Gen Z isn't lazy.

• Author: Griffin, Elle

ARIANA GRANDE earned upwards of $20 million dollars for a 15-minute long concert performed five times over a weekend--inside the video game Fortnite. The concert was completely virtual, completely animated, and saw more than a million views.

For comparison, her Sweetener world tour brought in $243.5 million with 2.7 million tickets sold. What once took a year of touring and 229 high production shows to earn, could have been achieved with only three hours in a recording studio and a debut in the metaverse.

Then there's Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who wrote a Broadway musical inspired by the television series Bridgerton, workshopped it live on TikTok, garnered 2.4 million followers, a studio album, and was just nominated for a grammy. They did so before turning 22, and without...