Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Coldplay Plays Free Shows at Madison Square Garden in New York and Brixton Academy in London to Coincide With New Album: Viva La Vida


Here's another escalation in the "free" marketing war started by Radiohead last fall with their pay what you want for In Rainbows.
Coldplay has announced that they'll be playing two free shows this June to coincide with the release of their new album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. Sounds like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel to me. One show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Another at Brixton Academy in London. I like this idea...this ain't no car park or record store or Apple store These look to be full fledged concerts in real arenas. More details to come tomorrow...and I'll be back with them. We'll see what it takes to win. In the meantime go to coldplay.com and download the free single, Violet Hill...available for a week starting at 12:15 PM UK time today. So what do you think? A good promotional idea? Do you hate Coldplay and can't comment? Or love them?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to hear the new album!!!

Anonymous said...

Genius. People already love them because they are cool. Playing for free makes them even more approachable. Giving back to the fans--love it. I am going to buy the album without a test drive now just because I heard about this. Only thing that would have made the whole thing smarter would have been playing Birmingham, Alabama instead of NYC. Oh well, no plan is without some flaw.

Scott Lackey said...

Anthony....me too

Wendy...no test drive? Well that means the promotion worked better than even I'd imagine. Or you're already a fan? Playing BIrmingham would have been brilliant. MSG is predictable. Well...at least for me it's only 5 blocks from the office. Now I just have to win the contest.