The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has established when the music industry will making the switch from Tuesday to Friday as the official release date for new albums, establishing that the week of July 10 will be the first to feature new music right before the weekend (from Rolling Stone). The shift has been considered since mid-2014.
Primary reasoning for the move includes piracy, as many albums come out in foreign countries before they hit the United States, allowing international citizens to upload the tunes before it becomes available in the world's biggest music market. Another suggested reason is the hope that listeners will be more willing to shell out for new music on Fridays, when many receive their paychecks (also a reason why Friday serves as the universal movie premiere day).
More likely than not, however, is that major labels and producers were tired of dealing with the logistics of a non-uniform release date.
"Music fans live in the digital world of today," said Frances Moore, CEO of IFPI at the time of the initial announcement. "Their love for new music doesn't recognize national borders. They want music when it's available on the Internet - not when it's ready to be released in their country. An aligned global release day puts an end to the frustration of not being able to access releases in their country when the music is available in another country."
Although it seems unlikely that a new release day might add up to reversing the recent drops in album sales, only the months following July will tell us if the experiment worked.
At the moment, it doesn't seem like any major releases will be altered by the shift in release dates (Metacritic's forthcoming albums chart only lists Between The Buried and Me's Coma Ecliptic as due for July 7 at this point). In the modern era, where Beyoncé and Drake can drop blockbuster albums whenever the heck they want, the switch from Tuesday to Friday might be a moot point in the long run.
