TRY as he might, Chris Martin can’t keep out of the limelight.

The Coldplay frontman avoids being pictured in public with his actress wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, yet when it comes to album releases, financial analysts as much as music fans take a long, hard look at him and his band.

Selling 10m copies, as Coldplay’s last album, X&Y, did, is enough to move the dial financially, particularly in an industry undergoing unprecedented change and battling with piracy.

Martin knows that and doesn’t particularly like it. Three years ago he described shareholders as “the great evil of this modern world”, and added: “I don’t really care about EMI.”

Since EMI’s £3.2 billion take- over last year by Guy Hands’s Terra Firma, the music group that counts Coldplay as one of its most important acts has only a single shareholder for Martin to become het up about.

Four days before the release of Coldplay’s new album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Hands knows that its success is crucial — more so than in the days when EMI’s shares would spike or slump according to the pop charts. If there is a safe bet in the music industry, a blockbuster release from Coldplay is it. Talking to the trade press, Hands sounds nothing but confident. “While expectations are high, what Coldplay have done is produced something that goes way beyond anyone’s expectations,” he said.

Drumming their fingers in anticipation, not particularly in time with the music, are the bankers at Citigroup who are still stuck with £2.5 billion of EMI debt on their books, unsold since the buyout.

There are also EMI’s other stars, such as Robbie Williams, curious to see how the new regime handles a key release.

More important, EMI must prove that the big labels still have a role to play. In a digital age when artists can simply sell direct to their fans, the long-held marketing muscle of record labels has dissipated online.

In a recent interview, Martin accepted that the traditional model of artists signed to any label was “obviously antiquated”. He added: “Being on a major label at the moment is like living in your grandparents’ house. Everyone knows they need to move out, and they will eventually, but we kind of like our grandmother.”

That affection is not surprising because Coldplay is contracted to EMI for several years to come. Another album could be ready by autumn next year. A duet with Kylie Minogue is already in the can.

In comparison, Radiohead have walked out on EMI and the Rolling Stones are thinking about it. Sir Paul McCartney has experimented by selling CDs in Starbucks coffee shops.

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