Coldplay on a mission to connect with fans

By Paul Sexton

LONDON (Billboard) - The album that will put the new EMI under its greatest global scrutiny to date is also 2008's most eagerly awaited release. That's the official word from Coldplay's new boss.

The band's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" will be released June 12 internationally on Parlophone/EMI and on June 17 in North America on Capitol. EMI Group chairman Guy Hands, who led the buyout of the music company last summer through his private-equity firm Terra Firma, says, "Right across the world, this is the most anticipated album of the year."

As the follow-up to the British melodic rock band's "X&Y" album of summer 2005, which scaled global sales north of 10 million units, according to the label, it's a significant release for many reasons. Just as "Viva La Vida" is a bold musical statement by a group that Martin says had grown to feel "a little dirty" by the end of its last campaign, the importance of this album to the new EMI, in the midst of its management restructuring, is hard to overstate.

But Martin, sitting in the band's own studio, the Bakery in northwest London, offers a typically relaxed and realistic interpretation.

"Being on a major label at the moment is like living in your grandparents' house," he says. "Everyone knows they need to move out, and they will eventually, but we kind of like our grandmother.

"It's obviously an antiquated model, because of the Internet, but we really love the people we work with. If we knew what the solution was to everything, then we'd do it. We have absolute respect for the Radioheads and Raconteurs and people who can do what they like. We're in contract though, so we're just going to make the most of it and enjoy the people we get to work with."

A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE WEB

In a bold move to reassert its close relationship with its fans, Coldplay made the album's first single, "Violet Hill" -- a track, with something of the flavor of 1967-68 era Beatles -- available as a free download April 29, shifting more than 2 million units in its week of being available for free, according to EMI. A cover-mounted 7-inch vinyl edition of the single was given away with the May 10 issue of British music weekly NME, which went on sale May 6 -- the only physical version of the single to be made available, although it also went on sale at digital outlets the same day.

"Of course we want to sell a lot of records," Martin says. "But we want to get right back to the root of everything, by saying, 'Here you go, have a song, have a concert.' All that other stuff we have to do because we're in contract, that's all going to happen, of course, but it's just starting from that place. It makes us feel good as a group of people."

Drummer Will Champion adds, "More than ever, you've got to give people a reason to be excited about music. With content being so available, you just want to give people as much as possible."

Coldplay will stage free gigs June 16 at London's Brixton Academy and June 23 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Another free show in Barcelona is expected to be confirmed soon.

The concerts will be unsponsored, and Martin points candidly to a similar stage of the band's previous campaign to explain why.

"We felt last time we f---ed up so royally in New York when we were setting up 'X&Y.' We did an AOL thing, which was fine to do, but we tried to mix it with a buzz gig and we just came across as a huge and very impersonal corporation.

"So this time we want to do the ultimate buzz gig and have it not attached to anything or anybody. We're all very nervous because no one's done it before and it's a bit risky. When we first got asked to close (the) Glastonbury (festival) in 2002, it was a similar feeling of something a bit bigger than we felt we could do. But we really like that challenge."

The free shows will be followed by extensive touring throughout 2008 and beyond. Roughly 50 shows are planned for North America, followed by Europe and the United Kingdom. Coldplay will also headline the Summersonic festival August 9-10 in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. More international touring is on tap for 2009.