Coldplay 'Postpone New Album Release to Next Year'

Chris Martin has told fans his band Coldplay will not release an album in 2010 despite early promises, making life more difficult for its cash-strapped label EMI.

Speaking at a fanmeet in London reported by Coldplaying.com, the band said a lot of work lay ahead of them, although they were able to mention the timing of a forthcoming tour. A source told the site, "Chris said that although they are close to finishing lots of songs, they have not actually finished anything at all yet (even 'Wedding Bells!').

"[Former manager] Phil [Harvey] said the same, and that even if they were finished by now, there would not be enough time for EMI to sort all of the fiddly bits." Harvey added that while touring for 'Viva La Vida' began shortly after its release, the band would hit the road after a "slightly longer" gap next time.

This is bad news for EMI, which is currently struggling with huge debts. As previously reported in Spinner, its owner, private equity group Terra Firma, believes it was misled into buying the record company. Now its investors have filed papers in a New York court that allege US bank Citigroup tricked them into buying the label.