Anyone else getting deja vu? I seem to remember reporting much the same story around the release of Coldplay's last album. Though then Martin et al needed to sell well to keep nervous city types placated. This time serious units need to be shifted for the benefit of one city firm - Citigroup - Terra Firma and Guy Hands' primary backer in his purchase of EMI last year, who some say are starting to regret getting involved in the music business in such a big way.
Anyway, according to reports, EMI are relying more and more on the success of new Coldplay long player 'Viva La Vida', especially in the US where the label's market share has fallen to its lowest level for 50 years. According to The Times, artists signed to UK-based EMI currently account for just 8.8% of record sales in America - still the most important music market in the world - and Hands' backers are relying pretty much exclusively on 'Viva La Vida' to claw back some market share.
With hindsight, it's a good job Martin landed himself a Hollywood wife, it giving him and his band a much higher profile across the Atlantic. Whether it will be enough to boost EMI's market share a sufficient number of points to keep the suits in Citigroup HQ happy for another year remains to be seen.