Coldplay attack 'corporate evil'

Martin (second left) spoke before a 90-minute New York concert

Coldplay's Chris Martin has dismissed pressure to boost his record company's profits, saying: "Shareholders are the great evil of this modern world."

EMI issued a profit warning in February partly because the release of the UK band's latest album X&Y was delayed.

But Coldplay frontman Martin said: "I don't really care about EMI. I'm not really concerned about that."

He spoke about the "the slavery that we are all under to shareholders" ahead of the album's release in early June.

'Corporate machine'

Coldplay have sold 20 million albums worldwide, having a big UK and US hit with 2002 album A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Also famous for being the husband of Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin spoke to reporters before a 90-minute concert at New York's Beacon Theatre on Tuesday.

He said their new album was delayed because their first eight months of recording sessions produced songs that lacked the "spark" of such earlier hits as Yellow, Clocks and The Scientist.

"It's very strange for us that we spent 18 months in the studio just trying to make songs that make us feel a certain way and then suddenly become part of this corporate machine," Martin said.

He said the band's success gave them artistic freedom and the ability to talk about subjects dear to them such as fair trade - paying fair prices for products such as coffee and cotton from developing nations.