Coldplay to release their new single free online

Coldplay are following in Radiohead's footsteps by releasing their music for free download

Violet Hill, the band's first single from their new album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, will be made available as a free download from www.coldplay.com.

It can be downloaded from 12.15pm tomorrow when the single will be played for the first time on radio, a week ahead of its general paid-for release.

The band's website will also have preliminary details of the two free concerts: at Brixton Academy, London, on 16 June and at New York's Madison Square Garden on 23 June.

The promotion comes as a growing number of artists are seeking new ways to control the marketing and distribution of their output to counter music piracy on the internet.

Radiohead invited their fans to set their own price on their album In Rainbows when it was released online last October.

About half of those who downloaded the album paid, although the band would not say how much.