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As discussed last week, an interview between Zane Lowe of BBC Radio 1 and Chris Martin was planned to air today and it proved to be the biggest talking point of "Ghost Stories" so far with Chris not only revealing experiences from his personal life but talking through parts of the album with Zane Lowe which led to several clips being played.   The following new tracks were playing during the interview   Always In My Head - Half of the song. Oceans - All of the song pretty much. A Sky Full o

A new CD-trading website, launching Tuesday, could be the first of a new wave of sites that give consumers a way to legitimately get nearly free music.   The site, Lala.com, carries no inventory; it's more like eBay than used CD sites such as Djangomusic.com.   How it works: Users start by listing all their CDs. Then they look at menus of available CDs or through other people's CD collections, clicking on those they'd like to receive.   A request, say, for Coldplay's X&Y, generates a blind

Coldplay and Kings of Leon will be playing in Auckland within a week of each other and while they've been here before, having them in town is the noughties equivalent of hosting the Beatles and the Rolling Stones back to back.   Or at least seeing the contenders in the race to be "the next U2" – that is, if U2 ever give up being the next U2. To mark the double header, here's a recap of how the British outfit has gone from left-field beginnings to mainstream heavyweight…   2000 – In the beginning

Coldplay fans are expected to flock to Auckland's Vector Arena on Wednesday night for the first of two concerts by the Grammy award-winning band.   Coldplay are in New Zealand as part of their Viva la Vida world tour in support of their new album of the same name. Its first two singles, Violet Hill and Viva la Vida were both in the top three of New Zealand's airplay chart. The first time Coldplay was in New Zealand was at the Big Day Out in 2001. In 2006 thousands of Kiwi fans lobbied a national

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman sneaked into rapper JAY-Z's history-making gig at London's Royal Albert Hall last week.   The Girls Girls Girl hitmaker was the first hip-hop star ever to perform at the Victorian building. He was joined onstage by girlfriend Beyonce Knowles, rapper pal Nas, Chris Martin & Gwyneth Paltrow.   Oscar winning Paltrow sang backing vocals for Jay-Z's track Song Cry. Kidman admitted this week she was also among the audience, but was unrecognisable in a baggy top and bas

Solo girl Nicole Scherzinger [pictured] is praying Chris Martin can complete a holy trinity of Brits writing songs for her, report the Daily Star.   The Pussycat Doll has already worked with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, 31, and Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley, 31, since going it alone. Now she wants the Coldplay singer, 30, to finish the set. Nicole, 29, said: “I just need to work with Chris Martin to complete my British songwriting mission. That would be amazing.”   Nic recorded Lightbody’s gorgeous so

The songs of Coldplay and Robbie Williams are instantly recognisable to music fans, but the City is more used to the familiar tune of Eric Nicoli's hokey-cokey.   The boss of music group EMI, which counts the artists among its roster of recording stars, has once again failed to pull off a deal after years of on-off attempts.   Talks to sell the company to Permira foundered when the private equity firm failed to offer north of 320p a share. Now the City expects EMI to get together with rival Warn

The modern world, eh? Time was when you’d get an album, preceded and followed by a couple of singles, and that’d be that.   Now, with labels desperately trying to figure out how to keep their clients’ wares afloat, you get ‘leaks’ (some deliberate, some not), streams, downloads, covermounted singles, bonus discs, download-only singles, singles, albums, special edition albums, albums and singles. ‘Prospekts March’ — billed as “an EP of eight previously unreleased tracks” — comes hot on the heels

Garden State compilation attracts an audience far beyond the movie   Back when actor Zach Braff of the medical sitcom Scrubs was shopping around a movie project, he sent out a screenplay that he'd written and, with it, a mix CD of songs he wanted to use in certain scenes. The story, as told in show-business circles, is that several studio executives tossed the script and kept the CD.   As if tipping his hat, Braff wound up using a typically wistful Simon & Garfunkel song, The Only Living Boy

As reported earlier, Gwyneth Paltrow is currently at the Sundance Film Festival and left Chris Martin and the kiddies at home for two days. Yesterday, Gwyneth attended the movie premiere of "The Good Night", directed by her brother Jake.   The premiere was like a big family reunion: Gwyneth's mum Blythe Danner, her brother Jake Paltrow and her godfather Steven Spielberg ("Uncle Morty") all attended the premiere.   When asked by the press whether there are more kids on the way, Gwyneth doesn't

Ricky Gervais, says he has no plans to make a third series of Extras because he detests programmes that drag on past their prime.   Gervais is currently editing the final episodes of the second series of the show. David Bowie, Coldplay's Chris Martin, and actors Daniel Radcliffe and Orlando Bloom are among the guest cast in the latest series.   Gervais hopes to move into drama. Ricky Gervais is planning to take on Hollywood by writing a mainstream romantic comedy. The Extras says he is currentl

Sanctuary Group has dismissed its chief executive, Andy Taylor, in an attempt to draw a line under a year that saw the music group undergo a radical financial restructuring after a share price crash.   Sanctuary, whose clients include acts such as Beyonce, Coldplay and The Strokes, decided to remove Mr Taylor, who co-founded the company in 1976, following the appointment in April of Bob Ayling, former chief executive of British Airways, as chairman.   Mr Ayling was brought in by shareholders af

Sanctuary Group has dismissed its chief executive, Andy Taylor, in an attempt to draw a line under a year that saw the music group undergo a radical financial restructuring after a share price crash.   Sanctuary, whose clients include acts such as Beyonce, Coldplay and The Strokes, decided to remove Mr Taylor, who co-founded the company in 1976, following the appointment in April of Bob Ayling, former chief executive of British Airways, as chairman.   Mr Ayling was brought in by shareholders af

Or as one publisher remarked this week, "getting played is nice, getting paid is better."   This is exactly the opposite result that Spotify wanted, reports the Digital Music News website. Because after skipping Spotify entirely on their latest release, Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay has scored a one-week, digital album sales record in the UK, as we reported a couple of days ago. That is, digital sales north of 83,000, part of an impressive, chart-topping tally of 208,343 units in the UK alone.  

Chris Martin's attempts to discuss environmental issues with Noel Gallagher fell on deaf ears when the Oasis frontman said that he "genuinely couldn't give a fuck". Gallagher told the Coldplay singer that his immediate environment was all that occupied his mind and everything else was "not [his] problem".   The singer, who recently fuelled speculation that he is to release a solo LP, said in a Talksport interview: "I actually couldn't give a fuck about what's going on outside my family: me, my m

Although he’s pals with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 31, Noel says the rest of Oasis hate his band.   He admits “I’m not in a band full of Coldplay fans, there’s only me – the others hate them – and U2. I think they’re a bit insecure because Coldplay and U2 sell more records than we do. I like them. Chris fascinates me, even though he’s proper posh. I don’t think I’d be Gwyneth Paltrow’s cup of tea, though. I swear too much.”   Read the full Noel Gallagher interview here

Oasis star Noel Gallagher has spent an amazing £1m on drugs and enjoyed every minute of it, he told an Italian newspaper and the 42-year-old also labelled Chris Martin from Coldplay an 'idiot' after he claimed not to have taken drugs and slammed the rival band and U2 for using concerts as stages for 'rock politics'. [discussion]   At the peak of the Britpop era, Noel and brother Liam's hedonistic excesses were well known and their partying was legendary. Gallagher once revealed he had taken coca

Oasis’ guitarist Noel Gallagher has praised Coldplay, comparing a song from their new album to the Beatles, report Gigwise today.   Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Gallagher said his opinion of the band differed greatly from his brother, Liam. "I listen to ‘Violet Hill’ and it's like The Beatles,” Gallagher said. “I just think Chris Martin is a great songwriter. Liam fucking hates them - thinks their stuff sounds like Annie Lennox, but Liam can be a fucking idiot sometimes."   Gallagher also

In a recent reader Q&A for US magazine Blender, the ever-quotable Oasis star Noel Gallagher [pictured] was also far from reticent with regard to his feelings about Radiohead and Coldplay.   He said, "Radiohead and Coldplay think too much. They get to a certain level and start worrying about the environment. That's for the governments of the world to worry about. We need to concentrate on fucking women, taking drugs, wearing sunglasses and being cool. Never mind the polar bears."   And on Col

Liam Gallagher joined brother Noel Gallagher of Oasis at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Andy Bell, sick with a cold, was absent from the photo session but performed at the concert.   When asked of his take on newer groups from the U.K. like Coldplay, Noel flat out denied feeling threatened in any way.   "Oasis is not Coldplay as is Coldplay not Oasis. The music we make are completely different," said Gallagher but didn’t hesitate to add that Coldplay is one of the most successful bands

Cited as an influence on many new UK bands, and, at the same time, dubbed outdated and irrelevant, Noel Gallagher [pictured] is not all that enthusiastic about the music scene these days.   For him, the last great album was Parachutes, the debut album by Coldplay. So it's probably not a surprise that Chris Martin has said how Coldplay were influenced by Definitely Maybe.   "I feel flattered," Gallagher said. "I've got to say I don't hear it in the music, but that's cool because I like Coldplay a

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is to end its headline sponsorship of the Isle of Wight music festival.   The event has been billed as The Official Nokia Isle of Wight Festival for three years but the company has now decided that it can associate itself with music in more strategic ways.   Nokia head of marketing Simon Lloyd revealed the news at the MusicWeek/Ricall Music & Brands conference yesterday (19 July). He said: “Isle of Wight has been good for us for the last three years and we go

Who do you think are the men and women who have made Hampshire famous around the world?   Is it the county’s historic figures like Admiral Lord Nelson, Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria, Lord Mountbatten and King Alfred? Or perhaps it’s Hampshire’s famous literary figures like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens?   And then there’s the county’s renowned sports stars - Olympians like Iwan Thomas, Roger Black and Peter Waterfield, record-breaking sailors like Dee Caffari and Dame Ellen MacArthur an

A few differences of opinion on the messageboard who is the best singer out of the two - so why not create a poll!   Who is Norah Jones? Who is Joss Stone?   Vote here

Norah Jones' Not Too Late becomes most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon.ca   SEATTLE - Amazon.ca has announced that Norah Jones' third album, Not Too Late (pictured) has become the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon.ca.   Not Too Late will be released on January 30, 2007 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.ca for $12.97. Earlier this year, Amazon.ca began offering the critically acclaimed singer's throng of fans an exclusive first listen to her third studio album