The cessation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” by CBS earlier this year concomitantly entailed the dismantling of the program’s formidable musical apparatus—a devastating setback for artists whose televised platform had already been in precipitous decline.

Historically, the late-night circuit has constituted a singular conduit for musicians seeking to expand their audience reach — consider a nascent Chappell Roan on “The Late Show” or, indeed, The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

Yet when James Corden departed CBS’ “The Late Late Show” in 2023, his program — along with its coveted performance platform — was never resurrected.

NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers” has curtailed its live musical bookings, while ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has diminished its performances to a twice-weekly cadence.

As matters currently stand, only NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” consistently secures live musical acts.

Emerging artists continue to discern substantial value in these performances — and remain sanguine that nascent digital programming will proffer a viable alternative.

March 3, 2014, was the day that irrevocably altered the trajectory of rock band Future Islands.

The synth-pop ensemble had long been a cornerstone of America’s underground music scene, owing in no small measure to the magnetic presence of frontman Samuel T. Herring and his singularly idiosyncratic vocal delivery, an uncanny confluence of Tom Waits and Rammstein’s Till Lindemann.

On that fateful day, their performance on the “Late Show with David Letterman” left the host utterly spellbound.

“I’ll take all of that you got!” Letterman exulted, catapulting the DIY outfit into the stratosphere of genuine virality.

“At the juncture when we performed on Letterman, the band found itself in a state of flux,” remarked bassist William Cashion.

Having signed with the more prominent independent label 4AD Records, secured management, and been assured of a late-night television appearance, they nonetheless harbored scant expectation that the opportunity would materialize.

“Our team cautioned us, ‘It will resonate with your existing fanbase, your friends, and your relatives, but it is unlikely to exert any significant impact. Such engagements no longer yield the influence they once commanded,’” he recollects.

Yet that proved to be a stark departure from the veritable state of affairs.

“Every festival that had initially declined our proposal suddenly expressed a desire for us to perform.

The entire landscape shifted irrevocably from that juncture onward,” he remarked.

“It unquestionably constituted a pivotal watershed and afforded the ensemble considerably enhanced visibility.”

The scarcity of late-night performance venues proves particularly detrimental to independent artists—precisely the caliber of acts poised to reap substantial rewards from such exposure, as exemplified by Future Islands.

Representatives for CBS, NBC, and ABC declined to respond to Reporters’ inquiries.

Chloë Walsh, co-founder of publicity firm The Oriel, points to the music bookers behind the scenes.

“Of course, they have to book all the biggest things in the world, but they also have things that they want to champion,” she says.

The contraction of available slots means that emerging artists find themselves vying with established names for a diminishing pool of opportunities.

Nevertheless, there persist alternative pathways for discovery.

“We are something of an anomaly in that our song and that performance achieved such extraordinary traction,” Cashion observes.

“Yet we have witnessed other bands attaining viral success on TikTok and similar platforms.”

The annals of digital ascendancy abound with instances of artists deciphering the algorithmic code: singer-songwriter Gigi Perez’s career was catapulted into the stratosphere by the TikTok phenomenon “Sailor Song,” just as Malcolm Todd’s was propelled by a handful of viral hits, culminating in a major-label contract with Columbia Records.

Indie outfit Beach Bunny witnessed their punky-pop aesthetic go viral with “Prom Queen” on the cusp of the pandemic, which in turn precipitated performances on Kimmel and Fallon.

Even venerable artists are witnessing a renaissance in music rediscovery: Weezer's 2010s power-pop track "Go Away," featuring Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, recently proliferated across TikTok and surged to the apex of both artists' Spotify rankings.

“It seems like a multitude of disparate facets within the album cycle have, to a certain extent, been supplanted by short-form content,” Beach Bunny vocalist Lili Trifilio remarked.

“And it is genuinely disheartening, given that late-night television constitutes an invaluable service to musicians.

You are instrumental in enabling artists to cultivate new audiences.”

“And I think now a considerable portion of the onus for advertising has shifted onto artists, compelling them to serve as their own late-night specials across platforms like TikTok,” she continued.

“I fail to see that these thirty-second or one-minute self-produced clips retain commensurate value.”

“The media landscape is in a state of perpetual flux.

At times, this proves advantageous for music, at others, deleterious,” asserts Walsh.

“A veritable cohort of nascent creators is presently engaged in remarkably innovative endeavors.

… It is to be hoped that a greater abundance of prospects will materialize, obviating our dependence on the networks.”

She points to “Track Star(asterisk),” the online music trivia series, which has begun hosting live performances, and to Julian Shapiro-Barnum of “Recess Therapy,” who has launched a late-night YouTube show, “Outside Tonight,” that features live performances.

Shapiro-Barnum asserts that “Outside Tonight” was conceived out of sheer exigency.

“We are acutely aware that the entertainment industry is notoriously formidable to penetrate.

Consequently, the most remarkable aspect of digital media has been its capacity to bypass that barrier,” he remarks.

His guiding principle was, “How can we do late night, but different?”

The production unfolds alfresco, circumventing the conventional studio apparatus.

Moreover, the musical curation leans decidedly toward the independent sphere, with recent bookings encompassing rapper Erick the Architect, indie rock soloist Annie DiRusso, and the multifaceted experimentalist L’Rain.

"There was no iteration of the production that was devoid of music," he remarks.

"To my mind, it constitutes an indispensable mainstay."

Beach Bunny commanded the stage as the headline act of the inaugural episode of the "Outside Tonight" series, delivering a performance of such caliber that it set a formidable precedent for the program's subsequent installments.

“It is profoundly gratifying to witness individuals of the mover-and-shaker ilk declare, ‘Behold, here lies a lacuna. The late-night hour has been relegated to the periphery. We must resurrect this; I shall devise a solution,’” Trifilio remarked.

“I trust that this will galvanize others to rise to the occasion.”

She perceives it as integral to a broader YouTube renaissance, heralding a decisive departure from the erstwhile prioritization of short-form content.

"I contend that there exists an insatiable appetite among audiences for more protracted, meticulously crafted formats," she remarks.

In the hallowed precincts of traditional late-night television, artists are the beneficiaries of a certain cachet — yet this exposure does not, by any means, guarantee a corresponding escalation in commercial turnover.

Ideally, such dividends will prove equally transferable to these nascent digital arenas.

“It serves as a showcase for touring, and that is genuinely where artists derive their income,” asserts Walsh.

“Critics contend, ‘A late-night television appearance scarcely confers any tangible uplift.’

They are scrutinizing sales figures, yet they fail to consider a promoter in Minneapolis exclaiming, ‘My God, I covet that,’ or a radio playlist director remarking, ‘That was sublime; we ought to incorporate it.’”

"Every musical guest who has graced 'Outside Tonight,' every member of the crew, and every soul in the audience has been utterly captivated, unable to cease listening," remarks Shapiro-Barnum.

"In real time, the phenomenon proliferates, engendering a legion of devotees.

Hence, I am compelled to infer that the same dynamic unfolds in the digital realm."

For many, however, securing a late-night television appearance remains the quintessential benchmark of a successful press tour.

“For a great many individuals — particularly international artists who arrive in the United States prepared to endure the grueling grind of club engagements where they may not even occupy the headline slot — securing a spot on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ signifies that we have finally broken through,” observes Walsh.

“Every ounce of effort has been vindicated.

And that is nothing short of monumental.”