Music

Friday may become the universal album release day

by Mark Teo

For music diehards, there’s no day as sacred as Tuesdays. Far from being Monday’s ugly little sibling, Tuesday is a shining ray of hope for the music obsessed, and that’s largely because, traditionally, it’s the day that new albums are released in North America. It’s when, in days of yore, people camped outside record stores. It’s when we browsed record-store shelves the most, hoping to find something unexpected. And currently, Tuesdays are when we flock to Rdio to hunt for new music.

But that’s all set to change.

According to Consequence of Sound, the international album release day is slated to be changed to Friday. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry—whose name is so dated, it feels new again—is expected to make the announcement soon, and their reasoning is simple: They’re hoping that the change will help curb piracy.

How, you ask? Albums are often released in Australia and Europe the Friday before an album’s standard Tuesday release date. By ensuring that albums have a standardized international release date, reasons the IFPI, labels can significantly diminish piracy.

“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,” IFPI spokesperson Frances Moore told MusicWeek.

The idea hasn’t sat well with certain parties, though. Setting an standardized international release day, it stands to reason, can harm smaller artists and labels: If everything comes out on the same day, larger releases threaten to overshadow smaller ones. “There are other voices who prefer other days, and that’s not surprising. It would be very surprising if a project like this, involving over 50 national markets, didn’t lead to some objections in some markets,” adds Moore. “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.”

Of course, it’s laughable to think that standardizing a release date can combat piracy in any significant manner. For one, album leaks can happen weeks—if not months—before an album release date, and largely, a consumer isn’t responsible for sharing the first iterations of a pirated album.

So, in our eyes, this decision isn’t a significant one—it’s more of an annoyance to those who, like us, worship Tuesdays as a sacred day. But maybe the move isn’t so bad; it’ll add another layer of meaning to Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”