CDs are becoming an endangered species. |
Fridays are for movies releases. Now you can add album releases to Friday.
Drake has proven to be the lion that roars in the 2015 with his surprise album. But now it seems like this is going to be a new norm. The music industry will now make an effort to release albums from major recording artists on Friday.
Agence France-Presse reports that the music industry has announced an agreement to release albums globally on Fridays, ending divergences among regions that have fueled piracy in an age of instant music.
Key groups representing music retailers, record companies and artists said that they would coordinate album releases to go out everywhere each Friday at one minute past midnight local time.
Thursday's decision, after nine months of consultation, is expected to go into effect by summer in the Northern Hemisphere, said Frances Moore, chief executive officer of the music industry's global body IFPI.
"What is absolutely clear is that there is nearly unanimous agreement that a global release date is a good thing," Moore told AFP.
Under longstanding traditions, albums are generally released on Monday in Britain and France, Tuesday in the United States, Wednesday in Japan and Friday in Australia and Germany.
The variations have looked increasingly anachronistic amid the rapid growth of digital downloading and more recently streaming, contributing to a black market for albums already out in one region.
Moore said that a global release date would help bring more excitement to the industry.
"Let's say Daft Punk, for example, makes an announcement saying that their album's out today, but it's in America and it's not until Friday in Germany. There is a three- or four-day gap.
The move according to AFP is going to shake up small business. You see that with Tuesday being a normal release date for most album releases, it's essential that the small business see the product move in the early. Digital releases are dominating everything. It is practically killing CDs, DVD, vinyls and the old cassette tapes.
Granted that a number of independent retailers in the United States, the world's largest music market, had opposed the Friday release date, arguing that weekends were already the busiest time and it made sense to encourage customers to come on an otherwise slow Tuesday.
In recent years, artists including Beyonce and Madonna have also suddenly released albums without warning, sometimes selling them first in digital format, either in response to leaks or sometimes to avoid them.
Moore said that the Friday plan enjoyed broad support but that there would be no legal ramifications for anyone who insists on another day.
"But there is a clear majority in favor of doing this, and I think eventually it will be aligned," she said.
Enjoy the music from Rae Sremmurd, a rap group that appears on Interscope Records and Ear Drummers Entertainment.
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