Coldplay

[drdougfresh]

I'm not sure how many on here are Coldplay fans, but they're one of my absolute favorite bands. If you can't appreciate the musical talents of Chris Martin, I'll have a hard time talking about music with you. ANYWAY, I was just thinking the other day about how they've built an entire brand on each all of their albums, making it super easy to market concerts and tours. Normally, I'd scoff at such an obvious marketing ploy, but I think it's really cool how they've built these 'brands' to fit the sound and feel of the albums. I went to their show here in PHX on the VIVA tour a few years back, you'd be amazed how great they are live. Even better (especially for someone like me) is that they worked everything together. Costumes, instruments, lighting, etc. Great show, and an even smarter advertising team. Here's some examples (lots of pictures):

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Viva La Vida

X&Y

So, thoughts? And what are some other examples that you think fit this kind of model? Does it work in your opinion, or take away from the overall 'brand' for Coldplay?

[BrianVlietDesign]

I've been listening to them ever since about 2003 and have seen these boys about three times already and I haven't been let down once. By far one of my favorite bands. Personally, they're a huge influence on my music. Especially Chris Martin, I've tried to model my vocals after him.

[JGCleveland]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

[drdougfresh]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

Did you want to quote some Borat too? Or perhaps contribute to the discussion?

@wildwinger88 he's a great person to try to emulate. Makes me wish I had the time and patience to learn piano. Beautiful music.

[JGCleveland]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

Did you want to quote some Borat too?

Well now that you mention it...

[fiasco!]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

Consider this your warning. We don't do that here.

[JGCleveland]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

Consider this your warning. We don't do that here.

sigh ... okay. Jeez thought a simple movie quote would do no harm, but okay. Forgive me!

[The Fixer]

I laughed. But I also like Coldplay. i feel guilty about it but I do. I dont know bout their brand though

[drdougfresh]

I laughed. But I also like Coldplay. i feel guilty about it but I do. I dont know bout their brand though

Why feel guilty? Because they make meaningful music, and listening to such music is stigmatized by today's male population? I'm not going down that road. Haha.

So really, no one has any comments on this 'mega brand' they've created?

[YessSir32]

I like Coldplay, and I must say that Every Teardrop is a Waterfall is a great song.

[The Fixer]

I laughed. But I also like Coldplay. i feel guilty about it but I do. I dont know bout their brand though

Why feel guilty? Because they make meaningful music, and listening to such music is stigmatized by today's male population? I'm not going down that road. Haha.

So really, no one has any comments on this 'mega brand' they've created?

No I feel guilty cause they are so mainstream. I don't know. I guess couldn't really care less about what people think about my music.

More examples of the brand?

[drdougfresh]

I laughed. But I also like Coldplay. i feel guilty about it but I do. I dont know bout their brand though

Why feel guilty? Because they make meaningful music, and listening to such music is stigmatized by today's male population? I'm not going down that road. Haha.

So really, no one has any comments on this 'mega brand' they've created?

No I feel guilty cause they are so mainstream. I don't know. I guess couldn't really care less about what people think about my music.

More examples of the brand?

Haha did you read the OP?

[rainmaker17]

I'm not sure how many on here are Coldplay fans, but they're one of my absolute favorite bands. If you can't appreciate the musical talents of Chris Martin, I'll have a hard time talking about music with you.

Guess we can't talk music then....bummer.

[BrianVlietDesign]

I laughed. But I also like Coldplay. i feel guilty about it but I do. I dont know bout their brand though

Why feel guilty? Because they make meaningful music, and listening to such music is stigmatized by today's male population? I'm not going down that road. Haha.

So really, no one has any comments on this 'mega brand' they've created?

No I feel guilty cause they are so mainstream.

Honestly, they're only as mainstream as you make them. Sure, they're huge across the world, but so what? If you love their music, that's you. You're not losing points for being a fan of a mainstream band, God forbid. I grew up listening to them and they have alot of similar influences in music as I. Actually, bands that influenced them actually turned me on to listening to those other bands. Many of them that aren't very mainstream. Especially, My Bloody Valentine. Very underrated band.

[drdougfresh]

It's kinda the same thing with another of my favorites: The Black Keys. A couple of years ago, all they had was a song on Eastbound and Down. Now, they're all over the place. I think there's some kind of issue people take with "going with the flow" which is why the term "sellout" is so insulting. Selling out is like what Nickelback, OK Go, etc. did. But as "mainstream" as Coldplay is, they've stuck to their guns: Chris Martin and his piano.

[CAB]

I like Coldplay. I think I get what you're saying about the brand thing. My personal favorite band, Panic! at the Disco have done something similar with stage props sort of matching their albums.

The first was very theatrical, sort of matching the whole 'Vegas-ish' theme of the album with lots of on stage acts.

The second album was more based on 60's psychadelic rock such as the Beatles. They had stage props matching the album cover.

The third and most recent album has gone towards a more old-time Dracula/Frankenstine stuff like that. Haha I can't even explain it but it's pretty awesome. I went to a show in Omaha and all the stage props were fantastic. Not a whole lot of photos out there of the current tour, but here's one where you can see the organ in the background. Brendon Urie has mentioned he wants a Tesla coil on stage, which would be completely badass.

Sorry to threadjack, just trying to add to the whole "band branding" idea here.

[Pirate]

I just took notice of how much they are tying in the spray paint with this new EP and subsequent imagery. Not sure i see the "brand identifty" in the other examples.

I'm pretty bitter concerning Coldplay after I found out that several of their major songs have all been borrowed or ripped off from other bands... even the new single. They readily admit that they borrow riffs from other bands and rightfully compensate them, but it makes me feel thatt they are so much less original and artistic:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/06/coldplay-reject-plagiarism-claims-single

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/335/Coldplay-Talk_Kraftwerk-Computer%20Love/

[JQK]

You know how I know you're gay? You like coldplay.

hahaha, I'm sorry you had that one coming

Consider this your warning. We don't do that here.

We don't quote movies here?

[floydnimrod]

The whole brand element of Coldplay's music is great, to say the least. Each album is a new era of music, art, clothing, and design in general. If you go back to the days of Parachutes, you'll find that, as an up and coming band, the members of the band wore whatever they wanted, and album and single covers consisted of various pictures, but the colors revolved around, black, reds, oranges, and yellows.

With A Rush Of Blood To The Head the band went with basic gray and white tones for the album and single art. The art was all designed by Solve Sundsbo, with a 3D scanning machine, with each cover depicting a different member of the band (except for the album cover which the picture already existed). In My Place features guitarist Jonny Buckland, The Scientist features drummer Will Champion, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face features bassist Guy Berryman, and Clocks features pianist and singer Chris Martin (the pictures is of Martin folding his hands above a glass table, with the view coming from underneath the table).

2005 ushered in the X&Y era, with a very 70s synth sound inspired by the likes of David Bowie and Brian Eno. The album was originally rumored to be called Zero Theory (complete with a rumored tracklsiting which contained six eventual X&Y tracks), but was released as X&Y, a 12+ track album (currently Coldplay's longest running album time-wise). The album's cover is a representation of Baudot Code, and gives the album a very 'computer-generated' feel, and you can hear it in the synth sounds featured on numerous tracks. All the single covers feature the code as well, spelling out the names of the songs in the code, with different color schemes each time. Much like the song Green Eyes on A Rush Of Blood To The Head, 'Till Kingdom Come (the album's closer) is a mellow, acoustic song. Written by the band for Johnny Cash, the song was included on the album as a bonus track, as Cash passed away before the song was recorded. The band wore all black clothes for the tour as a tribute to the late Cash. On a recording of their concert in Toronto on their Twisted Logic Tour, Chris Martin described the clothing, "The following song was written for Johnny Cash, who gave us our clothes....except for our shoes (which were all white), which we got from Usher."

When 2008 saw the release of Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, the band said it signaled a new direction for them, and referred to the first CD's as "Oldplay." The artwork was for the album was a painting by Eugene Delacroix titled Liberty Leading the People, with Viva La Vida painted over it. The painting brings to light the albums theme of revolution, which are also expressed in the bands clothing modeled after that of the French Revolution. Produced by many producers, including Brian Eno, the music is influenced by many cultures, and several songs use string instruments not normally used in the band's music. The album and single art features a variety of colors with the major theme being the hand painted track titles over 'loud' paintings. This was the first album not to use the band's font (Albertus Medium) which had been used on the first three album covers.

This brings us to the yet-untitled LP5. Chris Martin said in November that the album would "begin with 'M', two words." Several clues have been given over the course of their summer festival tour. The band released three songs on an EP, two of which could fit Martin's description: Major Minus & Moving to Mars. Then during the televised Rock Am Ring performance, and 35 second instrumental song featuring Xylophones, was titled 'MX' by the television station. Also during that performance, the screen behind the band featured the 'word' "Xylobrytes" which isn't even a word. But just days ago, the a song was registered in a database entitled "Mylo Xyloto" which fits Chris's latest description of the album name as being "hard to spell." Anyway, the overall theme for the album seems to be something to do with space (Moving to Mars, which was formerly titled Space Symphony, and another song title Alien Radio seen painted on Buckland's guitar). The art is inspired by the White Rose Movement and New York style graffiti. The website has been redesigned as well, with black, pink and blue dominating as colors (MX actually appears on the site as well). Guitars are to featured heavily on the album as Chris Martin said, "Hurts Like Heaven is all Jonny, he's really come out of his cocoon. He's becoming the hero we always thought he could be." Also, something to take note of in the cover art is the new font as well as an illustration that represents the song. ETIAW has a teardrop, Major Minus has an eyeball (the lyric "one eye on the wall and one on you") and Moving to Mars has a rocket shooting off into space.

[drdougfresh]

I just took notice of how much they are tying in the spray paint with this new EP and subsequent imagery. Not sure i see the "brand identifty" in the other examples.

I'm pretty bitter concerning Coldplay after I found out that several of their major songs have all been borrowed or ripped off from other bands... even the new single. They readily admit that they borrow riffs from other bands and rightfully compensate them, but it makes me feel thatt they are so much less original and artistic:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/06/coldplay-reject-plagiarism-claims-single

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/335/Coldplay-Talk_Kraftwerk-Computer%20Love/

I mean, yes, the riffs are obviously borrowed. But look at how much else went into the songs. As a graphic artist, it should make sense. Art is (essentially) borrowing tidbits and pieces from other peoples' artwork and forming your own "original" idea. If you think about it, that's really how we design logos and uniforms, as a one off or regeneration of another idea you saw once.

Sure, it's a "borrowed" string of 8 or so notes, but it's not like they're stealing the drums, vocals (THANK GOD), and other elements of these songs, just using them as a base for their music. I'm not advocating theft of intellectual property. But there's something to be said for the ability to talk a riff from a song and turn it in to a great song (Talk).

Also, fnz, thanks for the synopsis. Should be good for people who aren't familiar.

Can we stay on topic, por favor?