ApproximatelyInfinite

This is definitely true--no matter what, it's going to sell, at least for awhile. Which is great news for them and their team, of course. This is where I have a hard time articulating what I want to say without sounding like a whiney idiot, however. But I guess I think a lot of people would be more comfortable with the promo plans and everything that's about to happen if the Coldplay team weren't so...obvious about how badly they want to make tons and tons money off of this (and by team, I don't mean just the four band members). Obviously, that's a huge, huge part of what the music industry is about, there's no denying that. But it's always nice when that goal of the promo is kept just shy of admitting that's a big reason behind why people do what they do, and I think successful promo is still possible without being so upfront about wanting to become bigger and bigger, without as much mention of better. I always feel like the way I put things sounds so harsh on Coldplay :confused:. As much as I think I would do things a bit differently, I don't condemn them for doing things the way they are, or how it sounds like they're going to do them in the MX era.

I definitely think humans, or a lot of them, are resistant to change in general, so I think you're definitely right in that respect. I think everyone would like their favorite artists to stay in their favorite era...at least for awhile. But I don't think that's the biggest part of a lot of the comments I've seen about Coldplay from longtime fans in the past years. They've certainly changed, and that's inevitable, but to me, core things that they (and by "they," I mean more than just the 4 members) used to prioritise and operate under have completely turned on their heads, for whatever reason. Of course Coldplay is going to change, especially in light of their massive success from 2005ish onwards, so my point isn't that they shouldn't have...my point is just that they HAVE, in ways I never expected them to looking at their 2004-selves. I don't want to open a debate on promotion strategies and live performance styles and clothing choices in this thread, but my point is that if you look at other artists who maybe aren't as internationally huge but who have had successful careers in the spotlight for the past decade just like Coldplay, the differences between their debut-selves and their current selves often feel less glaring to me. This is all just my opinion, though--I'm sure with the right artists I could be proved wrong.

Thank you, Denise :kiss: :nice: This is definitely true. Someone else quoted this post and compared it to the Violet Hill release, saying that that was enough for us then, and it was--but the difference now is that there was a festival tour shortly before we were ready to expect a new album. They never toured so shortly before the VLV release, and therefore we were more than happy with a traditionally-released single. We got ETIAW without any album announcement, whereas when Violet Hill came out, we had a date for the album so we were already in that cycle of buildup to the record. Without the album announcement, ETIAW seemed like it really could have been a one-off, and without other songs played at the festival itself, I think people would have been really pessimistic about hearing a full album in the near future simply based on the fact that they weren't touring any new songs.

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.

Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for :dance:

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:

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:

Aww, that's so nice of you! :wacky:. Thank you. I just wish I could say what I wanted to say in less words :P. People hate long posts!

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:

The thing that saddens me is that even lots of young music enthusiasts are starting to move towards that too--they see the beauty of albums more than the average teenager, but they still go about finding and judging music based on the Generation-Y methods. I think everyone does that to a certain extent, and I think most major artists are probably going to need to adjust to that trend growing even more, but I just wonder what the best way is to adjust without alienating the rest of us. I feel like for the time being, there's probably some sort of median solution that could work for both types of music fans better than the "no surprises, quick delivery is the only way, more is better, look at us all over the place everywhere!" method. (I should note that I'm only 21 so I'm not too far off from that age group either, but I'm also pretty old-skool when it comes to this stuff :P)

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

Ooh, I didn't realise you meant the whole chain rather than just your location. Where did you buy it online? I can't seem to figure out where to get just one issue as opposed to a $75/6 months subsription!

My B&N (which is the only bookstore left within 20 miles of where I live) says they haven't stocked the magazine in years. I'm going to try to go to another bigger one this weekend, but who knows :angry: So I guess it's on newsstands now though? I hope some are left by Sunday :lol:

Some of which has been said before: It will not leak ANY earlier than September 9, I'd put big money on it--we know they work to the wire and that's hand-in, so don't believe anything that says it leaks before mid to late September at the earliest Most albums leak via CD plants, with people nicking CDs off conveyor belts and during shipment Most people that get to hear digital versions of the album before release, like journalists and audio workers, have no incentive whatsoever to leak the album and could ruin their careers by doing so (some still have though) Kanye and Jay-Z took INSANE precautions during the recording of their album, and also had a graduated release scheme with special deals with special retailers that discouraged leaks Most albums leak 2-4 weeks before release, when CDs are actually being manufactured It WILL leak unless they're taking pages out of Kanye and Jay-Z's book, which they might Leaks can actually help artists these days, and many have claimed to leak their own albums The only reason we're seeing "links" now is because after the announcement, people now know to look for it and don't understand the schedule of how these things usually work

:thinking: Well that's weird. I wonder what the point of that is? So all the booklets are the same, but half are just put in the case backwards so a different part of it is showing outwards? If that's not true and there really will be two different covers, judging by what people say on this board, I think the silver cover is going to be the most coveted by fans. And I guess it really is pronounced "-zy-le-toe" :confused: EDIT: I guess I missed where this was announced earlier.

I know I'm late and the debate is over, but this is great :clap:.

SIGUR RÓS FTW. However, their music is so atmospheric and mood-based (especially the album ( ), which is the one that has no lyrics in any real language at all), and they sing in a language only about 300,000 people understand anyway when they sing in any language at all (minus one song in English), so words are really not their main thing to convey. Coldplay, while they might aspire to go in that direction...they've always been the sort of band where lyrics are probably as important as the music to some degree, as emphasized by the popularity of a lot of their songs with people that aren't even huge fans (like The Scientist and Fix You, which I feel like millions know the words to). I don't think Coldplay's "point" is the same, though perhaps that's what they'd like to move towards.

On Facebook, whenever someone posts something about Mylo Xyloto now, Facebook considers it a person and clumps all the posts together on my feed now. "____ and 4 other people have posted about Mylo" :blank:. On the subject of their other album titles: I hated VLVOD..., and I think X&Y is their best title (and it has to do with opposites, as said before, and they're also pretty common mathematical symbols etc. There wasn't any discussion at the time about what it could mean because most people encounter them as variables often enough). I think AROBTTH is a great album title as well. Parachutes, I feel like I can think of 2-3 albums by other artists called that. While lots of other artists have come out with albums that have made-up titles, I bet at the time people were clamoring to know what they meant too, just probably not all over the internet because it didn't exist. People are just curious, and when you come out with something high-profile with a name no one understands, people are going to want to know what it means.

We all know that's the way Chris talks: "we're not very good" "we have no hit singles" "we don't know if we're going to carry on much longer" :lol:. We can't really take most things he says seriously. I don't even know how much I trust the report that MX is a concept album...I think they said the same thing about VLV, and it wasn't really.

I'm going to write on your user profile to answer that to save this thread :wink:

*Continues with offtopic one last time* THAT IS SUCH A KILLER LINEUP ON THAT STAGE :bigcry: I'd only be sad to miss Young The Giant and Mona on the other stage. And all of those artists have either small fanbases or tame fanbases :wink: SOOOO...Gwyneth's dress for the Weinstein fundraiser was BEAUTIFUL :wideeyed: :P

I agree to some extent. I'm listening right now for the first time in ages, and...it's not a bad album. I think it pales in comparison to their other records, and two or three songs probably could have been lobbed off because they feel somewhat like filler (X&Y, Twisted Logic, and What If, I think, if you ask me), but to me, it's nothing to be ashamed of and only comes up lacking when put in light of their other work. Out of all the albums, at least, it's my favorite design and promo era :nice:

I've never seen AM live myself, but I know people that have sustained injuries at their shows, and I've been pretty significantly roughed up at Strokes shows. That's the problem with festivals--not only do you have to endure any bands you may not like on the same stage if you're camping out there all day to hold spots--you have to endure each band's FANS. If they put on a punk or metal or hard rock band before someone like Coldplay, you can bet things are going to get a bit wild. However, it also depends on the festival and stage etc. OK, wow, *stops with offtopic* :lol:

My overall point is that an album is not delayed if it has never been given an official ETA, and a few guesses from bandmembers is not an official announcement that a label etc has to get behind. In the spring sometime, there was an interview with a Parlophone executive of some sort, and he said to expect an album in the autumn of 2011. That's not an official announcement either, but it's the closest thing we had to one until yesterday. We also have to take Chris's/the band's track record with being "trusted" about such things into account--they are notoriously wrong about things like that, and to believe than anything is coming out at Christmas 2010 just because Chris says it is without anything from another official source (Oracle/website/label/etc) to confirm that is just...not the wisest thing :P And you're right about the winter touring thing, I was exaggerating by saying "any country." But if they kicked off with Australia or Latin America or Asia or something, why not? I suppose it makes the most sense to hit the ground running in the US or UK first, but my point was that I think it makes the most sense to promo first, no matter the season (unless it's summer, when you'd be stupid NOT to tour if you have a new album :lol:). And you can promote without an actual nailed-down date in the broad sense, yes. The label did say that we could expect an album in 2011 (I think back in March?), so just because a specific day and a specific day aren't nailed down, to people that are paying attention to them in any small way, a festival circuit with a few new songs in the mix is most certainly promotion for a somewhat vaguely defined project. No one hears ~5 new songs, or hears that a band like Coldplay is performing new material on the road and thinks "oh, I bet they're sitting on their asses and an album is still a long way off." Of course it's possible to just chuck out a few new songs and then sit on them for a long time, but in terms of business, that makes less sense.

Ooh, to me it sounds like he said it! He just pronounces it differently than I've been saying it, or saying it in my head, but what else could that be?