How much is Kendrick Lamar being paid for the Super Bowl?
The Super Bowl Halftime Show is one of the biggest stages in the world, with over 100 million people tuning in worldwide. Kendrick Lamar will headline Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 9th, but it’s not the payday that many would presume it to be.
Contrary to popular belief, artists who perform at the Super Bowl typically receive no compensation. The same applies to Kendrick, who will hit the stage this weekend. The NFL covers travel costs and all of the expenses for the show, putting down around $10 million to make it happen.
Speaking to The Independent, an NFL representative said that the American football league “covers all costs associated with the show and does pay the halftime performers’ union scale.” SZA, who will tour with Kendrick later this year, is confirmed as a special guest during the giant show.
Performing at the Super Bowl is seen as a massive advertisement for artists’ music and a chance to enhance their public stature. After performing, Rihanna saw her Spotify streams increase by 640 per cent, while Lady Gaga saw her song and album sales go up by 1000%.
This year’s Super Bowl will see the reigning champions, Kansas City Chiefs, take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The two teams previously faced each other in 2023, with the Chiefs winning 38-35.
The biggest stages often don’t result in the biggest payouts. Although it’s unclear what Kendrick was paid to headline Glastonbury, co-organiser Emily Eavis previously revealed that artists are usually paid less than 10 per cent of what they usually receive for other festivals.
“We’re not in a situation where we’re able to just give people enormous amounts of money,” she said. “So we’re really grateful for the bands that we get because they’re basically doing it for the love of it.”
Bestival organiser Rob Da Bank previously claimed that Glastonbury’s budget was under £500,000 per headliner. “They cap their budget and even the headliners don’t get paid more than 500 grand, I think, which is cheap for some of the headliners and they’ve had a lot of them,” he said.