https://fee.org/articles/why-super-...get-paid-0-to-play/?utm_medium=related_widget Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons-Pete Sekesan from New York | CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en) Jon Miltimore Economics Super Bowl Milton Friedman Free Market Trade NFL Music Gains from Trade Aslew of celebrities has declined to perform at NFL Super Bowl halftime shows in recent years. Some, like Adele, just didn’t feel they were the right fit for the event. "First of all, I'm not doing the Super Bowl," the English singer-songwriter said in 2016. “I mean, that show is not about music. I can't dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I did say no." (The NFL denied making an offer to Adele.) Others (allegedly) refused offers to perform to show solidarity with former quarterback Colin Kaepernick. And then there were those who reportedly grumbled about not getting paid to perform. Regarding the latter, the NFL has refused to budge. “We do not pay the artists,” explained NFL spokesperson Joanna Hunter in 2016. “We cover expenses and production costs.” No Dough, No Show? The fact that artists don’t get paid surprises many people. We’re used to seeing performers like Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, and Coldplay command millions of dollars for their performances. However, the NFL’s unique arrangement with performers does make sense from an economic perspective. Even if the NFL is not cutting them a check, artists, without exception, have seen a spike in record sales following their Super Bowl halftime performances. For one, the NFL’s agreement to cover all production costs is not trivial. Reports state these costs can exceed $10 million. Even if that figure is exaggerated, we’re still talking about a sizeable cost. Second, let’s not forget that companies are lining up to shell out $5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial. Why? Because there’s value in having your product seen by tens of millions of viewers. Artists, who generally perform between 12 and 15 minutes at halftime shows, receive about $24 million to $30 million worth of exposure, assuming the same rate of value as companies paying for commercial time. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, artists still have direct financial incentives to perform. Even if the NFL is not cutting them a check, artists, without exception, have seen a spike in record sales following their Super Bowl halftime performances. For example, Maroon 5 saw a 488 percent surge in record sales following the band’s 2019 performance. Missy Elliott saw a 282 percent increase following her 2015 performance. For Bruno Mars in 2014, it was a 164 percent jump. In 2013, Beyoncé’s online sales jumped 230 percent while the sales of Destiny’s Child catapulted by 600 percent. The fact that the NFL isn’t writing checks to performers isn’t evidence of an unfair exchange. Record sales aren’t the only metric to measure the value of performing, of course. There are the television appearances that follow, the millions of new social media followers, and numerous other marketing benefits, some of which aren’t quantifiable. One of Katy Perry’s managers, for example, said the Super Bowl is what took the pop star to a new level. "It took her from being a star to the stratosphere," manager Cobb Jensen said in 2015. Economics and Free Exchange The arrangement between the NFL and artists is unusual, but the one thing we do know is it’s a mutually beneficial trade. The fact that the NFL isn’t writing checks to performers isn’t evidence of an unfair exchange. In fact, the presence of the exchange itself is proof to the contrary. There are many things economists disagree on, but one fundamental principle universally shared is that a voluntary exchange between two or more parties is beneficial to all involved. Some might begrudge the NFL’s powerful bargaining position, but even that is not as strong as it might appear. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman put it, “both parties to an economic transaction benefit from it, provided the transaction is bi-laterally voluntary and informed.” Some might begrudge the NFL’s powerful bargaining position, but even that is not as strong as it might appear. For one, as noted, numerous artists have declined to perform at the Super Bowl in recent years. Additionally, the NFL appears to have overestimated the value of its platform. Just a few years ago, the league floated the idea of making artists pay to perform at the Super Bowl. That did not sit well with artists. “I put my foot down very early in the courtship,” Katy Perry told The Associated Press in 2015 after her Super Bowl halftime performance. “I said, ‘Look guys, here’s where I draw a line in the sand.’ I want to be invited on my own merits and not with some fine print.” Whether it was the idea of losing cold cash or, as Perry suggests, an infringement on artistic integrity, these exchanges proved a no-go with artists, and the NFL soon scrapped efforts to try to get performers to pony up to play. Perhaps the NFL will try to sell halftime shows again in the future. Perhaps not. Regardless, what we know is that the halftime show benefits both the NFL and the artists who perform. As a wise economist once said, “The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s music sales spike after their viral Super Bowl halftime show Published: Feb 3, 2020 5:57 p.m. ET Sales of the songs from their performance jumped 1,013% in the U.S. on Super Bowl Sunday Getty Images Shakira and Jennifer Lopez take a bow after their 2020 Super Bowl halftime show performance. By NICOLELYN PESCE Shakira and Jennifer Lopez weren’t paid to perform the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show — but their roughly 15-minute set is still paying off. The “two little Latin girls” — as J-Lo dubbed the duo in an Instagram FB, -0.63% post just hours before their showstopping performance aired live on Fox FOX, +1.38% — performed a bilingual medley of 14 of their greatest hits during Sunday night’s game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs rally to beat the San Francisco 49ers in Miami. And with viral moments such as Shakira’s meme-orable tongue flicking, J-Lo showing off her “Hustlers” moves while pole-dancing in a sparkling body suit, as well as the nods to the border crisis by showing kids in cages, viewers were still talking about #HalftimeShow2020 and its set list on Twitter TWTR, -0.79% and searching for the performances on Google GOOG, -4.56% well into Monday afternoon. Here it is below: As a result, those collected songs saw a whopping 1,013% sales increase in the U.S. on Sunday, Feb. 2, according to initial Nielsen Music sales data reported by Billboard. The singles sold 16,000 digital downloads all together on Sunday, which was up from a little more than 1,000 collectively on Saturday, Feb. 1. Shakira’s gyrations generated the most sales so far, as her 2001 hit “Whenever, Wherever,” was the initial best-seller with almost 4,000 sales on Feb. 2, which was a 1,194% increase compared over the day before. That was followed by her 2006 single “Hips Don’t Lie” with 2,000 downloads on Sunday (a 1,126% increase from the day before). But J-Lo dominated on Amazon AMZN, -0.03%. A company spokesperson told MarketWatch that Alexa requests for the “Jenny on the Block” singer on Amazon Music rose more than 5x (426%) on game day compared to the previous Sunday, while Alexa requests for Shakira jumped 303%. Streams for J-Lo on Amazon Music also increased 432% on Super Bowl Sunday over the Sunday before, while Shakira’s rose 150%. And in the hours after their halftime performance, Spotify SPOT, +3.68% streams of Lopez’s music rose by more than 335% and Shakira’s music by about 230%, compared to the same window a week ago. Shakira’s “Empire” saw the biggest bump, however, with streams increasing 2,135%. While J-Lo commands $2.2 million for each performance on tour, according to Forbes, and Shakira rakes in $1.6 million, the women weren’t paid for the show itself (although their expenses and production costs were covered by the NFL.) Rather, these headliners — like performers such as Beyonce and Bruno Mars before them — are hustling for the exposure. The Super Bowl is typically the most-watched television broadcast in the country each year; the 2015 match-up between the Patriots and the Seahawks pulled in 144.44 million viewers, taking the crown as the most-watched Super Bowl of all time. Fox was selling 30-second commercial slots for as much as $5.6 million in November — and the half-time show performer(s) get almost 15 whole minutes of airtime to themselves. So after Lady Gaga played the 2017 halftime show, her album sales jumped 1,980%, according to BuzzAngle Music as reported by Forbes. She sold 24,075 albums on Super Bowl Sunday, and 14,364 more the next day. Pandora told MarketWatch that the “Shallow” singer saw a 1,400% surge in artist station adds on the radio platform. And in the hour following Justin Timberlake’s 2018 Super Bowl halftime performance, his Spotify streams spiked 214%, Billboard reported. His artist station adds jumped 175% on Pandora. Last year, Maroon 5’s halftime show boosted the band’s sales by 434%. Shakira and J-Lo’s 2020 Super Bowl halftime show set also featured special guests Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Lopez’s 11-year-old daughter Emme. More sales and streaming figures are expected to be released this week. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/j...time-show-2020-02-03?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
superbowl halftime Coach Pastor - halftime-hootchy front and center for his grandkids? He aint havin' it. Sue the nfl? nice livestream backdrop for his podcast too. cool. minute 47:00 https://www.bitchute.com/video/MABtlRXWTuTw/