As a musician (we’re using that term loosely here, as we’re talking about Coboy Junior, a generic, record-label engineered boy band aimed at little children), how do you reward your loyal fan base who have bought all of your records and attended many of your concerts? Well, Kiki from Coboy Junior apparently thinks it’s by milking his fans out of even more of (their parents’) hard-earned money.
Kiki, who just turned 17, decided to throw a birthday party in Lotte Shopping Avenue in South Jakarta on Saturday, and his fans were ‘invited’. That is, they had to pay quite a large amount of money just to watch their idol blow out the candles.
130 tickets were on sale for two months before the party. There were three ticket categories: T Class (Rp 650k), R Class (Rp 350k), and M Class (Rp 200k) – because loyalty is apparently measured in how much money kids can kick and scream and squeeze out of their parents.
“The tickets sold out a month ago. They were sold through a pre-sale on Twitter, and some paid on the spot as well,” said Anggi, one of the party’s organizers, as quoted by Vivanews today.
Rusti, a parent forced to accompany his child to the party, admitted that she was initially hesitant to spend Rp 650k so her daughter Alyssa could get a front row seat at the party.
“At first I didn’t let her buy a front row ticket, but she had her own savings, so she added on Rp 200k on her own. So I let her buy the ticket because that’s her own money,” Rusti said.
Even though she doesn’t approve of charging fans to attend a birthday party, Rusti had no choice but to let her daughter attend the event, as Alyssa is such a die-hard fan of the boy band.
“When Iqbal (a Coboy Junior member who apparently also charged money for fans to attend his birthday party) threw his birthday party, it was cheaper, just Rp 450k. But this place is nicer. So it’s all right, these kinds of events don’t happen often. Besides, my daughter can learn to save up money,” she said.
But is Kiki actually the brains behind this farce, or were there other forces at work trying to cash in on his fame?
“I actually don’t want a party like this. I just want dinner with my family. But Mama said just throw the party because many people would want to come. So if we’re to throw a party and the concept is clear, then so be it,” Kiki said.
Poor kid. He just turned 17 and he’s still letting Mama control his life.
