The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has formally announced that July 10 will mark the beginning of the "global release day" on Fridays as part of an agreement between 45 nations involved. For listeners in the United States, that means new albums will no longer become available on Tuesdays as they have in the past but, like films, will be released on Fridays.
"Consumers were telling us via different pieces of research done across many countries that Fridays and Saturdays was when they wanted new music and that's what has led this campaign," said Frances Moore, CEO of the IFPI. "We're hoping that with more consumers in stores on Fridays and Saturdays, which stores tell us leads to increase impulse buying, and with peak activity on most social media [typically taking place over the weekend], will all lead to an increase in sales."
That's sensible enough—The film industry has long released its new movies on Fridays because that's when people tend to get paid...and people tend to spend money right after getting paid. We'll have to see how it effects sales, if at all, in the months to come after the July 10 launch date.
There's another, perhaps more relevant reason for the IFPI to push for a global release day however, and one that Moore didn't hint at: preventing piracy. The current system, which sees markets such as the UK getting new releases more than four days before other big nations such as Australia and Germany, invites piracy as those with the album upload music onto the internet...perhaps discouraging listeners in other nations to download versus purchase. That said, some Asian nations such as Japan have not signed onto the global release date, so this could still be an issue.
And how about July 10? Why that date?
The simplest explanation is that it comes well before the music industry enters Quarter 4, by far its biggest sales period of the year (thanks to Black Friday and the Christmas season). That specific date in July can probably be explained by a lack of huge releases...The IFPI would be less likely to experiment with a new release date in the United States if a guaranteed seller such as Taylor Swift or Drake were dropping an album.
