Who watched last night's Super Bowl Halftime Show with Usher? Did you know that he wasn't paid to perform at the show? Yes, he did it for free. Now, this is probably a shock to you, so much so that you're wondering why they even do it.

Let's get into it, and unravel what incentives artists have to perform at the Super Bowl!

The NFL makes a ton of money! (Obviously.) But between their status and profit, it makes many wonder why there's not a direct payment between the artist and the league. The Super Bowl Halftime Performance is one of the most viewed, meticulous, and extravagant performances of every year. It's hard to imagine an artist putting all this on for free.

The thing is, though, the whole performance isn't entirely free.

The NFL may not pay the performing artist, but they spend millions of dollars on production. Backup dancers, crew, set pieces, and everything else the performance may need is paid for by the league.

A couple million more being given to the performing artist could easily be done. However, these artists still have something to gain by performing for free.

This performance can feature an artist in an extravagantly mainstream light, which can highly benefit the artists' streaming numbers. This includes state-of-the-art production, all paid for by the NFL; the production and reach that the Super Bowl Halftime Show provides an artist cannot be obtained for free anywhere else.

Many of these artists have the incentive of gaining a "second wind" of popularity after their performance. The NFL usually features timeless artists during their Super Bowl Halftime Performance, and these types of artists could always use a pedestal to keep their buzz as steady as possible. The Super Bowl provides that timeless pedestal for timeless artists and their timeless music.

Who has been your favorite Super Bowl Halftime performance?