Wednesday, April 13, 2005

To hear the newest Coldplay song right now, don't turn on the radio or flip to MTV. Instead, you'll have to download a 30-second track to your cellphone and set it as your ring.

In another statement of how technology has turned the music industry every which way, Coldplay's single "Speed of Sound" is available for download through Cingular Wireless. That's almost a week before its radio debut Monday and almost two months before the British alternative rock group's album X&Y is released by Capitol Records on June 7.

The idea of debuting a song as a ringtone and not over the airwaves may signal a big step for the music industry, given how heavily it has relied on radio and television. Its willingness to do so also gives more credibility to the ringtone market, which has returned wallet-bursting revenues.