How do musicians become billionaires? (Hint: It isn't music)
In August 2021, Forbes announced that Rihanna is officially the richest female musician in the world, estimating her net worth to be a cool $1.7 billion! However, it’s not music that made her a billionaire. She achieved that on the back of her two ventures: cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty & lingerie company Savage x Fenty. A similar story unfolds, when we talk about the richest male musician in 2021, Kanye West (now rebranded Ye), who skyrocketed to billionaire status thanks to Yeezy. Let’s take a look at how Rihanna, Kanye and other musicians became billionaires by stepping beyond just music.
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Jay Z is probably the first musician to fully embrace the role of an entrepreneur, rather than just sticking to music. Along with his spouse Beyoncé, he has become a prolific investor, creating an impressive portfolio of businesses including entertainment labels, alcohol brands, a music streaming service, a clothing line & an upscale sports club. Once a drug dealer in the streets of New York, he’s come a long way to become a billionaire. A successful musician with a career spanning over 3 decades, his first breakthrough business venture was his clothing line Rocawear, which was sold in 2007 for $204 million. Another big bet that paid off for Jay Z was the acquisition of TIDAL, his music streaming service, by Square for $302 million in 2021. He had acquired it in 2015 for just $56 million, landing him a big profit. Apart from these successes, he has a lot of other profitable ventures as mentioned above, setting up the blueprint for other musicians to follow.
The bulk of Rihanna’s fortune comes from her 50% stake in Fenty Beauty, estimated at $1.4 billion. She started the company in 2017 as an inclusive cosmetics brand for women of all ethnicities and skin & hair types. It is a 50-50 joint venture with French luxury behemoth LVMH. It grossed more than $550 million in its first year of operations, beating Kylie Cosmetics, which had made Kylie Jenner the youngest “self-made billionaire” according to Forbes in 2019. The rest of Rihanna’s net worth comes from her $270 million stake in her lingerie company, Savage x Fenty. A simple calculation shows us that only about $30 million of her total wealth can be attributed to her music career. This shows how important her fashion and beauty brands are for the richest female musician in the world.
Kanye’s story is a rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs. From going under with over $53 million in debt in 2016 (remember when he asked Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion into his “ideas”) to becoming the richest musician on the planet in 2021, he has surely come a long way. His estimated net worth currently stands at $1.8 billion according to Forbes. As per reports by Bloomberg, this number is expected to balloon to $6-7 billion soon, based on his potential earnings from his deal with GAP. An overwhelming majority of his wealth comes from his brand Yeezy, which has a billion dollar deal with Adidas for sneakers as well as a 10-year deal with GAP for a fashion collaboration. Only a meagre 0.05% of his total wealth, amounting to about $90 million, can be attributed to his musical endeavors.
It’s quite easy to deduce from the above examples that musicians become billionaires when they look beyond music and take on the role of an entrepreneur. While this is just the beginning, there are other great musicians (look up the story of Drake and OVO) waiting in line to join the hallowed group of billionaire musicians.