Usher will walk into Allegiant Stadium on Sunday carrying a net worth of nearly $200 million for 2024.
The wealthy R&B titan — best known for his crossover hip-hop, R&B, and dance music from the 1990s to now — is providing the halftime entertainment for Super Bowl 58. Per CelebrityNetWorth.com, Usher is worth $180 million.
He’s expected to receive a massive check from the NFL for his Super Bowl performance, right? Surprisingly, the 45-year-old won’t be getting any dollars and cents after moving the crowds at the half.
Why Usher Won’t Get Paid for Halftime Performance
For approximately 15 minutes, the Super Bowl goes from a dramatic and hard-hitting contest to decide the best team in the league to becoming a concert stage.
Usher is the latest musical legend to grace the stage — with no money to take home afterward.
That’s right, Usher — whose full name is Usher Raymond IV — will join the list of fellow musical acts who do not earn money from their performances.
Back in 2016, NFL spokesperson Joanna Hunter told Forbes what the league really does when it comes to money and halftime performers.
“We do not pay the artists. We cover expenses and production costs,” Hunter explained.
Some will view this in a perplexing state. Considering the amount of effort being put forth for the stage, sound checks, and rehearsals, most fans would think artists like Usher should be given a massive paycheck for entertaining the thousands at Allegiant Stadium and the more than millions watching on television.
If anything, Usher will earn a union’s scale for his performance. This was the case for last year’s performer Rihanna. Forbes back in 2019 before Super Bowl 53 explained that union scales pay “a fraction of the six- and seven-figure sums the artists typically earn regularly.”
But instead, there’s more to why artists won’t earn a massive sum of money, or any money, for their singing and dancing on Super Bowl Sunday.
An Artist’s Super Bowl Rewards Comes in This Form
Turns out, Usher won’t necessarily need a paycheck from the NFL office. The same was the case for Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, The Weeknd, and even Beyoncé before Usher.
They earn their money through guaranteed musical exposure.
KEEP READING: All-Time List of Super Bowl Halftime Show Performers
In the past, halftime artists like Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Justin Timberlake saw a gradual spike in fans streaming their music. According to the music streaming platform Spotify in 2020, Lopez had her music streams shoot up 335%. Shakira saw her numbers spike by 230%.
Timberlake, however, ended up with the biggest sales gain — calculating a 534% increase in his streams after performing in Super Bowl 52.
Rihanna earned a 390% boost in her song sales, according to Luminate. That also meant that the R&B songstress had at least 62.2 million people streaming her music following her performance in Super Bowl 57. Rihanna squeezed in 12 songs in her show at Glendale, Ariz.
Usher will be given nearly 15 minutes to move the crowds. And in the process, the man worth nearly $200 million is anticipated to get a streaming jump in his music. Spotify, Apple, Pandora, and other platforms will more than likely have fans listening to his music after his Super Bowl performance — and he will really earn his money off whatever sales increases occur.
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