When we hear about the Super Bowl halftime show, where some of the biggest names in music are performing, we must think, “Wow they must be paying these performers a lot,” but in actuality, this has not been the case since the first half-time show in 1960.
The NFL does not pay performers anything. Even though they aren’t directly paying the artist, they still spend millions of dollars covering production costs that can be upwards of 13 million dollars and all other travel expenses.
What most people don’t realize is that there is a large gain for the performer from performing on the Super Bowl stage. The idea is that it pays exposure, many of these artists take home massive sales and an upward spike in streaming after performing at the show and in the time leading up to it. According to Billboard, J. Lo and Shakira saw a 1,013% sales increase in the 14 songs they performed during their combined act in 2020. Even Maroon 5, who had a somewhat controversial performance saw a 488% surge in record sales following their 2019 performance.
Many artists believe that this is a very worthwhile opportunity for them and actually end up spending some of their own money on the show. In 2021, the Weeknd reportedly spent 7 million of his own money on the show. Another thing that is very common with artists is that they will perform the show right before they have a big new project coming out, such as an album or a tour, and they will utilize the show as an opportunity to advertise.
With the expectation that performing in the show will help your career exponentially, it makes total sense why an artist would be willing to perform almost for free. The amount of popularity and exposure that is to be gained from the Super Bowl is worth it. This is the same reason why companies can pay a minimum of 6.5 million dollars for just a 30-second ad during the game. The Super Bowl is the most watched event on television and this year especially had a record number of viewers.
I asked a few Yorba Linda High School students if they believed that Super Bowl halftime show performers should get paid, and this is one of the responses I received. Senior Hannah Jeblli commented “I don’t think they should get more money just because the current system seems to be working pretty well for both the performers and the NFL. The artist always greatly benefits from doing the show, and the NFL provides that exposure—so that should be payment enough.” This raises the question, do you think this is fair?
