Could Friday be the New Global Release Day for Music?
The idea of all new music releases around the world coming out on the same day isn’t an original one. In 
a digital age where music can be illegally ripped and shared across the web, the music industry is seemingly looking for a new way to ensure that sales don’t continue to slide due to such behaviour.
With that in mind, it’s been reported by Music Week that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) could soon announce a global standard that’ll see all new music released, regardless of region, on Fridays only.
While IFPI CEO Frances Moore wouldn’t confirm the rumour, she did tell Music Week the following:
“We’ve had a long consultation involving retailers artists and record labels, and we have looked at a large amount of insight and research. 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,” explained Moore. “The artist organizations and many retailers and record companies internationally support Friday, and this is backed by consumer research in many countries.
“There are other voices who prefer other days, and that’s not surprising,” she continued. “It would be very surprising if a project like this, involving over 50 national markets, didn’t lead to some objections in some markets. However, there is no doubt we have had a long and thorough consultation with the stakeholders involved and we now intend to make an announcement as soon as possible.”
Someone who is concerned about this proposition is Martin Mills, the head hauncho of indie label, Beggars Group.
“I have concerns about the proposed global release day,” said Mills this week. “Whilst I acknowledge the needs of a digital world for co-ordination, it seems to me to be crazy to throw away one of the trading week’s two peaks, and the ability to re-stock and rectify errors before the week’s second peak.
“It astounds me that the major labels are not listening to their customers, their interface with their artists’ fans,” he added. “I fear their consultation has been a charade, and the market leaders were always going to push this through. 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 that is exactly what it is intended to do.”
Apart from combatting pirating, there’s also a popular belief that moving album release days to Friday could lead to improved sales thanks to the heightened foot traffic retailers generally receive on weekends.
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