There are raised eyebrows in the Oasis camp over Coldplay’s decision to release their new album on a Thursday.

Coldplay hope their upcoming Viva La Vida will topple Oasis’ 11-year reign with Be Here Now as the fastest-selling British record. But the Manchester band’s team believe Coldplay are stealing their idea to do it. Be Here Now sold almost 700,000 copies in the first three days of sale in 1997. Oasis [Pictured, Noel Gallagher] released it on a Thursday — rather than the usual Monday — with three days of manic sales enough to catapult it to No1. Coldplay are doing the same with Viva La Vida, out on June 12. Their last album, X&Y, is currently second on the fastest-selling list. An Oasis source said: “Some people reckon Coldplay have nicked their successful blueprint from Be Here Now to try to break the record.”

But an insider in the Coldplay camp said: "The band decided to release the album on a Thursday to bring it in line with the rest of Europe. Oasis was never an influence.”

More on this story here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin told RollingStone.com that the band has "some tricks up our sleeve" for its upcoming North American tour, which kicks off on June 29th in Philadelphia.

Martin said that along with a "mini-acoustic set," the group also has "some visual things, some technical things, some emotional things, some audience-participation things, some gymnastic things -- the only rule is no flying."

As for what will make the set list, Martin joked, "We're gonna play a nine-hour set and provide mattresses when people need to sleep. We're going to play all our catalog and all Bruce Springsteen's. No, we're not idiots. We're not gonna just play B-sides."

Coldplay will be out in support of its fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, which arrives on June 17th.

The British quartet is also playing three free shows to promote the album's arrival. In addition to a June 16th show in London and a June 23rd gig in New York City, the band has just announced that the third show will take place on June 17th in Barcelona, Spain, where some of the new CD was recorded.

Asked why New York will get a free show, Martin said, "At the beginning of our last tour, we f***ed up in New York and played a couple of s*** concerts, and we were embarrassed about it. We thought, 'What's the best way to say thanks for putting up with us last time?'"

British rockers Coldplay, arguably the biggest band in the world right now, are releasing their fourth studio album: Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. To celebrate, Amazon are giving you the chance to win the ultimate Coldplay experience: they'll fly you and a friend to New York and give you tickets to see Coldplay perform live at Madison Square Garden on Monday 23rd June 2008.

Runner Up Prizes: a limited number of lucky runners up will receive a Coldplay tour bundle, including a signed CD booklet and tour t-shirt. To be in with a chance of winning, simply enter your details in the form here (UK) or here (US) and you'll be entered into Amazon's prize draw.

Meanwhile, the new album is already No.1 on Amazon - after only pre-order sales, three weeks before the album is due to be released. Also after the itunes commercial on American Idol last night Viva La Vida (pre-order) has climbed back from #6th spot to #2 spot, and the song Viva La Vida has come back into the list and stands at #2 as well on the US iTunes store. More on this story here [thanks omrimayo]

Artwork and video extras now fully unveiled

The extras which fans have been helping to unveil on the official Coldplay site by entering the Brixton and MSG contests are now fully unlocked. Click here (Brixton) or here (MSG) to check out exclusive 'Viva La Vida' artwork and live videos from Coldplay's 2006 tour.

Meanwhile, On Friday June 27th, Coldplay will appear on NBC's Today Show at 7am ET. Fans are encouraged to come along to the plaza for the live performances. Viewing is on a first-come, first-served basis outside Today’s Window on the World Studio, located at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, USA.

More on these pieces of news here [thanks eFlat]

Coldplay are to launch the all-new Q Radio as studio guests when the the station debuts its revamped schedule, it was confirmed today.

The band's appearance - on June 2- comes just days before the band release their fourth album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. Coldplay will be appearing on the new QPM show hosted by former XFM presenter Samanthi at around 7pm.

Coldplay will also be the cover stars of the July issue of Q, which is out on June 1. You can read the band's track by track assessment of Viva La Vida exclusively on Q4music.com here. And read how the band recorded with Kylie Minogue.

More on this here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay team with Apple for latest ad slot

A new Apple iTunes ad featuring music from Coldplay’s forthcoming ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends’ aired on US TV this week, reports MacWorld.

The 30-second spot was filmed by director Mark Romanek and was broadcast between segments of American Idol last night, it features a clip of the band performing the new single from the album. A graphic element on the TV clip declares: “Viva La Vida Coldplay, exclusively on iTunes.”

Apple has only shot such ads for a handful of major league acts, including Eminem, Mary J Bilge, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney. Coldplay are working hard to increase their viral reach, releasing first single Violet Hill as a free download, attracting 600,000 downloads in the first 24-hours the track was made available online.

Coldplay have confirmed that they will be playing a third free show in June, to add to the previously-confirmed gigs in London and New York. On June 17, the band will play the Espacio Movistar in Barcelona, Spain. Details of how to get tickets will be announced on the official site soon.

As previously announced, Coldplay are also set to play free shows in London and New York. The band will perform at London's Brixton Academy on June 16 and New York's Madison Square Garden on June 23.

Official news has also been posted on Coldplay's performance of Violet Hill at the MTV Movie Awards - you can watch Coldplay perform live on Sunday June 1st at 8p/7c US time, only on MTV.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin says the band members have been looking forward to their U.S. tour for a year and a half — which is how long they've been working on their new album, Viva La Vida. The disc comes out June 17th (US), and the band plays a free show at New York's Madison Square Garden a week later.

When you're in the studio, do you think about how the songs will sound live?

The knowledge that you're going to play something live has a huge influence on whether or not you record it. You know you've crossed a line into self-indulgence if you can't play it live. That probably means it's not worth it.

Are you planning anything new this tour?

We have some tricks up our sleeve. When we go to concerts we get quite bored unless it has things that you wouldn't expect. There will be a mini-acoustic set. We've got some visual things, some technical things, some emotional things, some audience-participation things, some gymnastic things — the only rule is no flying.

How do you decide which songs to play?

We're gonna play a nine-hour set and provide mattresses when people need to sleep. We're going to play all our catalog and all Bruce Springsteen's. No, we're not idiots. We're not gonna just play B sides.

Why does New York get a free show?

At the beginning of our last tour, we fucked up in New York and played a couple of shit concerts, and we were embarrassed about it. We thought, "What's the best way to say thanks for putting up with us last time?" Plus the fact that no one's ever done a free show there before.

More on this here [thanks mimixxx]

The BBC has been testing a new service called SoundIndex, which lists the top 1,000 artists based on discussions crawled from Bebo, Las.fm, Google Groups,iTunes, MySpace and YouTube. The top five bands according to SoundIndex right now are Coldplay, Rihanna, The Ting Tings, Duffy and Mariah Carey , but the index is refreshed every six hours.

This is somewhat similar to Songkick's "Battle Of The Bands," which we covered in March. Songkick uses different data - MySpace, Amazon and blogs - to determine rankings, and the results are completely different.

SoundIndex also lets users sort by popular tracks, search by artist, or create customized charts based on music preferences or filters by age range, sex or location. Results can also be limited to just one data source (such as Last.fm).

Read the full story here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay.com has now been updated with the new official video for Violet Hill, which you can view here.

The war based dancing politician version is also on the site here.

Coldplay’s video for "Violet Hill," the first single from the band’s upcoming album, Viva La Vida, has been added to the highest rotations at MTV (Big 10), VH1 (large), MTV2 (Elite 8), mtvU (summa cum laude) and MTV Hits (Power). It will be the first video ever to receive a simultaneous premiere on MTV, VH1 and The N. Lensed by acclaimed director/visual artist Asa Mader, "Violet Hill" premieres on VH1, MTV2, MTV Hits, mtvU, MTV Tr3s and The N on Monday, May 19th, and on MTV’s "TRL" on Wednesday, May 21st . Fans can check out the video online beginning today, May 16th, at 6pm on: mtv.com and vh1.com.

Check out the 2008 section of Coldplay.com for a new Prospekt entry.

It’s ten years today since a cardboard box filled with 500 copies of the Safety EP arrived on my doorstep from the manufacturer. I sold the first copy to my room-mate at university for £3. It took over a year to sell (or give away) the remaining 499. One of those copies found ti’s way to Ms Debs Wild, then of Universal Records.

And that’s how all this got started...

Prospekt

More on this here onwards [thanks Lore & Zemy101]

Read the full chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

'Viva La Vida' will have to sell well...

The pressure for Coldplay’s new album ‘Viva La Vida’ to succeed has intensified after it was revealed that their record label EMI’s market share in America has fallen to its lowest level for half a decade.

So far in 2008, releases by EMI artists have accounted for 8.8% of sales in America - with just one album featuring in the American top-40 this week, according to the Times. EMI is currently undergoing a major restructuring operation following its takeover by private equity company Terra Firma last year.

The new figures will put greater pressure on Coldplay’s fourth album, which is released in the UK on June 12th. Early indications for the album are good, however, with first single ‘Violet Hill’ charting at number eight in the UK charts. More encouraging were the download figures, which indicated that 2million people downloaded the song when it was available as a free download on the band’s website.

Check out the 2005 section of Coldplay.com for a new star.

Acoustic session for The Edge in Toronto - 10 May 2005

Playing Toronto is one of life's biggest buzzes I think, and this time was no exception. We had a police horse escort, which I enjoyed so much I now get one everywhere, even just nipping down the shops.

CM

More on this star here onwards [thanks IneedYou23 & Lore]

Read the full chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

On June 17th, Coldplay will be playing in Barcelona as part of the free show trilogy. The venue is still to be confirmed, but it is rumoured that the capacity will be only 1000.

For those who speak Spanish, here's a exerpt of an online report from MTV Espana confirming the date and details:

Coldplay regresará a Barcelona. Durante su última estancia en la Ciudad Condal, Coldplay trabajó con las letras y melodías del que será el cuarto disco de estudio de la banda, 'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'. El disco, que contará con claras influencias latinas, ha sido producido por Brian Eno y Markus Darvs y saldrá a la venta en Inglaterra el próximo 16 de junio de 2008. El día 17 de junio, el cuarteto británico celebrará el lanzamiento mundial del álbum con una exclusiva actuación en Barcelona, a la que sólo podrán asistir 1.000 afortunados espectadores. Hasta el momento, no se conocen más detalles sobre el directo de presentación de 'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends', que se convertirá en uno de los más esperados del 2008.

More on the confirmed Barcelona show date here [thanks mynickismyname]

Three years on from the stadium-conquering X&Y, Coldplay are once again braving the critics and public.

Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, which is released in mid June, is the band’s fourth release, sonically guided by the production genius Brian Eno. The band talk you through the album, track by track. Here's Life In Technicolor and Death And All His Friends:

Life In Technicolor: Glorious instrumental. Originally a full song with lyrics, but when described by a stranger as an “obvious single”, the words were removed. Chris Martin: “It’s nice to not have a singer on the first song come in and ruin it. This is our milkman song, the most whistleable thing. We took all the lyrics off because this song was our only safety net.”

Death And All His Friends: Melancholy piano segues into spangling guitars and a male choir exalting, “I don’t wanna follow death and all of his friends!” Vocals recorded in an art gallery in Barcelona that was once the medical room of an ancient nunnery. Will Champion: “This is us singing all together and then another us singing together. The Coldplay Choir. And it had an echo that lasted for a long, long time. When we did a lot of group singing we just roped in whoever was around. Studio engineers, whoever.”

The rest of the feature - and a full interview with Coldplay - will be in the July issue of Q, on sale June 1. For now you can read the online article and track-by-track synopsis here [thanks winigwl]

Play.com have posted a new video interview with Coldplay online, in which the background music is the studio version of Lost! - track three on the new album.

You can watch the video here [thanks - DAN -]

Coldplay return with Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, an album that sees the band emerge from the success of 2005's 'X&Y' with the same hunger that has gained them global success ever since 2000's 'Parachutes'. Lead single 'Violet Hill' contains trade mark catchy piano hooks, along with a heavy guitar edge that emphasises the band's hunger. Chris Martin continues to shine as a songwriter and musician, while his bandmates provide the ground on which the music can come to life.

Coldplay’s video for “Violet Hill,” the first single from the band’s upcoming album, Viva La Vida, has been added to the highest rotations at MTV (Big 10), VH1 (large), MTV2 (Elite 8), mtvU (summa cum laude) and MTV Hits (Power). It will be the first video ever to receive a simultaneous premiere on MTV, VH1 and The N.

Lensed by acclaimed director/visual artist Asa Mader, “Violet Hill” premieres on VH1, MTV2, MTV Hits, mtvU, MTV Tr3s and The N on Monday, May 19th, and on MTV’s “TRL” on Wednesday, May 21st . Fans can check out the video online beginning today, May 16th, at 6pm on MTV.com.

Meanwhile in Sweden, Coldplay has jumped to the top of the Swedish radio own musiclist with their new single by going from the bottom of the list to end at number one this Saturday. This was announced at 2pm (Swedish time) today on the swedish radiochannel P3. [thanks David]

Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland were interviewed by WXRT (Chicago radio) about the new album. The interview aired online in two segments on May 15th. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Chris: I think Jonny was sick of hearing the sound of a piano everywhere so he decided to raise his musical middle finger to his own singer. Am I right in saying that Jon?

Jonny: uh...I don't think you're completely right

Chris: But I'm quite right though

Jonny: No, I don't think so

Chris: You're saying I'm pretty right

Jonny: No...no (laughs)

Chris: You're saying I'm 100 per cent right

Jonny: I was understating the fact you're wrong

Download the interview in mp3 and add your comments here [thanks 66 & mimixxx]

The first leg of the band's world tour officially kicks off July 2 in Washington, DC, and currently encompasses nearly 30 dates across the US and Canada through November.

In the midst of the trek, Coldplay will jet to Japan Aug. 9-10 for the Summer Sonic Festival. Last month, Coldplay announced it would play a free show at New York City's Madison Square Garden June 23 to preview "Viva la Vida." Hopeful concert-goers can sign up at the band's website to win tickets, and one lucky fan will also score airfare from their home town and hotel accommodations. Coldplay has also booked a similar free concert June 16 at London's Brixton Academy.

A reminder that tickets for the following Coldplay shows officially go on sale today from 10:00am CDT.

02/07/08: Washington, DC - Verizon Center [find tickets]

03/07/08: Hartford, CT - XL Center [find tickets]

05/07/08: Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills [find tickets]

06/07/08: Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena [find tickets]

08/07/08: St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center [find tickets]

09/07/08: Kansas City, MO - Spring Center [find tickets]

12/07/08: Phoenix, AZ - Jobing.com Arena [find tickets]

19/07/08: Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena [find tickets]

Coldplay have posted a satirical politically-charged video on their official YouTube channel, entitled Dancing Politicians. The video is directed by Mat Whitecross who also directed Bigger Stronger. The real video to Coldplay’s new single Violet Hill will officially be available from Monday 19th May shortly after 11am (GMT).

Don't forget, Coldplay will perform “Violet Hill” at the “2008 MTV Movie Awards,” which airs live on June 1st at 8:00pm/7c from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA. The single - called a “must have” by Rolling Stone - was downloaded by two million people during the recent one-week period in which Coldplay made the song available to fans for free.

If there's one political message to come out of Coldplay's "Violet Hill," it's that dancing politicians are funny. Watch the alternate video and add your comments on it here [thanks BigFatNoises]

Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue’s contribution to Coldplay's new album has not been featured in their new album. It was left out because lead singer Chris Martin decided that it did not fit the mood of the album, thesun.co.uk reports.

Martin said: “Kylie is awesome. She’s like ‘Girls Aloud’ rolled into one. I took apart the song she did with us, like a Corby trouser press.”

The bassist added that the album is somewhat political. “There’s this slightly anti-authoritarian viewpoint that’s crept into some of the lyrics. It’s the pay-off between being surrounded by governments on one side, but also we’re human beings with emotions and we’re all going to die…and the stupidity of what we have to put up with,” he said.

More on this story here [thanks the_escapist]

Coldplay have two new entries in this week's US singles top 40 charts. The title track 'Viva La Vida' signs in at 15, becoming the highest new entry of the week, while 'Violet Hill' debuts at 40.

Coldplay's album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" recently went up for pre-order from Apple's iTunes store, and those who made the pledge for the album got immediate access to the title track. Viva La Vida (individual track), is now available for purchase on iTunes at a price of €0.99. The single recently shot to the #5 spot on iTunes Top 10 Songs.

Meanwhile, Veteran musician Neil Diamond made history in topping the US album charts this week. Home Before Dark, Diamond's 29th studio album, has debuted at number one in the Billboard Hot 200 after selling 146,000 copies in its first week on release, representing his first-ever number one album in the United States.

You can now watch Coldplay's brand new full length Violet Hill video here [thanks Stefan-C8 & BigFatNoises]

In a brave move, Coldplay have gone down the mobile path to release their latest album.

It's a sign of the times. With digital sales escalating and CD sales dropping, artists are increasingly having to come up with new and interesting ways to hone in on music sales. Coldplay's much-anticipated single Violet Hill along with their album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends will be released via mobile phones.

3 mobile customers will be the first in Australia to get exclusive mobile access to the tracks as part of a mobile partnership with EMI. The full-length track and music video of Violet Hill will be available from 3’s entertainment portal, Planet 3, priced at $3 per download for two weeks from Tuesday 6 May, followed by the ringtone from Wednesday 7 May.

The album will be available from June 14. It’s the fourth album from the Grammy award-winners, and is the follow-up to the 10-million selling success of X & Y. 3 mobile customers can be the first to download the Coldplay tracks by SMSing “Cold play” to 33 44 55 from your 3 mobile.

Source: http://www.news.com.a

The first leg of the band's world tour officially kicks off July 2 in Washington, DC, and currently encompasses nearly 30 dates across the US and Canada through November.

In the midst of the trek, Coldplay will jet to Japan Aug. 9-10 for the Summer Sonic Festival. Last month, Coldplay announced it would play a free show at New York City's Madison Square Garden June 23 to preview "Viva la Vida." Hopeful concert-goers can sign up at the band's website to win tickets, and one lucky fan will also score airfare from their home town and hotel accommodations. Coldplay has also booked a similar free concert June 16 at London's Brixton Academy.

A reminder that tickets for the following Coldplay shows officially go on sale tomorrow at 10:00am CDT.

29/06/08: Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center [find tickets]

10/07/08: Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center [find tickets]

Tickets for the following shows will be available from this Saturday:

02/07/08: Washington, DC - Verizon Center [find tickets]

03/07/08: Hartford, CT - XL Center [find tickets]

05/07/08: Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills [find tickets]

06/07/08: Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena [find tickets]

08/07/08: St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center [find tickets]

09/07/08: Kansas City, MO - Spring Center [find tickets]

12/07/08: Phoenix, AZ - Jobing.com Arena [find tickets]

19/07/08: Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena [find tickets]

Forget “pay what you want.” The new model for the music industry may be “pay it forward.”

Coldplay has become the latest band to discover that giving away your music - even a little bit for a little time - may, in the long run, end up being worth more than the conventional model of only selling it.

To drum up publicity for its new single, “Violet Hill,” which was released last week, the band decided to give it away for a week on its Web site as a free download. On the first day it was available, the song was downloaded more than 600,000 times, according to Billboard magazine. In 2005, “Speed of Sound,” the lead single from Coldplay’s previous album, “X&Y,” sold about 53,000 copies digitally in the United States and the United Kingdom in its first week of release and that was with a marketing campaign and far more anticipation following the breakthrough of their Grammy-winning smash album, “A Rush of Blood to the Head.”

Hitwise, the Internet traffic-measuring company, said traffic to the Coldplay Web site jumped 1,800 percent the day of the release over its traffic two days earlier. It moved from No. 305 to No. 1 on the company’s chart of musician Web sites, with more than 2.5 percent of all the U.S. traffic to the sites they monitor. And people didn’t just download “Violet Hill.” They played it. A lot.

According to the music social network last.fm, “Violet Hill” set a record among its 15 million members, who played the track about 33,000 times the first day, or once every two seconds.

So let’s recap. Spending a fraction of what it normally would to market a new single from a new album, Coldplay landed tons of positive media attention, let people know they have a new single and a new album - “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” - coming, got people to listen to the new single and generated lots of goodwill among its fans, while possibly minting new ones.

Read the rest of article here