Rihanna didn’t get paid for her Superbowl performance

At the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show, Rihanna performed for the first time in literal years. To what extent is the NFL compensating her for taking on the most enormous stage ever? You will genuinely be shocked by the answer.
It is indeed true. As a rule, historically artists have not been paid to perform at the Super Bowl, and Forbes reports that this year will remain the same. ”
A NFL spokesperson previously told an outlet, “We do not pay the artists.” Though performers usually earn six- and seven-figure sums, the NFL does offer a “union scale” which is only a fraction of that amount to cover expenses and production costs.
The reason for this lack of payment is because the Halftime Show essentially serves as a 13-minute Super Bowl advertisement for an artist’s collection of work. Despite this, there is a bright side to it.
The Super Bowl Halftime Show being such an enormous platform, artists’ streaming sales skyrocket after it. According to Spotify, J.Lo’s streams increased by 335 percent after the 2020 Super Bowl, while Shakira’s rose by 230 percent. According to Billboard, the digital downloads of the songs performed by the two artists increased from 1,000 to 16,000 the day after their performance. After Lady Gaga performed in 2017, the outlet reported that her album and song sales increased by 1,000 percent.
In the case of The Weeknd, their artist vision was so big that it exceeded the spending limit set by the NFL and Apple Music, who had agreed to foot the bill for production costs, which can sometimes be millions. Dr. Dre reportedly spent $7 million on last year’s Halftime Show, and a source recently told Forbes that he ended up spending an additional $7 million of his own money just to bring his vision for this year’s show to life. He evidently obtained a 183 percent increase in album sales and a 105 percent increase in streaming, making it worthwhile.
Rihanna brought major elements to her show. She teased how, in just 13 short minutes, she would celebrate her music history ahead of it. She said during a press conference, “That was the hardest part–deciding how to maximize 13 minutes but also celebrate.” ”
This show is going to be a celebration of my catalog in the best way possible. It’s difficult to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes. Even though it’s hard to part with some songs, I think we did a great job of narrowing down the selection.