Little more than a month ago, Forbes staff writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg interviewed Justin Bieber for the cover story of the magazine’s Celebrity 100 issue where the 18-year old pop icon came in third place behind Oprah Winfrey and the surprising leader of the pack Jennifer Lopez. Bieber’s placement on the list includes being ranked fourth in the money category after raking in more than $55 million in the last year while he was third in social media for his 43 million Facebook fans and 21 million Twitter followers, which is second only to Lady Gaga. While interviewing Bieber at the Beverly Hilton, Greenburg also spoke with the boy wonder’s manager Scooter Braun who helped expand the Bieber brand though intense touring, the lucrative “Never Say Never” music flick, a fledgling fragrance, and his silent stake in private tech start-ups that includes the Spotify music subscription service.
The “Believe” album that Bieber previewed for Greenburg sold 374,000 in its first week and earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. And guess who Bieber replaced at the top of the list? None other than his mentor Usher. I spoke with Greenburg to find out how he was able to secure so much time with arguably the most popular artist in the world and the most sought after manager in the music business. I also asked him about a little rumor going around that he dropped a freestyle for Bieber and was able to hold his own.
Please explain how the Celebrity 100 list was conducted since there were so many categories mentioned in the rating system.
It’s a combination of a bunch of different metrics that we look at and that includes magazine covers, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, Web hits and all kinds of other things. Earnings over the last year are also a part of it. That all adds up to the final ranking that you see there.
How did you decide to interview Bieber over Jennifer Lopez who was actually No. 1 on the list? Should the No. 1 celebrity be awarded the cover?
The problem is that if you put the No. 1 person on the cover every time then you might end up with Oprah on the cover every year. You can have some idea of who is going to be in the Top 10. You have to start figuring out who you are going to interview to be your cover story months in advance and that’s before you have the rankings. You can have some kind of idea of who is going to be in the Top 10 and I knew that Bieber was going to be in the Top 5 or Top 10 because I knew roughly how much money he would make and he’s so strong on Facebook and Twitter and has so much media coverage. And J.Lo is actually kind of a surprise. She performed so well especially with the magazine covers category. That really boosted her up. But I think that you have to go with the most interesting story and J.Lo is sort of an interesting story but everyone knows that she is on “American Idol.” The thing with Bieber is that people didn’t know that he was investing in these start-ups and I think that’s more of a surprising story and that was the reason why we put him on the cover.
Were there any rules or stipulations given to you prior to the interview?
No, it was totally free. They were good about getting me time. I interviewed him at the photo shoot out in L.A. and then the next day I got some time with him in the studio and his team was very good about getting me face time. Plus, we don’t operate that way. We don’t let anybody tell us what we are writing about.
Justin’s manager Scooter Braun is sitting next to him during the interview. Was it your intention to interview them together?
We wanted Scooter to be in it. They wanted Scooter to be in it. You can’t really write the story without Scooter in it because so much of it is his brainchild getting Bieber involved in these start-ups. Both sides wanted that component.
How did you conduct it with both parties there?
To be totally honest, I asked my questions and the way they responded to it tells me a lot about how I am going to write my story. If it’s Beiber and Braun sitting there together and one is jumping in and answering the questions, it tells me a lot about their relationship. I was curious to see who would answer more of the questions especially on the business front and you could tell Scooter jumps in and answers some of the business questions which confirms that he has a very strong role in guiding Bieber’s investments.
You asked Bieber a question about how he got his start in music and he seemed disinterested. Was that a joke or was he really 
avoiding it?
No, no, no. I think he is basically tired of talking about that. He did go on and told me about the origin of his story. It’s just not his favorite topic because people ask him about it all the time.
You mentioned in the article that Braun gets a 15 percent cut as Bieber’s manager. But isn’t Bieber also signed to the Raymond Braun Media Group founded by Usher and Braun? Shouldn’t he be getting more since Bieber is also signed to him through that venture?
We didn’t get into the nitty-gritty of this because it wasn’t what the story was about and it’s kind of complicated. He gets roughly 15 percent but the story with Raymond Braun is that Scooter and Usher signed Bieber to Raymond Braun which is a joint venture under Universal so he gets his artist royalty. But Scooter doesn’t double-dip. He doesn’t take his 15 percent management fee in addition to what he gets from the recorded music. He takes the management fee on things outside of the joint venture.
I only ask that because Braun may deserve more credit than he is already getting for being so business savvy. He is a key executive in the music business.
Scooter is a huge player in the music business and increasingly so. And it’s not just Bieber. He manages The Wanted and Asher Roth. Bieber and Scooter signed Carly Rae Jepsen to a new venture. Everytime “Call Me Maybe” plays they are cashing in on that as well. Scooter is making some moves. A few weeks ago he partnered with Lucian Grange [Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group] to get a global distribution deal [for his Schoolboy Records imprint].
You also have a separate interview with Braun as well, right?
We got a lot of content out of this story. There are a couple of stories. There’s the main cover story which is in the magazine. There is a sidebar about Scooter in the magazine. Then online there are three videos and we have a fourth coming up this week and a bunch of different blogposts taking odds and ends from the story. There’s one about how Scooter was almost in on Facebook in 2004. You can preview Bieber’s album and the videos have been doing gangbusters.
Where does Usher fit into all of this? He isn’t mentioned much during the article but is clearly a part of Bieber’s success.
Usher mainly sits back and collects a check. He works as a mentor to Bieber for sure but in terms of the day-to-day that’s all Scooter.
Are we to assume that Usher gets the same 15 percent that Braun gets?
No, no. They didn’t get into the specifics of the joint venture but they take a cut of profits.
How ironic is that Bieber knocks his mentor out of the top spot for the No. 1 record?
Knowing them I wouldn’t be surprised if they orchestrated it that way. If you look around they did a lot of press together. They are definitely making the most of the synergy they’ve got.
Braun discovered Bieber by researching something for Akon. Did Akon get screwed out of the Bieber deal?
No, he was doing work for Akon and doing research on some other performer for Akon and he happened to cross Bieber. Akon wasn’t like, “Go find me the next teenage whatever!” But funny that you mention Akon because he gets a cut of Lady Gaga like Usher gets a cut of Bieber. As the story goes, Akon went into Jimmy Iovine and played some Lady Gaga music for him and Jimmy was like, “That’s incredible. Let’s sign her.” And Akon’s like, “You already signed her.” And Jimmy was like, “You should roll with this.” So Akon gets a cut now. And we’re talking millions of dollars a year.
When you mention the companies Bieber is involved with such as Spotify why doesn’t he use the company to promote himself? What’s the shame in that?
Well, his album has good placement on all the charts but it’s not like he owns a majority share of the company. It’s a pretty small stake. It’s not like Jay-Z with his Lifeandtimes.com where he is promoting everything as an extension of his personal brand. It’s not like that with Spotify. It’s more of an investment honestly.
Just to make it clear. This is Bieber’s financial investment with Braun advising him. Is Braun also investing in these ventures as well?
Bieber and Scooter both invest in a lot of these start-ups. Some of them Bieber invests in. Some of them Scooter invests in. Some of them both invest in and it’s putting their own money into something and usually getting a better rate. Certainly your average Joe couldn’t invest in Spotify because it’s a private company and there’s an advantage to being Justin Bieber where you can invest in a company when other people can’t. For some of the smaller companies he invested in it probably gave him a discount on that equity stake because of the name he brings to it.
I would argue with you that if Asher Roth was featured on a Justin Bieber track that he would be a megastar. Why don’t you think that Braun has made that collaboration work yet? Asher could open up for Bieber.
Well, it’s probably because they appeal to totally different audiences. That’s probably why. Asher is such a college sensation and Bieber historically is a high school and middle school sensation. Asher also sings about more salacious things. Bieber eludes to some of those things but if he did that there would be a risk that he would alienate some of the parents who would be taking their teenage daughters to a show. They don’t want some 25-year-old rapping about getting drunk and having sex. And I think Carly will be opening for Bieber because she is a little more wholesome. Bieber’s songs are a little more sensual now though but it’s not explicit.
What was the highlight of your interview?
This is actually on the outtakes but at the end when he sang the Bruno Mars Forbes song, I asked him if he could freestyle something for the camera. He was like, “What do you mean? I can’t just do that off the top.” So he sang the Forbes song and then he finished and said, “Why don’t you freestyle something?” Then he starts beatboxing and I was like, “Oh shit!” So the cameras kept rolling and I came up with two bars and I stopped and said that’s it. I’m done.
Has there been any feedback from Bieber’s camp since the Forbes cover went on newsstands?
I saw all of them including Bieber and Scooter at the Apollo before the show the other night. And I chatted with Scooter for a little bit and then Bieber comes out and Scooter is like, “Hey, remember Zack, the guy who wrote your Forbes cover?” Then Bieber looks at me and he looks puzzled and is like, “No!” Then he goes, “Just playing!” They seem to be really into it and appreciate the initial publicity.