U2 Producer Steve Lillywhite Opens Up About Selling CDs at KFC

Longtime U2 producer Steve Lillywhite (Boy, War, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb), who has also worked with the Rolling Stones, the Killers, and more, has opened about his side job working with Kentucky Fried Chicken in a new profile in the New York Times. Lillywhite is the CEO of Jagonya Music & Sport Indonesia, a subsidiary of KFC in Indonesia, which sells half a million CDs in the country every month at its shops. Lillywhite, who fell in love with the country after traveling there to produce the Indonesian band Noah, took the job in 2016. “CDs are still the No. 1 way to get music in Indonesia,” Lillywhite said. “In Indonesia, CDs are $4, 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. People no longer go out to buy CDs on their own, but they do go out to buy chicken. And now buying a CD has become part of that experience.”

When asked whether this practice would make the jump to chicken outlets in the United States, KFC rep Kasey Mathes said the company “doesn’t have any plans to bring this to the U.S. at this time.” Read the full profile on Lillywhite here.

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