Snow Patrol and Apple aim for sales stratosphere.(Interview)

This autumn heralds the return of million-selling UK act Snow Patrol who, with a new global management team in place and help from a unique iPhone application, have mapped out ambitious plans for their forthcoming fifth album. Music Week talks to the team about life after Chasing Cars

Snow Patrol will become the first artists to deliver an interactive album application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, ahead of the release of their fifth studio album next month.

The application, which will be downloadable online, will enable fans to access a raft of extra content including artwork, behind-the-scenes images and lyrics via the touch screen of their handsets, marking the first time a music artist has made use of the iPhone's extra capabilities.

The popularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch homescreen applications has shot up in recent months as consumers look for ways to customise their handsets.

"It will be an interactive element; a digital booklet that will take you into the videos and content," says Polydor product manager Liz Goodwin. "For fans it will be a real must-have, and the fact that they are the first band to do this gives us an additional angle for exposure."

The phone application forms part of Fiction Records' launch activity for what is anticipated to be one of the fourth quarter's biggest releases.

Entitled A Hundred Million Suns, the new album is Snow Patrol's third for Fiction/Polydor, which has sold 3.7m copies of the band's past two studio albums in the UK alone: 2003's Final Straw sold 1.6m, while Eyes Open, released in 2006, sold 2.1m.