Looks like those days of buying new music on Tuesday may be numbered, at least according to an article published by Music Week.
Last August, it was reported by Billboard that music industry insiders were trying to change the official music release date from Tuesdays to Fridays in an attempt to deter people from pirating new music before its official release date.
Countries like Germany would typically release new music on Fridays while the United Kingdom and the United States would get the same music the following week (Monday and Tuesday, respectfully), resulting in a large number of pirated albums during those three to four days.
While this plot has been going on behind the scenes without anyone’s knowledge for sometime, it became news once Australia passed their own ruling, making their official music release date Fridays.
In the same article, Music Week claims that the move is “on the verge” of becoming a reality and that a formal announcement will be happening soon, according to Frances Moore of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
“The good news has been the widespread support we’ve seen around the world for global release day — no one has seriously questioned the concept, the only debate has been about the day,” Moore said of the negotiations between the music industry including retailers, record labels, and artists.
“The artist organizations and many retailers and record companies internationally support Friday, and this is backed by consumer research in many countries.”
But while Moore and all the “industry people” are for Fridays, many independent labels, record stores, and some artists aren’t feeling the same love for this idea.
As pointed out back in August, it makes it more strenuous on artists to do promotional events for a new record if this becomes one universal release date. Before, with albums being release at different times, an artist could do some high-profiled promotional things in Germany one day, fly to the U.K. to do another high-profiled promotional event, and then fly to the U.S. to do another high-profiled event and still be able promote the record equally.
While Billboard did claim it’s possible to do promotional events for a new record during the week the album is released, it would make it harder to schedule big promotional events in different countries. Do the artists do and appearance on Good Morning America or go to the United Kingdom to do a radio interview?
As pointed out before, independent record store owners and record labels are not happy about the shift. Beggar’s Group founder Martin Mills is one of those speaking out against the change.
“It astounds me that the major labels are not listening to their customers, their interface with their artists’ fans. I fear their consultation has been a charade, and the market leaders were always going to push this through,” Mills told Music Week.
“I fear this move will also lead to a market in which the mainstream dominates, and the niche, which can be tomorrow’s mainstream, is further marginalized. I fear it will further cement the dominance of the few – and that is exactly what it is intended to do.”
Though Moore and IFPI are mum about when the formal announcement will be made, it was originally projected to happen sometime this July.
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