Coldplay to Give Away Free Album to Ticketholders

With recent free downloads from greats like Bob Dylan and Dave Matthews Band, it’s been one of the most free-music-filled spring seasons to date – and now Coldplay is getting in on the action. But there’s a catch: You have to buy concert tickets to get the goods.

Chris Martin and company have confirmed that they will give away a live album entitled, “LeftRightLeftRightLeft“, to fans attending shows on their latest tour. The album will be available as a free download from the official Coldplay website starting May 15. Check out the tracklisting below the jump…

• “Glass Of Water”
• “42″
• “Clocks”
• “Strawberry Swing”
• “The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away”
• “Viva La Vida”
• “Death Will Never Conquer”
• “Fix You”
• “Death And All His Friends”

The plan to release the freebie was initially announced in February when Martin said:

“It’s a way of saying thank you. It’s a tough economy and people are paying a lot of money for tickets.”

What he meant to say was that people are paying a lot of money for Coldplay tickets. Last time I checked, a general admission ticket to a Coldplay show in Los Angeles was priced at more than $130 (that exceeds the price of a pit ticket for Metallica!). So let’s hope that these 10 tracks are some of the most amazing live renditions you’ve ever heard, or Martin’s gesture may seem like poor compensation for the all the jacked-up ticket prices.

At least fans are getting something to supplement the live experience, but it seems like it would be more valuable for fans to receive recordings of the shows that they actually attend, rather than a de-personalized digital CD that (pretty soon) anyone will be able to download for free using Torrents.

What do you think of Coldplay’s latest marketing move? Will the 9-track freebie be a sufficient supplement to one of the most expensive concert tickets around?

Source: nme.com