EARMILK EARMILK
  • NEW MUSIC
    • DANCE
    • ELECTRONIC
    • EXPERIMENTAL
    • HIP-HOP
    • INDIE
    • POP
    • ROCK
  • INDUSTRY NEWS
    • DOCUMENTARIES
    • EVENTS
    • FASHION
    • LIFESTYLE
    • MUSIC GEAR
    • MUSIC INDUSTRY
    • TECHNOLOGY
  • OPINION
  • ALBUM REVIEWS
  • GEAR REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • FEATURES
    • FESTIVALS
    • EXCLUSIVES
    • LISTS
    • CONTESTS
    • Photo Journals
  • SERIES
    • Artist to Watch
    • Under The Crust
    • Flashback Friday
    • Suicide Sundaes
    • Daily 2%
    • The Club
    • Weekend Selector
    • Mashup Mondays
    • Artist Remixed
    • Wobble Wednesday
    • Night Rumours
    • Indie Sabbath
    • Straight No Chase
    • Straight From the Teet
  • Jobs
  • About EARMILK
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Music
EARMILK EARMILK
EARMILK EARMILK
  • NEW MUSIC
    • DANCE
    • ELECTRONIC
    • EXPERIMENTAL
    • HIP-HOP
    • INDIE
    • POP
    • ROCK
  • INDUSTRY NEWS
    • DOCUMENTARIES
    • EVENTS
    • FASHION
    • LIFESTYLE
    • MUSIC GEAR
    • MUSIC INDUSTRY
    • TECHNOLOGY
  • OPINION
  • ALBUM REVIEWS
  • GEAR REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • FEATURES
    • FESTIVALS
    • EXCLUSIVES
    • LISTS
    • CONTESTS
    • Photo Journals
  • SERIES
    • Artist to Watch
    • Under The Crust
    • Flashback Friday
    • Suicide Sundaes
    • Daily 2%
    • The Club
    • Weekend Selector
    • Mashup Mondays
    • Artist Remixed
    • Wobble Wednesday
    • Night Rumours
    • Indie Sabbath
    • Straight No Chase
    • Straight From the Teet
  • Mainstage
  • Opinion

How much did Coldplay pay for the headlining Super Bowl spot over Beyonce?

  • February 8, 2016
  • David Sikorski
Total
0
Shares
0
0

Audiences got a small taste of Beyonce's new album, Formation, but an even lengthier Coldplay set, promoting Head Full of Dreams, during this year's Super Bowl 50 halftime show. But this year's performance left many fans wondering, who would give Queen Bey a back seat to a Coldplay performance? Well, the band paid for it (in a sense).  

Whether it's Bruno Mars, Katy Perry or Madonna, Super Bowl acts do not receive payment or any royalties to perform on the highly viewed halftime show. In many contracts, the National Football League offers reimbursement for travel expenses and overall show production costs but the artists themselves are performing merely for the same income of many freelancers, exposure. With production costs of the last few performances ranging up to $10 million, the NFL has even been requesting compensation for any indirect album and tour sales from performing during their halftime special. 

In 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported the NFL explored what artists have been paying the league for playing the televised event. At the time, the NFL was asking potential Super Bowl 50 performers Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Coldplay to “contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income” to the NFL, or to “make some other type of financial contribution.” It seems that only Coldplay this year was willing to play along with the ambitious requests.

According to Forbes, Katy Perry was previously asked the similar pay-to-play request for the NFL, but she replied: 

I don’t want an asterisk by my name for playing the Super Bowl for the rest of my life. I want to be able to say I played the Super Bowl based on my talents and my merit, thank you very much.

The Super Bowl halftime show, which this year featured the return of Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars, drew a record 114.4 million viewers and was the most-watched televised event in U.S. history. That's more than double the size of the audience for the Academy Awards and four times the viewing for the Grammy Awards. With Coldplay kicking off their seventh tour in March 2016, it seems that all funds and resources were directed towards maximizing their exposure during this year's game. 

In 2013, Beyoncé announced her Mrs. Carter Show Tour following that year's Super Bowl appearance, and her album sales jumped 59% immediately following the performance. And in 2014, Bruno Mars Unorthodox Jukebox went straight to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 after launching his online sales for the Moonshine Jungle Tour following that year's performance.

But how do you determine what percentage of an artist's concert ticket and album sales are a direct result of the halftime show? A band like Coldplay may not have even needed the exposure of the NFL to increase ticket sales as a surprise Tour announcement from the group may have sufficed. The band grossed $171.3 million on their 2012 tour and was named Spotify's most-streamed band in 2014. So if they surpass previous album and ticket sales this year, how much of that would need to be accredited to the NFL? 

With heavyweight music acts like Beyonce and Bruno Mars making the trip all the way down to Santa Clara, just to be special guest performers, we can only imagine what Coldplay agreed to compensate the NFL to take the headlining spot. 

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • beyonce
  • bruno mars
  • Katy perry
  • Madonna
  • nfl
  • super bowl
David Sikorski

David Sikorski is a San Francisco-based writer and Senior Editor at EARMILK. He has also been wildly acknowledged for his engagement to a burrito.

You May Also Like
BARDZ
View Article
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

bardz finds light in the darkness on hauntingly honest new EP "the only way out is through"

  • June 3, 2025
Kizz Daniel
View Article
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

Kizz Daniel drops his new EP, “UNCLE K: LEMON CHASE”

  • June 2, 2025
View Article
  • Americana
  • Country
  • Indie
  • Mainstage

Imogen Clark finds strength in new single “The Art of Getting Through” [Video]

  • May 30, 2025
View Article
  • Dance
  • Mainstage

House Of Hustle releases a collection of dance-floor ready tracks in May

  • May 30, 2025
Bowden
View Article
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • New Music
  • Pop
  • Rock

Bowden melts hearts with “Glacier”

  • May 29, 2025
Sinularia
View Article
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

Sinularia shares a new album ‘Subwater Beats II’

  • May 29, 2025
Zinoleesky
View Article
  • Afrobeats
  • Indie
  • Indie Rock
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

Zinoleesky delivers a body of work with his new album, "GEN Z"

  • May 29, 2025
Jordan Lee
View Article
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

Jordan Lee makes a powerful return with his new album, "Fighter For Love"

  • May 29, 2025
Popular Music
  • Gabriella Zauna
    Gabriella Zauna dares you to rise in hypnotic new single, “PINUP”
    • June 3, 2025
  • tesh
    tesh breaks the loop with debut EP "CYCLES + REPETITIONS" on bitbird
    • June 3, 2025
  • BARDZ
    bardz finds light in the darkness on hauntingly honest new EP "the only way out is through"
    • June 3, 2025
  • Kizz Daniel
    Kizz Daniel drops his new EP, “UNCLE K: LEMON CHASE”
    • June 2, 2025
  • Fraser Morgan delivers vibrant and playful EP 'Songs About Girls'
    • June 2, 2025
Recent Scoops
  • Matt Oakley is redefining country music with heart, soul and modernity
    • May 5, 2025
  • Texas’ Blacktop Mojo does rock music the way it should be done
    • April 29, 2025
  • Tha Rapper Haiti blends authentic style with musical passion
    • April 28, 2025
  • Glorybots redefines rock with latest album 'mad.end'
    • April 10, 2025
Community Voices
  • From Machismo To Mujeres: Women As The Face Of Reggaeton
    • July 14, 2022
  • Tyler the creator
    4 things I learned on the 'Call Me If You Get Lost' tour
    • March 31, 2022
  • 4 things every artist needs to think about in 2022
    • January 27, 2022
  • The TikTok Takeover of Hip-Hop
    • January 11, 2022

EARMILK EARMILK
  • Jobs
  • About EARMILK
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Music
All Milk. No Duds.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.