t click with an audience.
Same with movie stars - there are tons of movie stars who aren’t even great actors, but still have other factors that lead to them being popular. Character actors who are awesome at their jobs and in a million things, but never reach “super star” status. And with the recent “nepo baby” articles, clearly getting in front of a camera is much much much easier if your parent(s) know producers and casting agents to at least get you an opportunity.
So when someone like Swift or others succeed despite the system being pretty slimy (and taking advantage, chewing up and spitting out countless others), I am not going to fault them for being one of the lucky ones to “make it”.
It at least has SOME merit vs a kid who was giving a million dollars at 20 and ended up investing in some company that later sold for 100s of millions of dollars. Do that a couple more times and suddenly they have a billion dollars. Like - THAT is “money for nothing”.
ETA:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you said that.
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Except it’s not just that. There is a lot of marketing that goes into it as well. Getting on the right label means you get a bigger megaphone than other artists.
Example, look at the era before and after MTV. Prior to MTV, radio was the primary mode of promoting popular music to the broadest audience. There was a longer history there of labels paying off djs to play their artists, which got them in front of people. By the 70s, when the recording industry was incredibly centralized, it was harder to newer artists who did not fit into a particular slot to get on the radio. Part of the reason we got the explosion of New Wave/post-punk in the early 80s was because MTV started up (and soon came to cable) and needed videos to survive. Artists who could not get on the radio sent in videos, and all these weirder bands that did not fit in with either the rock or pop of the era found an audience - but it was still dependent on what MTV would play. Hence hip-hop dragged compared to New Wave, because the powers that be had litle interest in hip-hop compared to New Wave/post-punk. Eventually they caught on, but only after hip-hop found an audience via other means. And although they played some punk/industrial/goth/etc on like 120 minutes, they very much marginalized those genres compared to other post-punk musics.
It’s not about “faulting her” as much as it is about understanding that the industry isn’t really about talent, but about money. I mean, this has been a principle argument by punks/post-punks for decades now.
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It’s worse these days. The iHeartMedia group runs terrestrial radio, LiveNation acting like mafia bosses, the major labels tipping the scales in their favor as shareholders of Spotify and while those major labels have made a solid point with their current battle with TikTok, I can’t help feeling that they’re trying to stamp out something they feel is a threat to them.
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Acting like?
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Not just the labor movement in music, but also independent music that gives consumers an alternative to the mainstream music that they promote.
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In my case, I expect to have to deal with whatever debt my parent has accrued. So much for a comfortable retirement… 
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Also, I can remember at the time that Joe Cocker was suggested as a perfect example of someone who would never have gotten a record deal in the MTV era, because watching him live at least draws you in, and you’re likely to be there because you already know and like his music, but discovering his music by watching his performing style on a video would be so off-putting that it would never have happened. (He scowls a lot, and basically doesn’t look ‘pretty’ when he performs.)
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