In another development that marks another nail in the coffin of the prototypical music marketing & distribution model, Coldplay will become the latest band to release music as a free download when they launch their latest single via Coldplay.com.

From 12.15pm on April 29 for a week, fans will be able to download 'Violet Hill', from Coldplay's forthcoming album 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends', free of charge.

They fall on the heels of a few other big acts doing the same recently (Radiohead -- who allowed fans to pay whatever they felt for the right to download their latest release in its entirety; Nine Inch Nails -- who's frontman, Trent Reznor, has been a pioneer in using the internet as a delivery method to both reach & interact with fans.)

Just days before the Radiohead news broke, The Charlatans UK announced that they were to give away their forthcoming album 'You Cross My Path' as a free download in a deal with London rock radio station Xfm. Earlier in the year, Prince sparked a major row with music retailer HMV when he gave away his latest album 'Planet Earth' via the newspaper The Mail on Sunday.