Post by sparta on Apr 28, 2008 18:55:26 GMT -4
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/04/28/ncoldplay128.xml
Coldplay give away new single Violet Hill online
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:23pm BST 28/04/2008
Coldplay fans will be able to download the first single from the band's long-awaited fourth album free over the internet tomorrow.
In a further blow to falling CD sales, the British group will allow people to download Violet Hill from their website from 12.15pm.
The single is the first track from the band's album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, which is released on June 12, and will be free to download for a week.
The giveaway is the latest sign that musicians are looking for innovative ways to win fans and promote new material at a time when illegal downloading is becoming the norm.
With legal downloads failing to make up a 10 per cent slump in album sales last year, artists are beginning to abandon traditional ways of selling music.
Radiohead broke new ground last year when they bypassed record companies altogether and allowed fans to pay as much or as little as they wanted to download the band's seventh album.
Last June, Prince gave away copies of his album Planet Earth free with a Sunday newspaper, while The Charlatans offered a single as a free digital download from the website of the radio station Xfm.
Coldplay, who have sold 30 million albums worldwide, announced two free shows yesterday - one at the Brixton Academy on June 16 and another at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 23.
A free 7-inch vinyl single of Violet Hill will also be given away on the cover of music weekly NME on 7 May.
Coldplay's fourth album follows the award-winning X&Y, which was released in 2005 and won the best British album award at the Brit Awards the following year.
Dan Cryan, a music analyst at Screen Digest, said that musicians were increasingly exploiting digital opportunities.
"It's been a while since Coldplay has released anything and this will allow them to promote their new album without actually having to do a global round of interviews," he said.
"They will be hoping that the giveaway will stoke up interest in the album and encourage fans to buy it instead of downloading it illegally."
The new album will be released with EMI despite rumours earlier this year that the band was considering quitting the record label, which has lost several high-profile artists in the past two years including Sir Paul McCartney.
Coldplay give away new single Violet Hill online
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:23pm BST 28/04/2008
Coldplay fans will be able to download the first single from the band's long-awaited fourth album free over the internet tomorrow.
In a further blow to falling CD sales, the British group will allow people to download Violet Hill from their website from 12.15pm.
The single is the first track from the band's album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, which is released on June 12, and will be free to download for a week.
The giveaway is the latest sign that musicians are looking for innovative ways to win fans and promote new material at a time when illegal downloading is becoming the norm.
With legal downloads failing to make up a 10 per cent slump in album sales last year, artists are beginning to abandon traditional ways of selling music.
Radiohead broke new ground last year when they bypassed record companies altogether and allowed fans to pay as much or as little as they wanted to download the band's seventh album.
Last June, Prince gave away copies of his album Planet Earth free with a Sunday newspaper, while The Charlatans offered a single as a free digital download from the website of the radio station Xfm.
Coldplay, who have sold 30 million albums worldwide, announced two free shows yesterday - one at the Brixton Academy on June 16 and another at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 23.
A free 7-inch vinyl single of Violet Hill will also be given away on the cover of music weekly NME on 7 May.
Coldplay's fourth album follows the award-winning X&Y, which was released in 2005 and won the best British album award at the Brit Awards the following year.
Dan Cryan, a music analyst at Screen Digest, said that musicians were increasingly exploiting digital opportunities.
"It's been a while since Coldplay has released anything and this will allow them to promote their new album without actually having to do a global round of interviews," he said.
"They will be hoping that the giveaway will stoke up interest in the album and encourage fans to buy it instead of downloading it illegally."
The new album will be released with EMI despite rumours earlier this year that the band was considering quitting the record label, which has lost several high-profile artists in the past two years including Sir Paul McCartney.
