<\/p>\n
\n\tLast fall, R&B singer October London<\/a> performed \u201cBack to Your Place\u201d on Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em> with a Snoop Dogg<\/a> introduction and a seven-piece band including harp and violin players. In other words, the performance wasn\u2019t cheap \u2014 and probably far more expensive than the few thousand dollars late-night talk-show guests typically receive under union rules.<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to London\u2019s manager, Adrian L. Miller<\/strong>, the appearance, which has scored 281,000 YouTube views so far, was worth it. London\u2019s more stripped-down GMA3<\/em> performance in February had even more concrete benefits, boosting ticket sales for the singer\u2019s show at Brooklyn Steel later that night by 100. \u201cIt\u2019s not nothing,\u201d Miller says. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have the logos and the exposure through TV.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tStill, Miller concedes that the promotional benefits of late-night TV performances aren\u2019t as great as they were in the 2000s. Back then, Jay Leno<\/strong> and David Letterman<\/strong> frequently drew 4 million to 6 million nightly viewers, compared with the roughly 1.5 million to 3 million viewers top talk shows draw today. Plus, he says, \u201cA lot of an artist\u2019s audience is not on television. They\u2019re not watching these shows.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor many acts, especially developing artists seeking viral moments, the return on investment for late-night and daytime talk-show performances has become too minuscule to be effective. \u201cThey have, like, 2 million viewers of these shows, and that\u2019s what we get on daily posts on TikTok,\u201d says Ethan Curtis<\/strong>, manager of singer-songwriter JVKE<\/a>, who played The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/em> in 2022. \u201cIt\u2019s an energy drain. We travel and train for the performance and do it in one take. It doesn\u2019t feel worth it for every song.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnd while audiences are down, the cost of mounting a memorable televised performance is way up. Another of Miller\u2019s clients, singer-rapper Anderson .Paak<\/a>, spent \u201cout of pocket, almost six figures,\u201d he says, for a 2017 Ellen<\/em> appearance. \u201cEverybody wants a creative director now, and the stylist and the hair and the makeup,\u201d a major-label source says. According to label and management sources, expenses for talk-show performances range from $150,000 to $225,000 \u2014 or as high as $700,000 for a potentially career-making Saturday Night Live<\/em> opportunity.<\/p>\n \n\tTargeted talk-show performances sometimes redeem the expense. When JVKE played \u201cGolden Hour\u201d on Fallon<\/em> in late 2022, his team wanted to \u201celevate him from a TikTok artist to a \u2018real artist,\u2019\u201d Curtis says. \u201cThat\u2019s when the late-night show served a purpose: \u2018Let\u2019s have an example of JVKE existing outside of TikTok.\u2019 We chopped up the footage, reposted it on social media.\u201d (JVKE\u2019s Fallon<\/em> performance is no longer available on his socials, but a Tonight Show<\/em> YouTube video of him \u201cplaying my song for the Roots<\/a>\u201d beforehand has 358,000 views.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMost bands come in with the same amount of crew and backline as if they were putting on a show. They ask the record label to pay for it and [labels] don\u2019t want to,\u201d says Chris Gentry<\/strong>, who managed Phoenix<\/a> in 2009 when the band\u2019s SNL<\/em> appearance helped turn its album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix<\/em> into a smash.<\/p>\n \n\tIn an analysis of 458 artist appearances on top talk shows such as Kimmel<\/em>, Fallon<\/em>, Ellen<\/em>, SNL<\/em> and The Late Late Show With James Corden<\/em>, music data analyst Chartmetric found the artists\u2019 monthly Spotify listeners averaged 1.78% more the week after the show. Some artists\u2019 distinctive performances make a bigger impact: BTS<\/a> on SNL<\/em> in 2019 and Bartees Strange<\/a> on Kimmel<\/em> in 2022 both boosted their monthly Spotify listeners by nearly 85%.<\/p>\n \n\tOther talk-show performances barely register. Chartmetric reports that 192 artists experienced decreases in monthly Spotify listeners after their talk-show gigs; London\u2019s Kimmel<\/em> performance in October had minimal impact on his Spotify metrics. \u201cWe\u2019ve had these conversations for a long time: Late night doesn\u2019t move the needle,\u201d says the major-label source, who nonetheless remains a proponent of such appearances because \u201cJimmy Fallon<\/em> or NBC helps spread a piece of digital content in an era when we\u2019re constantly trying to break through the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Ken Weinstein<\/strong>, a veteran publicist whose company, Big Hassle, represents Phish<\/a>, Jack White<\/a>, the Pretenders<\/a> and many others, acknowledges \u201clabels are definitely more thoughtful about how they spend the money,\u201d he adds that prominent talk-show performances can have promotional benefits far beyond the initial TV appearances. \u201cHonestly, the appearance itself is as valuable as ever,\u201d he says. \u201cOnly in a few instances really are there giant sales bumps from a particular TV appearance \u2014 but the conversation it begins is still very relevant, very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPeter Katsis<\/strong>, who manages Bush<\/a>, booked frontman Gavin Rossdale<\/a> on Fallon<\/em> in January; a Tonight Show<\/em> Instagram clip of \u201cGlycerine\u201d scored 344,000 views, and numerous media outlets covered the performance<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s really not about what Fallon<\/em>\u2018s numbers are anymore,\u201d says Katsis. \u201cIt really starts with what you decide to do with the opportunity. All that stuff becomes way more valuable than just that initial appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEverything\u2019s more expensive, which is the reason to do it at the right time and have it be part of a larger plan,\u201d says Diana Miller<\/strong>, supervising producer for The Talk<\/em>, which recently booked Bush and Rachel Platten<\/a>, adding that shows often negotiate with artists over paying a portion of their expenses, in addition to the low thousands of dollars in union rates they pay musicians to appear. \u201cHow much would four minutes be for advertising on this show? You can\u2019t just promote to your own fanbase. You can\u2019t assume Ariana Grande<\/a> fans know she has new music out.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSome artists have taken it upon themselves to economize. The Lemon Twigs<\/a>, a band from Long Island, played Fallon<\/em> in late January with a \u201cvery stripped-back backline\u201d and \u201chardly any money at all,\u201d according to Gentry, who manages the group. \u201cWe did it really for the cost of the flight for the drummer from L.A.,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting right now with Fallon<\/em> is how social media plays into it \u2014 14 million on Instagram, 15 million on TikTok. It\u2019s almost like you get more now.\u201d<\/p>\n