Just in: No, Kendrick Lamar Won’t Get Paid for the Super Bowl Halftime Show — Here’s Why

Kendrick Lamar is taking the stage at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — but he won’t be paid for his performance

Kendrick Lamar has spent months preparing for the Super Bowl halftime show since he was announced as the performer in September 2024 — but he won’t be getting paid for any of it.

The “Not Like Us” singer is taking the stage after winning five Grammys for the song the previous week. He last performed at the short concert in 2022, joining other Los Angeles hip-hop legends including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Mary J. Blige on stage for a brief rendition of his hit song “Alright.”

Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one,” the Grammy-winning artist said in a statement after he was announced as the headliner.

The show, which is known to be one of the most-viewed TV broadcasts every year, is typically between 12 and 15 minutes – and the performers aren’t paid for a second of it.

However, the exposure alone of performing on such a big stage has attracted top talent through the years, from Beyoncé to The Weeknd. Despite the lack of a paycheck, the NFL does pay for the costs associated with bringing the show to life, which in 2020 cost $13 million, per Reuters. They also cover the artists’ travel expenses.

We do not pay the artists,” an NFL spokesperson told Forbes in 2016. “We cover expenses and production costs.”

Here’s everything to know about how the NFL finances the Super Bowl halftime show — and why it’s still profitable for the artists.

Is Kendrick Lamar going to be paid for his Super Bowl halftime performance?

No. Like past performers, no one is paid for their halftime show performance. Per Forbes, the artists are paid on a “union scale,” which is just a fraction of the six or seven-figure profit they usually rake in for a gig and is a minimum wage guaranteed by a union contract. According to SAG-AFTRA’s most recent contract, this would amount to over $1,000 a day.

The halftime show at the Super Bowl remains a highly coveted spot for many artists,” entertainment attorney Lori Landew told the outlet in 2019.

She added, “Some of those artists do not see their appearance as a political statement, nor do they see the show as a cultural battleground, but rather view their live performance as an opportunity to entertain an enthusiastic crowd and to share their music and their talent with millions of viewers.”

Has anyone ever been paid?

Rihanna performs onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023. Gregory Shamus/Getty
No one has ever been paid for their performance, however at one point, the NFL wanted to charge artists to perform. In 2015, the NFL asked artists including Rihanna, Coldplay and Katy Perry to pay for the chance to perform on the big stage. However, they ultimately declined

While Perry did agree to perform, she said she refused to pay because she didn’t want that associated with her name for the rest of her career.

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

Do the dancers get paid?

In 2021, the NFL was criticized for not paying dancers fairly as half the dancers in The Weeknd’s performance were unpaid “volunteers.” According to one dancer who worked for free during the show, the dancers who were paid received $712 for the actual Super Bowl performance and $45 per hour for their rehearsal time, per the Los Angeles Times. They also received a $30 per diem and a $250 COVID stipend if they had to report to a clinic to test on a day when they weren’t working.

Originally, many of the unpaid dancers did not know they would be dancing alongside paid ones and that they could use the experience as one of the three union gigs required to be eligible for SAG-AFTRA.

After being notified of the issue, SAG-AFTRA met with the producers of the show to establish rules that ensured dancers and others working on staff would be paid.

“SAG-AFTRA and the producers of the Super Bowl Halftime Show have met and had an open and frank discussion, and have agreed that no professional dancers will be asked to work for free as part of the halftime show,” the union said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “SAG-AFTRA will be advising our professional dancer members that they should not be rehearsing or working on the Super Bowl halftime show without compensation.”

Why do artists perform at the Super Bowl without pay?