When I presented "The Solution is Money: A Practical Approach to Diversity in Game Audio," at Our Sonic Landscape earlier this summer, I wanted to make myself absolutely clear - there's no problem with being privileged.
Our goal as humans (we hope) is to make the world better for ourselves and for those who come after - so, of course, those efforts earnestly attempted, generation after generation, will lead to the accumulation of privilege. Unfortunately, the systems we've built have consolidated wealth and privilege in the hands of some people disproportionately in comparison to others.
When I introduced the CEO of (redacted)* to a pair of young developers seeking advice on getting into the industry, he asked them, "How rich are your parents?"
In other words, how much privilege do you already have? In an extremely challenging field, in an extremely uncertain economy, that question is akin to asking, "How good are your odds?" More privilege = better odds. If we want an industry where everyone has a shot, we have to commit to making the changes that give less privileged people better odds.
And this is why I started The Rising Star Patronage Project, a fund started to support marginalized composers in the game industry. For more information, visit our website.