News on Coldplay, James Taylor & More
Beginning today, the first track from Coldplay's upcoming Capitol album, "X&Y," is available as a 30-second master ringtone a week before the entire song can be heard on the radio. "Speed of Sound" is being offered exclusively to Cingular Wireless subscribers as part of a new music program called Cingular Sounds, designed to launch new singles as ringtones before they can be heard anywhere else.
In return for gaining exclusive rights to debut songs, Cingular will give new releases visible placement on its Web site and top billing on its phone-based ringtone store, and will e-mail and text message subscribers notifying them of the new song's availability. Cingular will also promote the offering in radio, TV and print advertising.
"Speed of Sound" will be debuted Monday evening on BBC Radio 1 by DJ Steve Lamacq. "X&Y" is due June 7.
-- Antony Bruno, L.A.
James Taylor's annual summer tour will begin June 17 in Hartford, Conn., and run through a Sept. 2 finale in Chicago. Along the way, the veteran singer/songwriter will play multiple nights in Mansfield, Mass., and Atlanta, plus a July 4-5 stand at Tanglewood in Lennox, Mass.
The Kottonmouth Kings and Cypress Hill have collaborated on the track "Put the Pipe Down," the first single from the Kings' self-titled seventh full-length album. The cut will be promoted on April 20, an oft-celebrated "marijuana holiday," the date of which corresponds with the police code for the drug (4:20).