Fried Chicken, Served With a Side of Music
Steve Lillywhite knows a thing or two about making music that sells. A six-time Grammy winning producer, he has worked on multiplatinum recordings with artists including U2 and the Rolling Stones.
Now Mr. Lillywhite is proving he knows how to sell music, too, although in an unexpected way. He is the chief executive of Jagonya Music & Sport Indonesia, a company in Jakarta, Indonesia, that bundles recorded CDs with fast food at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants throughout that country.
At a time when the United States music industry has seen physical CD sales in free-fall, Mr. Lillywhite’s company, a subsidiary of KFC in Indonesia, sells 500,000 CDs a month alongside menu items like the Chick ’N Fillet sandwich and the Colonel Yakiniku Rice box.
“My job is basically like running a record label, except this record label also happens to sell chicken,” said Mr. Lillywhite, 62, who acts as a curator, choosing the music that goes into the Indonesian KFCs. (At the moment, the songs only come from Indonesian artists.)
His journey from Englishman known for championing soaring choruses to creative guru of the Indonesian fried- chicken music market began about six years ago, when he was producing music for the Indonesian band Noah. When he traveled to the band’s home to work on songs with them, “I immediately fell in love with the country,” he said.
Mr. Lillywhite moved from Hollywood to Jakarta in 2014, and produced albums for artists like Iwan Fals, whose music he describes as “a mix of Springsteen and Dylan.” In March 2016, a mutual friend introduced him to Ricardo Gelael, director of PT Fast Food Indonesia, which owns 570 KFC outlets throughout Indonesia, as well as Jagonya Music & Sport, the company that places music in those restaurants.
“He was looking to solidify and expand his company’s connection between CDs and chicken, as he realized he had become the new king of music distribution,” Mr. Lillywhite explained. When Mr. Gelael offered him a job to run and expand the company, Mr. Lillywhite immediately accepted.
In the United States, most listeners consume music via digital services like Spotify and Apple Music. The story is quite different in Jakarta.
“CDs are still the Number 1 way to get music in Indonesia,” Mr. Lillywhite said, noting that a small percentage of the population has credit cards and internet connections are slow, hindering streaming. “In Indonesia, CDs are $ 4,” he continued. “And since nearly all of the record stores have closed down due to the cheap influx of pirated CDs, KFC is really the only place to buy them these days.”
When selecting music for KFC, Mr. Lillywhite draws on what he has learned “makes people’s emotions go wild.” He explained: “They love ballads, they love smooth jazz and they love to cry.”
While Mr. Lillywhite still takes the occasional trip to produce bands like U2, he is content with his Indonesian gig.
“Bono is obsessed with it,” he said. “He’s always telling people: ‘Do you know what Lillywhite’s doing? He’s working for KFC!’”
An alternative to streaming: Songs in a KFC snack box.