Columbia Records Group

In 2008, a big day for record sales is a relative thing, for the majors and the indies alike. Physical sales are lower than ever, even for superstars; bands routinely crack Billboard’s top 10 with sales barely in the five digits. But today is a big day in the record industry.

Coldplay's newest, Viva la Vida, hits stores today; there are high, high hopes for the album. The band that broke with "Yellow" way back in 2000 has had a couple of smash records since then, A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2002 and X & Y three years later; they're as close to the sure thing (U2) as the record industry gets these days. But there's another band whose latest effort may tell more about what the future of the recording industry looks like.  read more »