If Coldplay did not exist, the music industry would have had to create it.

Coldplay

More than at any other time in its century-plus run of Victrolas, vinyl, 8-tracks, CDs and iPods, the music industry is struggling to survive. Touring figures and album sales continue to slump. The workhorses of the concert scene inch closer to retirement each year, and some, such as Bruce Springsteen and the Dave Matthews Band, no longer can be counted on to sell out venues.

Music listeners are increasingly getting their music through (sometimes illegal) downloads, commercial-free Internet streams and other newer media that circumvent the traditional mechanisms labels and radio stations use to sell artists - and of course, to make money.

"It would behoove them (the music industry) to create big stars," said Bill Rouleau, co-owner of Rush-Mor Records, 2637 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., with dry understatement.

Simply put, the industry is desperate for an act that will appeal internationally and to all ages, an act young enough to have a potentially decades-long career and an act that's focused on making music rather than courting controversy.

Good looks and the endorsement of the notoriously hyperbolic but influential British music press wouldn't hurt, either.

Enter Coldplay.

"They're very, very strong musically. They're very, very strong songwriters. And they're very, very strong live performers. They're diligent about their craft. . . . They have a lot of respect for what they do," said Melinda Newman, Billboard's West Coast bureau chief.

A golden 'Parachute'
Formed in 1998, the British quartet released a few indie EPs to critical acclaim. Its 2000 full-length debut, "Parachutes," with its wistful hit "Yellow," began an international groundswell of love for the band that only grew with 2002's "A Rush of Blood to the Head." That sophomore album took the band into moodier territory but remains best known for its piano-driven, intergalactic easy-listening hit "Clocks."

The British band's third album, "X&Y," has been sitting in Billboard's top 10 since its release in June, with more than two million copies already sold in the U.S. Coldplay is even bigger abroad, with top five chart positions everywhere from New Zealand to Germany and Wallonia.

Yes, Wallonia.

"A lot of people were worried that maybe they'd peaked, 'Was "Clocks" the best it could get?' But they took what they had and built on it musically and commercially," Newman said.

The band has graced one magazine cover after another, often with an accompanying headline that suggests, as Filter put it, that we are living on "Planet Coldplay." Its current tour, including a stop Saturday at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, is being touted as the can't-miss outing of the summer.

"Coldplay is a very strong tour, which is good news for the business because we need to break new headliners," said Ray Waddell, who covers the concert industry as a senior editor at Billboard.

Comparisons with U2 come early and often from journalists, publicists and promoters.

It helps to be good-lookin'
Incredibly photogenic front man Chris Martin's marriage to incredibly photogenic international sweetheart Gwyneth Paltrow, which has produced one incredibly photogenic tabloid target, little Apple, doesn't hurt the band's profile, either, bringing in casual fans who might not otherwise give Coldplay a listen.

Want proof that the industry is banking on Coldplay? Consider this: The band is considered so crucial to the financial health of its label, EMI, that the company issued a warning to shareholders in February blaming lower-than-expected profits largely on a three-month delay in the release of "X&Y."

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