Under New Emi Plans...

EMI will allow its artists, who include Coldplay and Kylie Minogue, to be sponsored by corporate companies, according to reports. The proposals, which could see Coldplay’s new album ‘Prospekt’ released with corporate branding, are expected to feature as part of an extensive shake-up of the company.

Terra Firma, EMI’s new owners, believe the plans would help increase the label’s revenue as it struggles to meet the growth of the digital marketplace. Earlier Today, Guys Hands, the private equity firms boss, confirmed that up to 2,000 staff would lose their jobs at the record label.

The job cuts, which will focus mainly on the recorded artist division, are the equivalent to nearly one third of EMI’s entire workforce. Terra Firma took over EMI last August in a deal worth £3.2 billion.

More on this here

Promoters hope so...

Oasis, Coldplay and U2 could all be set for residencies at London’s O2 Arena if the venue get their way.

All three bands are expected to release new albums at some point in 2008 and bookers for the O2 are already said to have made enquiries.

The London Paper reports that Oasis are already in talks about their residency which will follow their seventh studio album in the spring. David Campbell, European Chief Executive of the venue’s promoters AEG, says that all three bands are amongst his “dream bookings”.

Watch this space!

XFM and NME are reporting that the new track titles for Coldplay's new album have been leaked online. However their report gives us no new information that Prospekt hasn't already provided. Here is their article:

The names of the tracks that will make up 'Prospekt' have leaked out. There's also a tetative May release date too.

Some online retailers suggest that Coldplay's fourth album, 'Prospekt', will see the light of day in May. This contradicts last week's stories of the band withholding the album due to their reported displeasure with label EMI.

The band have been working on the follow-up to 'X&Y' with producer Brian Eno for the last year. 'Prospekt' is said to have a running time of 43 minutes and will include:

'Famous Old Painters'

'Glass Of Water'

'Lost!'

'Cemeteries of London'

'Violet Hill'

'Poppy Fields'

'42'

'Yes!'

'Leftrightleftright'

'Rainy Day'

'Prospeckt's March'

May 19 has been mooted as the release date.

Source: XFM

Join the discussion here

"Who needs a record company?" That's what essentially what Thom Yorke and his fellow members of Radiohead said last year when they released their path-breaking new album "In Rainbows" on their own after bidding adieu to EMI, the band's longtime record company.

Now another revolt is brewing at EMI. The Times of London reports that EMI recording artist Robbie Williams is withholding his next album to protest cost-cutting by Terra Firma, the British private equity group that bought the London-based music company last year. The Times says Coldplay, another one of EMI's biggest acts, might do the same. In short, it looks like two more major pop acts are tired of being pushed around by their record labels and want their independence.

At least, that's how it looks at first glance, but maybe there's more than meets the eye here. "The big question is, is this something that's inevitably going to happen with bigger acts?" says Jon Cohen, co-president of Cornerstone Promotion, a New York-based company that has worked with Coldplay and Radiohead over the years. "Or is this just a situation where the new management isn't clicking with the artists? It could be a combination of both."

Cohen makes an interesting point. It could very well be that Coldplay and Williams are using the ownership change at EMI to get out of their contracts and release their new albums on their own just as Radiohead did. Think about what Radiohead did with "In Rainbows". There are plenty of artists attempting to sell their music without major label support. The Eagles have partnered with Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500). Madonna has signed with Live Nation (LYV), a touring company.

But the Eagles and Madonna still have to share their profits with their partners. Radiohead released In Rainbows, the most talked about album of 2007, on its website for free, asking fans to pay whatever they thought it was worth. According to ComScore, the average Radiohead fan voluntarily paid $6 for the album. That may not sound like a huge number. But remember: Radiohead kept all that money which is probably more than the Eagles made after Wal-Mart took its cut from each copy of "Long Out of Eden".

Moreover, the Eagles looked like sell-outs for teaming up with the world's biggest retailer. Yorke and his mates burnished their images as true rock stars whose primary concern is their music. They also wisely declined to reveal how many times "In Rainbows" was downloaded.

None of this can be lost on Williams or Coldplay. Surely, they are dreaming about how much more money and good press they'd generate if they went the Radiohead route. They're famous enough to attract hordes of buyers to their Web sites. Perhaps they're also kicking around the idea of getting out of their contracts with EMI and buying back the rights to their records so they can go it alone. Both Williams and Coldplay are certainly rich enough. And the owners of EMI would have to consider the benefits of getting their cash upfront as opposed to banking CD sales or Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) iTunes downloads.

If that's the case, the complaints of these supposedly disgruntled rock stars are just the opening salvos in a typically nasty negotiation between some rock stars and their label. Not everything has changed about the music industry.

Source: http://money.cnn.com

Coldplay's manager has said the recent changes at EMI could mean the delay of the band's eagerly-awaited fourth album, 'Prospekt'.

Coldplay are said to be upset over the departure of Tony Wadsworth, head of EMI's UK Music Divison, and as a result are now considering their next move.

EMI was recently subject to a £3.2 billion takeover by the financier Terra Firma and thousands of redundancies are expected. Speaking to the Times, Dave Holmes said: "Tony was the reason a lot of bands sigmed to EMI. Artists want to work with music people, not finance guys. Why would you want to release an album with a record company in the midst of massive lay-offs? Coldplay have a lot of options. They are in the no hurry to deliver their new album."

The implications of this are serious for the beleagured record label. The delay of Coldplay's last album, "X&Y", led to a dramatic drop in EMI's share price while both Radiohead and Sir Paul McCartney left the company under a cloud last year.

Source: XFM

Robbie Williams is going on strike in protest at the private equity firm that has taken over his record company, as other stars down tools in an artists’ revolt.

Coldplay, one of EMI’s few US chart-toppers, are also prepared to withdraw their labour. Their manager said that the band was considering its options after EMI’s head of music left this week, with thousands more redundancies expected.

The 30-million album selling Coldplay, currently recording new material with Brian Eno, are upset at the departure of Tony Wadsworth, head of EMI’s UK music division. Dave Holmes, the band’s Los Angeles-based manager, told The Times: “Tony was the reason a lot of bands signed to EMI. Artists want to work with music people, not finance guys.”

He added: “Why would you want to release an album with a record company in the midst of massive lay-offs? Coldplay have a lot of options. They are in no hurry to deliver their new album.”

More on this exclusive story here [thanks Space Cadet]

Check out the 2000 section of Coldplay.com for a new star.

6/7/2000 - First Top Of The Pops

We played Yellow for our first appearance on Top Of The Pops. Very exciting for us as we all grew up with the programme. I had lunch next to 'Dot Cotton' from Eastenders in the BBC cafeteria.

GB

More on this star here onwards [thanks fixed]

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

The Daily Star apologised today for printing “a misleading story” that indicated the band would be leaving EMI, after they had delivered their next studio album, rumoured to be called ‘Prospekt’ and due late 2008. The piece suggested that Coldplay would then follow that up with a ‘Greatest Hits’ LP.

Reports that Coldplay were set to follow Paul McCartney and Radiohead out of the revolving EMI door, have been dismissed as wide of the mark by the label themselves. Yesterday however, NME ran a story quoting an EMI source who says that all is hunky dory with the band.

They said: “In reality Coldplay are signed to a long-term record deal with EMI and are committed to produce a number of studio albums. The band’s relationship with EMI is both long-term and very healthy and positive. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect and unfair on both parties.”

Despite the denials, the speculation will continue, especially as frontman Chris Martin hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with his label bosses. Back in 2005, when ‘X&Y’ slipped a few months, thus denting EMI’s stock market value, he was asked what he thought of the matter: “I don’t really care about EMI. I’m not really concerned about that. I think shareholders are the greatest evil of this modern world.”

With the loss of McCartney and Radiohead, to lose the multi-million-selling Coldplay would be a further massive blow for EMI, who are this week, expected to announce a major shake up of their operations, including withdrawing from industry body the IFPI as well as announcing major job losses.

Source: http://strangeglue.com

Michael Eavis has been dropping more clues as to who'll be playing Glastonbury, with it now looking very likely that Jay Z could be headlining.

Two bands who definitely won't be playing are Radiohead and Coldplay, who both ruled themselves out following enquiries by Glastonbury's organisers.

Eavis told BBC 6Music: “For one thing, the bands aren’t available. Radiohead are doing their own thing and Coldplay aren’t around this year either. All other regular headliners, they just weren’t there basically, so we had to look elsewhere and we’ve found some stuff that we’re absolutely thrilled about.

Read the full story on Coldplay and Glastonbury 2008 here

Reports that Coldplay are set to leave their record label EMI have been dismissed by a source at the label.

Stories have been appearing yesterday (January 8) suggesting that the band only had one more album to deliver following the release of their next studio album, rumoured to be called ‘Prospekt’ and due out later this year. The stories speculated that a greatest hits collection would follow and then the band would be free agents. However, a source at the label told NME.COM today (January 9) that was not the case and the band remain in contract with the label.

“In reality Coldplay are signed to a long-term record deal with EMI and are committed to produce a number of studio albums," they explained. “The band's relationship with EMI is both long-term and very healthy and positive. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect and unfair on both parties.”

More on this story here

Should Coldplay leave EMI? Vote here

Friends of Coldplay Debs Wild [pictured] and Danny McNamara are amongst a panel of judges to offer one up-and-coming band or artist the incredible chance to play at the Manchester Arena as the opening act at Versus Cancer.

The winner of each week is voted for by Xfm listeners and announced by Clint Boon on Music Response the following Monday evening from 19:00.

Then a panel of judges (including Hacienda DJ and now Director Of A&R at Sony BMG, Mike Pickering, A&R Director of EMI Publishing, Alex Jones Donnelly, Boss of SJM, the UK's biggest live music promoter, Simon Moran, The A&R Consultant who discovered, amongst others, Coldplay, Debs Wild and Embrace frontman Danny McNamara) will pick their favourite of the four weekly winners.

The winner will open Versus Cancer 2008 at the Arena on February 23.

Read the full story (and enter if you're a band!) here

Coldplay's new album is available for pre-order on play.com and they have put up a release date of Monday 19th May, 2008.

Have a look for yourself here

More on this here [thanks shesawsparks]

Check out the 2002 section of Coldplay.com for a new star.

27/2/02 - First Grammy Awards

We were nominated for 3 awards and won 'best alternative' which surprised us as Radiohead and Bjork were also nominated.

GB

More on this star here onwards [thanks Lore]

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

Coldplay are among the world's most popular artists, according to song recognition service Gracenote, the HeraldSun reports.

Coldplay's 2002 album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, which featured Grammy Award-winning single Clocks, was Australia's second most popular album. Coldplay have also taken the 7th place in the top 10 most digitally downloaded artists in Australia.

Gracenote is an internet-based music recognition service that identifies track names, artists and album titles when music is played or ripped on to computers, MP3 players, iPods and iTunes, CD players, mobile phones, and more.

More on this story here [thanks o_0Emma-Beatrice0_o]

Coldplay are the next big-name act expected to join the mounting EMI records exodus.

The quartet’s upcoming fourth album could be their last proper studio effort for the struggling label, who have seen Sir Paul McCartney and Radiohead leave in the past year. Coldplay can fulfill their current five-album deal with EMI /Parlophone by issuing a Best Of collection in 2009, thus making the multi-platinum selling act free agents.

A source close to the band said: “There’s so much uncertainty in the record industry right now. The boys don’t necessarily need a label anymore. They aren’t even considering putting pen to paper on any type of new contract until they see what happens.”

Read more on this exclusive story here

Coldplay, the Spice Girls and other performers signed to the EMI label will be given the option of broadcasting a live concert to screens in dozens of cities. The format would be used to launch new albums, with fans, media and music executives invited to the screenings and given the option of picking up the CD or film of the concert on their way out of the cinema.

A spokesman for EMI confirmed the plans, adding: "This is part of the process of transforming EMI from a record company to a music group."

David Bowie was one of the first to pioneer the format in 2003, when he previewed a new album at a secret gig in Hammersmith, west London, which was broadcast to cinemas around the world.

Read the full story here

Forget Clocks, Chris Martin gazed into a stopwatch to help him unwind and come up with ideas. The Coldplay legend went into a trance in a bid to make the latest album Prospekt even more successful than the last offering X&Y.

Frontman Chris, who has previously admitted he feels under pressure to produce hit records, sought the help of a hypnotist to ensure new LP 'Prospekt' lives up to success of their last one 'X&Y'. He said: "We feel like we have so much to prove and so many ideas that we'd like to try - sometimes you need a hypnotist to give you the bravery to do it. It was fun and interesting and we wrote some nice things as a result of it."

Chris - who has a three-year-old daughter Apple and 20-month-old son Moses with his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow - also revealed the band are trying not to worry about what music critics and fans will think of the album.

He added to Q magazine: "We've been locking ourselves away and stopping worrying about what anyone might say. It's been about just trying anything without worrying. It's been about just trying anything without worrying. It was fun and we wrote some nice stuff as a result."

As previously reported, the band’s fourth album has been produced alongside Brian Eno and has been described by Martin as a “very dense record.”

Scans of Coldplay's article in February's edition of Q magazine are up. You can enjoy them in full size here. Read the full transcript here

As Coldplay enter the final lap of recording their fourth album, they’re mindful of previous pre-release proclamations of greatness - such as, “Our next album is going to be the greatest piece of music ever made,” uttered by Chris Martin towards the end of the campaign for 2005’s 12 million-selling X&Y.

Flopping onto a sofa in the band’s own North London studio, The Bakery, a twitchy Martin is now hell-bent on, “avoiding hyperbole. We’ll keep it factual.”

The band have been working on X&Y’s successor since the summer of 2006. A few months into the process veteran producer Brian Eno and his right-hand man. Markus Dravs, came on board as producers. Eno had known Coldplay for a while [he contributed “bubbling synthesizer” to X&Y’s Low], and has a track record of pushing big bands beyond their comfort zones and helping them locate a new direction, most famously with U2’s The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

Read the full transcript here

Virgin media are reporting that Coldplay's LP4 will have a release date of May 2008. Their article reads:

At the start of another year, there's much anticipation about what 2008 will bring to the music scene. Here we look forward to the eagerly-awaited long players from some of the industry's biggest names. Expected: May - Coldplay - (Title TBC): Their first album Parachutes soundtracked virtually every student hall when it was released in 2000, while follow-up A Rush Of Blood To The Head enabled them to break America.

Read news of other forthcoming releases here

Meanwhile The Sun are reporting that 2008 will be a great year for music, but haven't given any Coldplay info that we didn't already know. They report:

Eno is also producer on Coldplay’s fourth album, rumoured to be called Prospekt. It’s thought to be a concise album and the one “people will remember them by”. Among song titles are Famous Old Painters, Glass Of Water, Poppy Fields and Leftrightleftrightleft.

Read their guide on forthcoming releases here

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

5th September 2005 - Fix You Video

The live portion of this video was filmed at the Reebok Stadium over 2 nights - we played the song twice each night, which wasn’t cool!*

*[Yes it was, I was there! - Ian]

You can watch the video here. More on this star here onwards [thanks *Becky*]

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

Scans of Coldplay's article in February's edition of Q magazine are up. You can enjoy them in full size here.

Meanwhile in the article Brian Eno has altered Coldplay's approach to making music, encouraging them to consider rhythm, experiment with time signatures and, during one eureka moment, transpose Glass Of Water's piano riff onto three different guitars. "It sounded very African, which we liked," says Guy Berryman.

Brian Eno beavers away on Famous Old Painters, employing a gizmo called a Midi Piano Bar to translate Chris Martin's signature piano riff onto a variety of other instruments. "We don't want piano all the way through," Eno says, flagging up another significant change in the sound of the as-yet-untitled album.

He also acknowledges that, "The band wanted to move away from a way of working that had built up on the previous three albums." So while X&Y germinated in the studio, this one draws on their live shows. "We've tried," says Eno, "to base this one around live performance."

There's an interesting mention of Coldplay today in an article on Italian daily newspaper "La Stampa".

In an interview, promoter Giulio Muttoni talks about the city of Turin as a leading venue for international concerts nationwide, and mentions the artists who will perform in town this year, and plans to bring even bigger stars on the next year.

Tokio Hotel, Coldplay, and Italian acts Vasco Rossi, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti and the Pooh are among the acts planned for 2008 - while the promoter aims to make a big deal for year 2009 and bring to Turin the likes of Pink Floyd, U2 and Madonna.

Of course this is far from being an official confirmation of sort, but it's another sign that possibly "something's in the air"...

More on this story here [thanks hrobert]

The Q Magazine that we reported about earlier is now on the shelves and contains some more information on the new album that we didn't already know. The new release date is likely to be May/June 2008. For those of you unable to buy it, we have picked a few bits out;

Another thing that helped them out of the rut was hypnosis, with the band's new found adventurousness extending to writing music while in an altered state. Some might conclude they've misplaced their marbles, but Martin seems unconcerned. "Everything over this past few months has been about taking off any shackles," he says. "We feel like we have so much to prove and so many ideas that we'd like to try - sometimes you need a hypnotist to give you the bravery to do it." For the record, he insists the experience, "was fun and interesting, and we wrote some nice things."

'They've also tried to keep things brief, with the album designed to come in at 9 songs and just over 42 minutes.'

'The final nine songs will be chosen from a shortlist of 20, with mixing having been completed before Christmas. Favourites include the handclap-laden possible first single Cemeteries Of London, the string-assisted Yes! and Lost!, which, according to Will Champion was "drastically" reinvented by ditching its "big hip-hop beat".

Will Champion also says many of the songs share a theme: "Trying to remember what's important in your life, rather than being carried away by the trappings of other things."

We'll hopefully have scans up on the site in the not too distant future. More on the Q Coldplay article here [thanks chris1_36]

Chris Martin is featured on the cover of the new issue of Q Magazine, a 2008 preview edition. They report:

When we first began compiling details of the releases and events that would shape 2008, it felt very familiar. On the horizon, then, are new albums from such established acts as Coldplay, U2, Oasis R.E.M., The Verve, Green Day, Madonna, Metallica and more. In the case of Coldplay and U2, at least, the scent of re-invention is in the air.

More on this here

Coldplay fans have been petitioning in their droves for Coldplaying.com's petition to revive the Toronto DVD from the EMI grave, leading up to LP4.

You have given your thoughts on how it has been revealed that the already planned and scheduled Coldplay live in Toronto Twisted Logic Tour DVD won't be released after all. 2480 (and counting) signatures and comments have been registered.

You can sign the petition anonymously. Every signature helps - add to the petition here. Maybe all you want is an explanation? Will a televised event do for you? Maybe you'd prefer a DVD from the Latin America tour in early 2007? Discuss your choices here

It's not like a Coldplay concert is easily forgotten. I saw them in 2005 at the VA Beach Amphitheater and I can still remember even the smallest details of the performance. But... I was looking forward to the DVD to add to my experience. So I could show everyone how amazing Coldplay is live! This really upsets me that they decided not to release the DVD. [thanks Heather]

Why not sell the DVD. YOu already have 3000 names. 3000 x 25$ = 75000. And thats only who knows and is able to sign this petition [thanks Mattie]

Jonny sings, c'mon! We have to have this DVD. Please? [thanks Lori]