Coldplay stream 'Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends' on Myspace 11 days before official release

The new Coldplay album, 'Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends' is not due for release until 17th June, however since 6pm on 6^th June Coldplay have been streaming their new album through MySpace at www.myspace.com/coldplay .

This is the latest part of Coldplay’s pre-release digital strategy for the new Viva La Vida album. After promoting free concerts virally and allowing users to download ‘Violet Hill’ and ‘Viva La Vida’ in advance of the album release, Coldplay have now started streaming their new album on MySpace 11 days before release.

This may seem like a strange thing for Coldplay to do, but 510,000 copies of the new album 'Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends' have already been sold on itunes pre-order and the MySpace move has been rumoured to have been prompted by the new album leaking on a torrent on 4^th June. If ‘Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends’ is already available on the internet then Coldplay have nothing to lose by showcasing the new tracks to fans in an official Coldplay environment (the Coldplay MySpace pages), rather than letting fans experience it through unendorsed sources.

The free Violet Hill free single was an extraordinary success, downloaded over 2 million times in a week through Coldplay’s website – four times more 'sales' than the entire UK top 40 put together. The MySpace preview continues the trend of allowing Coldplay fans to freely access new Coldplay music and the rewards for the band will not just be from record sales, but also from areas like touring, merchandising and commercial deals. This seems to be the direction that record companies are having to head in and Coldplay are definitely leading the way!

Coldplay go viral to promote Viva La Vida free concerts and new album

Coldplay are running a range of interesting digital activity to support their new album and forthcoming Viva La Vida tour. Ranging from free downloads and itunes bonuses through to a tease and reveal online competition where fans have the chance of winning tickets to free Coldplay gigs in London and New York Madison Square Garden.

From April 29th Coldplay allowed fans a free download of new single 'Violet Hill' from the Coldplay.com website. To do this users had to register their email address and Coldplay restricted the free 'Violet Hill' download to a 7 day time period. (This created a significant boost to Coldplay's website traffic and Hitwise published figures on it here.)

Coldplay 'Violet Hill' free download screen (click for larger image)

Coldplay have now sent an email to everyone who downloaded the 'Violet Hill' single. The latest email drives people to Coldplay.com where users can find more information on the free Coldplay concerts (and ticket competition) as well as details of their 'Viva La Vida' new album launch:

Coldplay email update from 9th May 2008 (click for larger image)

Website announcement of the free tickets competition for the London and Madison Square Garden gigs
(click for larger image)

As fans enter the competition to win tickets to the free shows, various content (including pictures and video) will be unlocked on the Coldplay.com website. Currently it is 9% unlocked:

Unlock page on the Coldplay website - 9% complete (click for larger image)

Coldplay have also made this competition available as a widget that fans can add to Facebook, Bebo or their blogs. The widget promotes both the competition and allows users to hear 'Violet Hill' and the album title track 'Viva La Vida.'

Coldplay Viva La Vida widget (click for larger image)

Coldplay have also taken the opportunity to announce that anyone who pre-orders the new Coldplay album on itunes will get exclusive bonus material and will be able to download the albums title track immediately.

Website announcement of the Coldplay itunes offer (click for larger image)

This activity is very well executed and is a great example of how bands can give something back to their fans without compromising a forthcoming album launch. This activity is all geared towards the new album and by giving free content and opportunities for fans to get involved, Coldplay have engaged their audience and have raised interest / excitement levels over the new songs. Clever stuff!