His manager, Scott 'Scooter' Braun, is Universal Music's first entrepreneur in residence:<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3979647" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3979647</a>
I'm impressed by his business savvy considering his young age, but he owes at least part of his fame to technology and social media, due to his YouTube start. And he's very rich. That helps.