Coldplay Gives It Up

In preparation for the June 17 (U.S.) release of their new album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay will be joining the list of superstar acts to offer their music free via digital download. Starting tomorrow (April 29), the new album’s first single, “Violet Hill”, will be available at Coldplay’s website. The digital freebie will only be offered for a week before the single becomes available as a standard paid-download on May 6.

In preparation for the June 17 (U.S.) release of their new album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay will be joining the list of superstar acts to offer their music free via digital download. Starting tomorrow (April 29), the new album’s first single, “Violet Hill”, will be available at Coldplay’s website. The digital freebie will only be offered for a week before the single becomes available as a standard paid-download on May 6. 

In addition to the download, Coldplay will be holding two free concerts, one at Brixton Academy in South London and the other at Madison Square Garden in New York. Tickets to both shows will be available free via the band’s website.

While Coldplay’s free-factor may not compare with former-EMI labelmates, Radiohead, and their “choose your price” album offering last October, it certainly shows how even the biggest artists have had to adapt to a declining market for physical sales. The announcement comes right after the RIAA posted an unsurprising 20.5 percent drop in physical CD revenues and a simultaneous 43.2 percent increase in digital for 2007. That boosts digital formats to a 23 percent share of overall retail in 2007, a figure that will inevitably grow this coming year.