Coldplay’s ninth studio album, Music Of The Spheres, was released on 15th October and just ahead of its release the band announced the signing of a new deal with Warner Music Group (via Parlophone and, in the US, Atlantic).

Given their size, the fact that Music Of The Spheres is coming out in an enormously busy Q4 (alongside albums by Taylor Swift, Adele, ABBA and Ed Sheeran to name just four) and the small matter of that new WMG deal, it is safe to presume that the marketing budget for the album will be not insignificant.

The band had already opened the Brit Awards in May and teased the album’s first single, ‘Higher Power’, on TikTok at the same time – showing how the old school of TV awards and the new world of video-sharing apps must sit cheek by jowl for acts of this size. A very “belt and braces” approach.

On the day of album release and the day after, they partnered with Amazon Music to open what they called The Atmospheres to the public. Well, the public who could easily get to Shoreditch in East London as well as sister locations in New York City, Tokyo and Berlin.

Described as an “intergalactic audio-visual experience”, fans had to go to a dedicated site to book their five-minute slot for ‘travel’ to a “distant solar system that plays host to the band’s latest album”, with each of the album’s 12 tracks being twinned with a different planet.

“Immersed in out-of-this-world visuals, fans can create their own alien language messages, snap selfies in the augmented reality photobooth, and even help to power the experience through bespoke kinetic walkways,” explained Amazon in its press release.

It is obviously a hugely expensive and ambitious undertaking and there is a need for a real-world activation like this to allow as many fans as possible to take part. Even so, we are left wondering just how ‘transported’ anyone can be in five minutes after standing in a queue for ages and with the stewards tapping their watches to let you know your precious five minutes are rapidly dwindling.