Record release days vary all over the world. In Australia, albums are released on Fridays. Albums come out on Monday in the U.K., and on Tuesday in the U.S. This lack of consistency makes it difficult to plan worldwide releases. Once an album drops in one country, it’s practically impossible to keep it from spreading on the internet.
Could one consistent worldwide release day make the process easier?
Billboard reports that the industry is moving towards making Friday a global album release day. This could go into effect around July of 2015. The motivation behind the change is to cut down on piracy.
Some sources say the major labels, IFPI, and RIAA are all on board. Other sources say the decision is still being made.
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Various indie labels and retailers reportedly want album releases to happen at the beginning of the week because it will lead to more sales. One label executive said:
“This global streetdate is necessary for the industry but unfortunately it will be awkward for the physical retailers to change their ways of doing business…”
A change would also impact the manufacturing process and music charts around the world.
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u
Image: Record Store Day @ Rough Trade East 09 by spencer hickman; licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).
Makes complete sense to me. UK actually now releases most things on a Sunday as the chart is from midnight Saturday to midnight Saturday so many labels have capitalised on this.
Having worked at a company where you had to have six different release days depending on what territory you were releasing in was always ridiculous. The release date will become Friday globally
Which country’s Friday, though?
Time and date isn’t even consistent across the globe. It’s Thursday in Australia and Japan right now.
If it’s Friday in ‘Murica, it’s Friday everywhere. Have we already forgotten the teachings of George W.?
This so doesn’t matter in 2014…
How did they come up with Friday for a global release date? Seems kind of dumb. No one I know is itching to download songs on a Friday, they want to go out and listen to bands, or see a movie, or have dinner, date, or just go out drinking. Friday works for theatrical releases, but it doesn’t make sense for media that people mostly enjoy in solitude these days.
They’ll remember about the album on the following Monday or Tuesday. By then, everything will already be available by illegal means.
(Besides that, which country’s Friday and clock are we talking about? It will be Saturday somewhere.)
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday seem like better release days. Did they do some sort of research to determine that piracy can be curbed by a Friday release?
I think Chris Tucker was the driving force behind Friday.
Yeah, Ice Cube confirmed it is the Best Day Ever.
This is an excellent idea. Full support.