I have a feeling I said I "quite like" the new Coldplay album on the Today programme this morning, which is quite a seismic shift in editorial policy for us here at CMU. I really should have consulted my co-Editor before going out on such a limb. Still, there you go EMI, have that quote on me, "I quite like it", Chris Cooke, CMU.

In case you think the Today programme has dumbed down quite a bit in the last few weeks and is now carrying pop reviews, I should stress I was on the Radio 4 show discussing Coldplay's new album 'Viva La Vida', out today everybody, in the context of how important this long player's success is for EMI and the major's boss Guy Hands.

Of course, no one album is going to make or break a major record company – and EMI's biggest album of the year could as yet come from a new signing we've not heard of – but any one major always relies on a handful of the hundreds of artists on its roster to bring in a disproportionately high portion of their overall revenues. And as each of those bankable artists will only release a new album once every two to three years (and, in the main, of course, it is only an artist's album sales that make the label any money, because they don't get a cut of live or merchandising revenue), there will only be two or three of these major revenue generating albums for any one major record company in any one year, so their success is important. Coldplay are undoubtedly one of EMI's most bankable bands at the moment, so they do need 'Viva La Vida' to do well.

That said, EMI isn't going to go out of business if Chris Martin et al's new offering bombs. But, aside from the actual impact the success of albums like these have on bottom line profits, there's always that other dimension – it's important for a major record company to be seen to be in good health, especially among the financial community, and the success of a major, especially one in private hands, is often measured on the success of these big album releases. And, of course, all eyes, in both the music business and the investment community, have been on EMI since Guy Hands bought it last year and made bold statements about completely reinventing the firm for the digital era, with promises to simplify its structure, downsize its workforce, separate its A&R and marketing functions to encourage better focus, and to better serve and, in return, make higher demands of their artists.

Coldplay's new album is the first major release from EMI since that restructuring began, which is why city types are taking an interest in it. Of course it's possibly too early to be putting Hands' new look EMI to the test – his restructuring is only half complete, meaning that if 'Viva La Vida' is a big hit he'll probably claim that's down to his revamp, but if its sales disappoint he'll claim that that's because his new system isn't properly in place yet. And, let us not forget, the best sales and marketing teams and systems in the world can't make a 'bad' record sell, and whether or not a record is good is out of the marketers' hands (and, even out of the artists' hands in some ways, depending on your definition of 'bad' – an artist can make a creatively good album that, for some reason, doesn't gel with their fans or the mainstream music buyer, meaning commercially it doesn't succeed). But despite these flaws in judging the viability of EMI in terms of one Coldplay album, many commentators probably will.

So, will 'Viva La Vida' perform for EMI? Well, despite Martin saying he thinks the new album is very different, and despite a 'rawer' sound on some tracks, and glimpses of Brian Eno being in the studio in others, it is definitely a Coldplay album, and should, I reckon, appeal to those masses who, for reasons I've never quite fathomed, flock to this band's releases. Of course it's really in the US – where EMI has a miserable 8% market share at the moment, and where Coldplay do a lot better than many of their British indie band contemporaries, and where Martin's Hollywood wife helps get the band air time – where the major could really do with shifting big units on this one. Universal's Lil Wayne is the big release there this week, so Coldplay's long player will be unleashed there next week. Remains to be seen how it does.

Of course, the fact that the Today programme is discussing all this offers some useful extra publicity for the new Coldplay long player – with its weird Thursday release – and I've never dedicated a whole editorial to one of their albums before. So by asking whether the Coldplay album will be successful enough to give Guy Hands' EMI the 'PR push' in confidence it needs, we may just be helping it to be so. If Hands' office want to thank me for my efforts by all means do. Though not with a free copy of 'Viva La Vida' – it's quite good, but not that good.