Super Bowl Winners And Losers Of The Music Business

Super Bowl XLVIII ended in a rout–the Seattle Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos by a score of 43-8–but the game’s winners and losers extended far beyond the football world.
Some of the biggest names in the music business took center stage at the largest entertainment event of the year, and for every Peyton Manning there was a Russell Wilson. Here’s a quick look at who emerged victorious–and who should start getting ready to try again next year.
WINNERS
Bruno Mars. Some observers initially questioned his selection as the halftime act, and indeed there was plenty of pressure on the 28-year-old Hawaiian as he joined the likes of Paul McCartney, Madonna and Michael Jackson on music’s biggest stage. But Mars was confident long before he arrived at MetLife Stadium, telling FORBES: “You gotta be fearless, man.” He delivered, proving himself to be a quadruple threat (drummer, singer, dancer, songwriter) and made the most of the tremendous opportunity offered to him by the NFL.
Beats By Dr. Dre. Not that the company launched by hip-hop’s third-richest man needed more help, but Dr. Dre’s spot with Kendrick Lamar helped give Beats a nice Super Bowl boost. More telling, however, was the fact that just about every player photographed before the game happened to be wearing Beats headphones. That’s the kind of advertising you can’t buy with a one-off $4 million splurge.
Passenger. You’ve probably already heard his hit single on the radio, but the British singer-songwriter’s “Let Her Go” made an indelible impact with Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” tear-jerker. The beer purveyor leaked the commercial on January 29th, and it has already racked up over 35 million views. Add that to the 100 million-plus viewers who presumably watched the commercial during the game, and Passenger is well on his way to building a healthy fan base in the U.S.
LOSERS
Chrysler. As FORBES contributor Allen St. John wrote, the car company bet millions on an end-of-the-third-quarter spot, only to have the placement rendered useless by the Seahawks. By that point, the game was over and–at least anecdotally–it seemed few people were paying much attention to the television anymore. Which might have been good news for…
Bob Dylan. One of music’s greatest revolutionaries shows up for the Super Bowl not at the halftime show, but in a Chrysler commercial? It wasn’t a good look for Dylan, a counterculture icon, to become a car salesman (though he’s not a stranger to shilling vehicles: check out this Cadillac Escalade spot from 2007).
Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel. For all the noise about Super Bowl XLVIII taking place in the New York-New Jersey area, there was very little musical representation from the region. The aforementioned Bruno Mars–and fellow West Coast residents the Red Hot Chili Peppers–did an admirable job at halftime, but any of those three arena rockers would have given the proceedings a bit more local flavor, even as a pregame musical attraction.