ApproximatelyInfinite

Musically I feel like I have a very open mind, despite occasionally expressing my trepidation on places like Twitter :D. Actually, I don't feel like I have a closed mind about anything in general. I just notice a lot of the same comments coming from members of this board that I got to know when I first joined, so I'm interested in the reasons why, because I feel a lot of the same feelings in my heart of hearts, despite also liking the stuff that we've heard so far. I also kind of wonder if it's just because I'm older now or what that makes me not as pants-wetting excited as I was for the Viva release, but then I remember how I acted for certain other record releases this year and realise age has nothing to do with it :P

DP :angry:

(Anyone else can feel free to break my complete ruling of this thread at any time and bring it back on point :lol: :uhoh:) This is purely opinion based to answer your question, but the board is dead, so I might as well.

Haha, well for direct opinions, you can always write on my user profile :P. I just feel bad that I've basically hijacked this thread away from it's original purpose, even though I guess most people have gotten their feelings out about that. For the record: I certainly enjoy the new songs (INCLUDING ETIAW, which is actually one of my favorites), but to me they largely sound and feel like they come from a completely different band. Which, while not my preference, I can totally live with. It's just that I feel I've encountered so many people on this board and elsewhere that seem to feel a similar way, and that felt that way in 2008 as well, that I find interesting and worth exploring. I also hope to have a career doing these sorts of things for bands and have been trained in cultural/media analysis, so I can go on about topics like this for about 12 pages without breaking a sweat :lol:.

Problematic isn't the word--I think they'll be successful in gaining them new fans and lots of money. It's just that I've noticed a lot of discomfort with some of the ideas and plans expressed about the upcoming era from a lot of "veteran" fans, myself included, so I feel like there's something to be explored there, if a significant part of the fanbase is feeling "less excited" about this album for various reasons (music-based, promo-based, image-based, what have you) and if what sounds like a good portion of people aren't thrilled or completely comfortable with some of the promo ideas expressed. My overall point is that the Coldplay machine as a whole is no longer shy about being wholly commercial and making it seem like they're out to get bigger and bigger. Of course, that's always been a goal in the mix, but right now (admittedly before anything really happens), it seems like they're going to be more commercial than ever, and some people are growing skeptical that their music and...integrity? (totally wrong word, I can't come up with a good one) will grow to match. That might spell problems for retaining old fans, even if they are gaining new ones, which could have interesting business results at the end of the day. There are whole other threads for this subject, so I really need to stop raising my points in this one about the TITLE.

If this is in response to my avatar, please don't get me started or otherwise I'll take over this whole thread with offtopic Albert-fangirling :P That's one of the top musical moments I would go back to if I had a time machine :disappointed: [/offtopic] THE ALBUM WILL LEAK, I SAY, 2-3 WEEKS BEFORE!

I'm definitely waiting for the limited edition pre-order as well, but I'll probably get the regular version for the car etc. as well. I personally HATE preordering things I'm really excited for because they either don't show up on the actual day of release or I'm staring at the door like a salivating dog waiting for the mail to arrive that day and the postman doesn't show up until 4:58PM when really I just want the damn thing the second I wake up that day :P. There's not enough control over that situation for me, so I'll always go out and buy it myself from a shop the day it becomes available :lol:. Plus shipping costs for something I can get in my car and find five minutes away from my house seems needless to me.

I'll do it Lore! If you want to order it to get sent to me, that's fine and I'll give it to you in January :nice: [/offtopic] I'm starting to debate the price now--as limited editions go, it's kind of a small one (one CD, assumedly one 12" LP, one book...and it's unclear how the exclusive content will be included). I still think the book itself will keep the price high, and the fact that there's a record included, but maybe it won't really be as high as ~$80 unless the band let EMI steamroll them. Which they might.

This is a good way of representing what you get for the price. I've got some more to help people figure out how much we might be looking at.

^Oh wow, I guess I haven't bought a limited edition box set thing in awhile. ~$130? I guess someone like Gaga could get away with that. My worry is that Coldplay can too, but I guess my thought is that the band will probably want to keep prices low and EMI will want to keep prices high, so they'll meet somewhere in the middle (meaning more than $50 but less than $100). Because I'm a sadsack, I'll buy it no matter what. I missed out on a limited edition deluxe set like this from one of my favorite artists in the past few years, and now it's my life's mission to find one on eBay etc, so I don't want to repeat that experience :P

That's...weird :thinking:. Either the retailers have it wrong or Coldplay has it wrong. Big artists can usually get away with releasing records on "untraditional" days of the week, and Coldplay definitely fits in that criteria, but I don't know why they'd tell us that most of the world will get it on the traditional Monday if retailers are listing it as the Friday before. I feel like the 21st would be the ship date of the record when ordered from places like Amazon and HMV, but why they'd list it like that if that was the case...I have no idea.

Based on no information at all, my guess is around the time "Paradise" is released :P

You managed to say what I wanted to say in much less space :lol: Radiohead is much more in control of their own pricing, and the limited editions of IR and TKOL were $50+ (I think IR was like $80, but I can't remember), so I think this is going to be a bit more pricey if EMI has anything to say about it. Aww, thanks :P. I always somehow write paragraphs of text, though :rolleyes:

Limited editions of things like this usually aren't sold in stores because there aren't enough to stock so many retailers. I think it's fair to say that it'll be online only, possibly turning up in one or two nice record stores in cities like NYC and London. My guess is around $75 USD, maybe as much as $90. New vinyl records themselves usually cost around $25-30 alone, PLUS this will have a CD and a very nice book. Pop-up things are much more delicate and hard to produce, so I think you can wager that the book alone would cost $30+ in itself if it were to be sold separately. I'm unclear as to whether the "exclusive content" mentioned will be part of the book or put into the package separately. Previous limited-edition things like this that I've bought or considered buying from other artists (Radiohead, Julian Casablancas etc) have cost around $80, and I think this will be about the same. Just because it sounds like it comes from the band's own brain doesn't mean EMI will let them market it for whatever they want--they're going to want to make a profit off of it considering they're hurting and it's uncertain whether or not they'll have the Coldplay cash cow in the future to keep them afloat. It would be lovely if they could get a compromise price down to about $50, but I have a feeling it'll be more like $70-80.

Can't say I didn't think the same :lol: Watch someone whine about her being a reckless driver now :P

:freak: Dude. Well, I think the term "lifesaver" is a bit much (even though it's technically accurate), and I'm sure most of the media outlets/blogs that comment on this if it gets picked up will agree. It's a shame that even positive stories about Gwyneth always seem to be turned on their heads into something to make her look bad.

Holy muffins, if I'm at all right...I'll be turning 25 in 2014 :freak: :lol: To think Coldplay eras last that long is crazy.

I think it's far too early to "expect" anything, but it really is about time for another official DVD from them. At the same time, DVDs don't sell like they used to, so who knows what they'll do. Mat Whitecross was supposed to be doing something with them regarding some sort of documentary, I think, but I'm fuzzy on the details and that seemed like a long time ago, and I don't think it was really supposed to be a concert DVD, either. If they actually do put one out at some point (which I pretty much wholly doubt we'd see until 2013-14, if most of the touring is going to be in 2012-13), I hope it includes a tour diary :wacky:. That's my favorite part of Live 2003.

^Physical record? That's what I'm most excited about, but I think maybe "new material" could be separated from that. Could just be stated in the post, though :P

Of course the music first and foremost, but I'm really excited about the limited edition pop-up album. A book with exclusive photos and content, especially from band/personal notebooks that might help us see the process, sounds incredibly exciting to me. Also, even though I really haven't been pleased what I've been hearing about their promotional plans via the Billboard article, I'm very interested in seeing how they go about handling the promo of this record, because I'm a music industry nerd.

I don't think we can say right now whether or not that's going to happen--there's nothing that would lead us to believe that they will or they won't, but around the VLV era, there were a ton of conspiracy theories about whether or not it would somehow ending up being a double album, and we ended up being half-right, I guess. And yes, they say they've written hundreds of songs, but they're very precious with their songs, and just because they have them certainly doesn't mean they'll release them. I think the whole Prospekt's March post-album EP thing was more of a one-time thing than a new trend they or the industry will pick up on and make standard practice.

Definitely their job, it's just that they're being less discreet about their point these days, and I think that's what's making a lot of fans more uncomfortable than before, for better or for worse. It makes sense when you think about the future of the music industry as well--EMI's in bad shape, physical-format music is in bad shape, bands make much less money from sales than they used to so they have to get what they can from touring and appearances...it all makes complete logical sense, I just think a lot of us aren't happy with it.

I don't think that's the bandmembers' goal at all, I want to make that clear. I think the four of them are completely dedicated to making music to the best of their abilities, like Chris said recently, for people to ENJOY. I doubt they think of sales etc that much, honestly. But I think their business half most certainly think that way, which is their job. They just seem to have more influence over the way the band does things than they used to, at least to me, and between the lines (or even not-so-between-the-lines) it says MONEY MONEY MONEY more obviously, and more than it used to.

Lore, you can probably guess what "other artist" I'm primarily thinking of :P

I think I will always prefer Parachutes and AROBTTH over everything else. X&Y is supposed to be part of the pre-Eno trilogy, but mentally, I have a hard time considering it that way and clump it more with VLV and I guess the upcoming MX as well (which most certainly seems like it's going to be more in the vein of VLV than anything else, I think we can agree). I'm not sure if I'm the only one who does that. That said, some of my favorite Coldplay songs are off of VLV and one or two off X&Y, so I'm mostly speaking in terms of whole albums and eras.