Oh sure, I know a lot that do--I hate over-generalizations like the ones most of my post was made on :P. I guess I just think it's a smaller percentage of young people, and it's mainly the ones who just "enjoy" listening to music that are less inclined to seek out whole albums. My guess is that most teenagers hear a song they like and are satisfied with having that song on their iPods to listen to, but usually lack the curiosity to go seek out others by the same artist unless it REALLY grabs them. And I think most kids encounter songs for the first time on popular radio and on TV (in the form of music videos, appearances on TV shows they watch, and in advertisements). I think it's become more about being fed things than having things sparking an initial interest to grow and expand on.

 

But that's the problem: if a large percentage of the largest age group of music consumers aren't as likely to go and seek out other music by the same artist of a song they heard on TV or radio and liked, what's the point in making whole albums? It's far more effective to just release 2 big singles a year or so than one album every few. Radiohead said something to the effect of that they're not seeing the point in making whole LP records anymore and might switch to coming out only with shorter EP type of records. That saddens me if that's what the future of the music industry looks like. There's a beauty in albums that I don't think can be replicated, having to do with vibe and themes, and I think singles are the gateway to finding that beauty, what leads you in.

 

I sound like such a crotchety old sap :lol:

^ I don't think you sound like a crotchety old sap :P

 

In fact, I think you were spot-on with that post. :thumbsup: 99% of kids that I know listen to/buy a song because it grabs their attention on the first listen with lots of pop-y synths and loud basslines. They don't take the time to see if the song is really worth buying, or if the lyrics have a deeper meaning than 'I'm going to go kiss this girl and rant about how sexy she is' (although, as in most cases with those types of songs, they don't have a meaning deeper than that).

 

I would like to think that whole album-length releases will continue on for a very long time yet, but sadly it doesn't seem like that's the case. :\

^^ Heck no! You sound like a sensible observer! I'm upset if that's the direction the music is starting to head in (selling singles instead of albums). I wonder if that could be stopped though? Maybe if artists waited longer to perfect their material they plan to release on album people might be attracted to buying the whole thing.

Ok I didn't read all the posts but this is a very interesting thread.

 

If they wouldn't have released any songs after ETIAW I think half of us would be having a panic attack, because a lot of people (including myself) dislike it and the idea of an album filled with poppy catchy songs like that makes me sad. Considering that, I think that playing more new songs live was smart because all the other songs are better than ETIAW so there's still a bit of hope about this new direction the band is taking.

 

And about them trying to aim a bigger audience I must say that it sucks but it's normal. They'll lose a few fans and gain a lot more I guess. That's why I think newer fans should learn to accept criticism because they seem to be a completely different band now.

 

and I agree with everything Denise said

 

this!

 

I'm kind of miffed too after reading David Holmes ideas about the promotion, I don't really like them, but I'm talking as a long time fan, if I had to talk as someone who wants to sell they're probably going the right direction, though being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being better, which is what they want to, at least according to some interviews. Sometimes I really don't understand which way they want to follow :shrug:

 

All I know is that I'm not particularly excited about the album right now, all this promotional dragging doesn't do the trick to me, it's having the opposite reaction :\

Oh, please don't get me started on chart music vs. everything else :lol:. I also recently ranted elsewhere about the use of synths and how that's the big thing in music of 2009-present across genres and how I'm kind of tired of it even though I like a lot of bands that are synth-centric.

 

EDIT: Hi Lore :cheesy:

Hi Chelsea! I knew you'd post in this thread as soon as I read the title :wacky:

yeah I agree with the point here, I too think it is a bad step... too long a pause between the live premiere and the album... kills the excitement to me too... i want to hear studio versions of these songs but then again i want more new stuff...

Hahaha of course :P. I was out all day today and then saw Ian tweeted this thread and was like "yeah, I'm going to end up writing an essay about that..." :shame:

I found it slightly comforting that in the same article, Mr Holmes mentions the bands hesitation with these promotion tactics. Perhaps something similar to what most of us are thinking crossed their minds...

I agree with the arguments about how disappointing it would have been to not hear any new songs at the festivals. I would have been pretty annoyed actually, come to think of it! However, how are they able to release Major Minus as a B-Side to ETIAW and then later confirm it's place on the album? I'm not fussed about having to pay for a track twice, but ah I dunno.

As these new songs were filtering through on YouTube etc, I prayed to God that whilst yes, they were good songs, that they were E.P. material, and we'd be treated to an entire selection of songs previously unheard. I've been living in a dream world by the looks of things...

On a slightly lighter note, I'm grateful for one thing perhaps; I travel to Cape Town in October to see the Wednesday night show, so at least I'll be able to sing along to the ones we've heard!

Thanks, feels good to know I wasn't the only one having 'issues' ha!

Hahaha of course :P. I was out all day today and then saw Ian tweeted this thread and was like "yeah, I'm going to end up writing an essay about that..." :shame:

 

...which proved for some excellent reading, so thanks very much!

I disagree with you. I don't think we've actually heard most of the songs on the album.

 

Song's we've heard that will (most likely) be on the album:

 

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Charlie Brown

Major Minus

Princess of China (we've sort of heard it...but terrible quality)

Us against the World

 

Songs that MIGHT be on the album that we've already heard:

Hurts like Heaven

Moving to Mars

 

 

That's seven songs total, and at least MTM probably won't be on the album, so that's six.

 

There's still Paradise, Up in Flames, and probably at least 4 other tracks that will be on the album that we haven't heard yet. And as for me, I like the marketing that they're doing, because i CAN'T WAIT to have studio versions of some of the songs we've already heard.

I, too, am disappointed that when the album drops, I'll know a majority of the songs. However, as someone said, I think this was probably a good business strategy to reach casual fans. If I'm honest, I'm mad at myself for listening to the new stuff relentlessly and that's why I have sworn off "Paradise" or anything else that is released or leaks. I am not going to listen to anything else until I've got the CD in my hands. In fact, I've stopped listening to any of the new stuff.

Denise already quoted my post from another thread that I was planning to quote :lol:!

 

As usual, I have a lot to say (and this is RIDICULOUSLY long), so this is in a spoiler :rolleyes: :P

 

 

 

Re: the live songs...there is absolutely no way avoid gripes from the fanbase no matter which way they chose to go. Back when we thought that the festival shows wouldn't include ANY new material, people were up in arms about that. Now that we know and have heard otherwise, people are a bit disappointed (by the fact that they were played--the opinions of the actual songs are another matter). As someone said earlier, damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they hadn't, us serious fans would have been less exited about just another "routine" sort of show from them, but because they have, us same serious fans are now feeling a bit spoiled for what's to come.

 

I'm personally of both minds. While I wouldn't trade my experience of seeing the new songs live at Oxegen last month and while I feel all wiggly and happy when they come up on my iPod unexpectedly because they're new songs (and I really enjoy them all as we know them now, even the polarising ETIAW)...I'm somewhat less excited for the album because I know I've heard a large chunk of it in some form. Moreover, I'm just not a fan in general of hearing a new song in a live version for the first time--to me, studio versions always rule (except in the case of Major Minus :P), and I'm against debuting new songs live on stubborn personal preference, no matter the artist.

 

The thing about all this that makes me feel like a hypocrite is the fact that I'm a leak-listener (though only for the two bands that rule my heart: Coldplay and The Strokes, the rest I wait for). Technically, VLV was "spoiled" for me when I listened to the leaked tracks and the full leak a few weeks before physical release, as was The Strokes' latest album this year. But because album leaks usually happen only a few weeks before release and because they're studio versions, I don't feel spoiled at all, I feel like it's a welcome yet slightly-early reprieve to end the pain of waiting for Christmas. With the way things have gone with the MX songs so far, with us hearing them far before we concretely knew when the album would be out and in a different manifestation than what they will officially be presented as, to me it feels like I have been a bit spoiled, like Christmas came in August before it was even really in my mind to be excited about it rather than on December 12, when it's all I'm thinking about.

 

I'm really not convinced that the old, traditional model is as dead as Dave Holmes thinks it is (via the Billboard article), at least not yet. My ~extremely expert~ theory is that the new model he's trying out is most effective on a younger age group, maybe ages 12-17, born in the mid-90s and brought up with technology, who are used to instant gratification via the push of a button and not used to waiting for things or getting the rush out of the anticipation just as much as the final product (and who are very quick to move onto the next thing that takes their fancy soon after the first has initially struck). I think constant promotion via TV shows (especially new and "surprising" ones like he mentioned) and "over-exposure" will work very well on the younger, teenage set and gain a lot of new converts. But Coldplay has a very diverse fanbase, from young kids to seniors, and I think concentrating on the middle of the age group could leave the other ends of the spectrum cold, alienating or starting to alienate previously dedicated fans. As much as I still (and will probably always) love Coldplay and enjoy their music from all eras, as a "veteran" fan, I know I felt most comfortable and most "proud" of being a fan when the music is what spoke for itself the most, presented in the more traditional fashion, and not everybody and their dentist was seeing them on TV or in every magazine or on every website in carefully-chosen outfits and scenes every few days, which is what I worry will happen with this MX era based on what Holmes as said and how the VLV era went. I don't want to get tired of Coldplay, but I especially don't want EVERYONE to get tired of Coldplay, and as a kind of polarising band to begin with, I just hope the promo doesn't go overboard this time around in order to try and stay relevant to the widest swath of new fans.

 

 

Some really really great points raised here. Can everyone get tired of Coldplay? Definitely! But do you think these long breaks between albums and them relatively disappearing for a few years will help them when they do come back to promote? In mainstream media the Billboard article is the first MAJOR publication of this band for probably 3 years. The last time I remember reading any feature about Coldplay in the UK was in The Times in November 2008 by Pete Paphides.

 

Other acts like Lady Gaga for example is endlessly promoting herself to the extreme even when she has nothing new to release. I think if Coldplay did what she did then as you say everyone would become tired by them just as it is starting to show on Gaga where she bigged herself up all over the place well before her album this year and even though getting to number one, the album sales have started to tail off disappointingly. Coldplay can get away with promoting themselves for a few months here just before and after the album release but they won't get away with it if they over expose themselves in those months between October and the tour starting in Spring.

Some really really great points raised here. Can everyone get tired of Coldplay? Definitely! But do you think these long breaks between albums and them relatively disappearing for a few years will help them when they do come back to promote? In mainstream media the Billboard article is the first MAJOR publication of this band for probably 3 years. The last time I remember reading any feature about Coldplay in the UK was in The Times in November 2008 by Pete Paphides.

 

Other acts like Lady Gaga for example is endlessly promoting herself to the extreme even when she has nothing new to release. I think if Coldplay did what she did then as you say everyone would become tired by them just as it is starting to show on Gaga where she bigged herself up all over the place well before her album this year and even though getting to number one, the album sales have started to tail off disappointingly. Coldplay can get away with promoting themselves for a few months here just before and after the album release but they won't get away with it if they over expose themselves in those months between October and the tour starting in Spring.

 

No, I agree with you completely--there haven't been big magazine articles or anything in the downtime, so that's not really what I'm talking about. They haven't really been in the main eye of the industry since 2009 and the end of the Viva Tour proper. It's just that Coldplay tour for so long, and with all the Christmas Lights/Crisis Gig stuff this past winter, it seems like they haven't been "gone" for very long to me even though VLV was released in 2008 and by 2011, we're due for another album from them on their 3-year kind of album schedule (not that I think they should go away for longer or anything, I'm just saying :P). Like you, I'm definitely interested in the promo period of this fall, seeing how that works for them :D

 

Also, I think just because Coldplay are more "high profile" than almost all of the other artists I regularly listen to, I just definitely hear ABOUT them more in the meantime. If I were a big Gaga or Beyonce or Kanye fan (OK, I love Kanye), I'd find it more normal I guess, but there are significantly fewer mentions in the media of pretty much all of my other favorite artists when they're not actively promoting or coming out with something, but that's because they're not as huge internationally and aren't married to high-profile people, either. I don't think that counts as promo AT ALL, of course, I'm just saying that it's not as if they're a small band on the up and up...you'd have to be living under a rock not to know about Coldplay (and probably know at least one song), so I find the aggressive super-promo plans interesting. Not that they shouldn't promo, that's ridiculous, but I feel like their name speaks a lot for them, for better or for worse.

I will agree with this thread, although out of the 10-13, we've only heard Major Minus, ETIAW, Charlie Brown, UATW, and Hurts like Heaven (if it makes it). I'm not counting PoC because the quality is just awful.

 

So assuming all of those songs make the album, it's still only 5 out of 10-13 songs, which means still at least a majority have yet to be heard. I'm still very excited to hear PoC and Charlie Brown studio. UATW probably won't be much different though.

I think it was the right choice personally. It's a refreshing change in the way their album promotion is done. Also, these new songs may sound rather different in studio - little parts that aren't played live etc

^:nod:

The thing about teens=instant gratification not always true. I'm almost 18 and I hate this idea that we're not really getting an album but more like half an album. I love Coldplay and all but. I think this was a bad idea. I have a bad feeling this will backfire them. With so much of it known, I'm afraid they won't be the same band who does so well with album sales and everything. If people have already heard half the album, how many less will buy it then before? The music industry is hurting from piracy and illegal downloading as it is. They haven't done themselves any favors. I really hope they thought this through. And on a personal level. I'm less excited to buy this album than Viva knowing half of it has already pleased my eardrums and probably won't be much different in studio version (and by that I mean Charlie Brown and Us Against the World).

^We haven't received a tracklist. There's a large possibility you've heard a good chunk, but till then it's speculation. Don't get your hopes down. The next single they're releasing is a song we haven't heard yet.

Everybody here needs to stop kidding themselves...

 

If coldplay did this festival tour without any new material you'd all be pissed and saying "HAVE THEY EVEN STARTED THE ALBUM?!?"

Great point about the damned if they do damned if they don't. I admit I did want to hear some new stuff at the festivals. I think the perfect thing they could have done was play only the songs released with etiaw. Would have been fresh stuff but not enough to ruin. I definitely don't blame the band for anything though. I'm really proud and happy with the work theyve been doing. I hope the album still manages to surprise me!

^We haven't received a tracklist. There's a large possibility you've heard a good chunk, but till then it's speculation. Don't get your hopes down. The next single they're releasing is a song we haven't heard yet.

 

True, true. This is a good point. Thank you for that!

 

Everybody here needs to stop kidding themselves...

 

If coldplay did this festival tour without any new material you'd all be pissed and saying "HAVE THEY EVEN STARTED THE ALBUM?!?"

 

Wrong. We didn't hear Violet Hill until a month before VlV came out. The EP was moreeee than enough. I could've survived fine on just those three songs and the new single coming out. We didn't need to hear Charlie Brown, Hurts Like Heaven, and Us Against the World. I would've been far more upset about a tracklist then hearing any new songs i can guarantee you that.

I don't care about what I've heard already. I care about the presentation. If they can give me a tighly-knit album as cohesive in thematics and sonics as Viva, I'll be one happy camper.

 

It's all about the whole package! Too many people these days judge songs by themselves.

^Thanks to Itunes!!! :veryangry2:

Yeah I'm kind of upset that we may have heard a large portion of the album already, but I honestly would have been more dissapointed if they didn't play anything new at the festivals. I do agree with the thought that maybe they could have played maybe 3 songs rather than 6, but I'm not too upset with their decision. I still feel like I have a lot more to look forward to still. I think they've kept the best songs secret from us and that we won't hear them until the album is released. I'm also still looking forward to listening to the album as a whole in one sitting so I can take it in its intended tracklisting and full unveiling of the theme.