Jakarta – Jakarta's street musician, the one found playing beside a car waiting at a red light, on a public bus, or in small roadside restaurants, could be part of an advertising strategy.

Sources working in the music industry said many music labels and distributors are hiring street musicians to play their songs. "It's just a part of a creative marketing strategy," said Dodi Sukaman, a music producer and distributor.

Dodi said music distributors sometimes paid street musicians to perform songs without the knowledge of the producing label, or the other way around. "It's not exactly common practice, my company doesn't do it," he said.

A street musician is an informal job often associated with begging for money on the streets. The musicians appear on buses, on trains and other modes of public transportation, playing music and asking for tips.

Abimanyu, also a street musician who plays in the Fatmawati, South Jakarta area, said the job pays little, but can add to his income.

"I get Rp 30,000 to 50,000 (around US$5) a night, but I do this as a side job really," said the high school graduate who has also worked in sales promotions in malls.

Abimanyu said he believed his job could be an effective advertising campaign. "I usually play a lot of top-40 songs, something people can enjoy, but yes, I guess we're sort of advertising other people's music," he said.

Recently, the ubiquitous song on the street has been Matta's Band "Ketahuan" – or Caught. A street musician, asked to be identified as E for security reasons, said he was a part of the Telkomsel advertising campaign and was paid Rp 40,000 an hour to play their jingle on buses.

"That was during the Ramadhan month back in September, I was also paid Rp 80,000 to play in the terminal for two hours," he said.

Ramadhan is the Islam holy month of fasting when many companies used the momentum to sell Ramadhan themed products.

E said he had never heard of street musicians being given money to play certain songs, although he said they did get the occasional request from people on busses to play certain songs. "But I think that was more because they just want to hear it," he said. (anw)