Words by Shayni Solanki
Rihanna is returning to the stage for the Super Bowl, but for free? Turns out, artists aren’t paid for their performances and here’s why.
Last night, Rihanna returned to the stage for the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, 30 years, interestingly, after Michael Jackson’s performance. Her presence in music and on stage has been infamously rare, with the latest sighting being her song for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. For performers, the Super Bowl’s as big as it gets, and audiences across the world tune in, even if the rest join just for the halftime show.
For organisers, only the biggest names will do. From that, you’d expect them to cough up the big bucks, especially for names like Michael Jackson, Beyoncè, and Rihanna. But no, artists aren’t paid for the halftime show. Weird, you might think: it’s not like the Super Bowl is a charity event, where artists come to perform for a cause. The FIFA World Cup might not have a halftime performance, but artists get paid for their songs. In 2022, Davido was paid $1 million for the official Qatar World Cup song. While the Super Bowl might not rake in audience numbers like FIFA’s World Cup, it’s still a huge global event.
But trying to figure out why there’s no pay for performances was a hard task. Some say it’s all about the exposure, the marketing value of having a country and more tuned into you. Others don’t get it: do the likes of Rihanna really need ‘exposure’? Apparently, they do. Take Maroon 5’s halftime show, for example, music sales went up 434%, an increase worth at least a fair few million.
That’s about all it is actually – just exposure and production costs. All PR is good PR, as they say.
And so when Rihanna turned up for her performance, she did so for the big marketing boost the Super Bowl offers. New album on the way? Who knows. Although if her epic pregnancy announcement is anything to go by, that album isn’t coming anytime soon. Plus, given her musical hiatus since 2016, the performance was the perfect comeback. Few can compete with Riri’s body of work, and her performance at the Super Bowl all but cemented her status as a musical icon (as if that was ever in doubt).
How much did she spend? I don’t know. Was it worth it? Judging by the reactions, yes.