Music Releases Move to Friday— Now What?

• by Melissa Bobbitt
• Mar 2, 2015

The big hullaballoo this past week in the music world was that the world got a little more united. Friday was dubbed the universal day for fresh releases, after a lifetime of varying days for different nations. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a body that represents record labels worldwide, claims that the Friday release date embraces digital trends and tears down figurative borders. Smaller entities such as Beggars Group – who represents artists ranging from M.I.A. to Interpol – have decried the move, insisting the uniform Friday push will further line the coffers of mainstream acts.

The move was apparently made to curb international piracy. (Example: The United States’ release date was Tuesday. Australia would have to wait until Friday to get the same albums. Thus, as the IFPI insists, that would encourage piracy. However, it’s the United States that pirates the most music via BitTorrent, according to analytics firm MusicMetric, Huffington Post Canada reports.)

Will the move to Fridays be the magic bullet the limping business has sought since the early aughts, when Soundscan sales peaked? This is pure speculation, but maybe Friday, that great gatekeeper of the weekend, will become the day young adults and other music fans treat themselves to new tunes.