Global release day to begin Friday, July 10

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

I think what's most likely to happen is 2 tiers of artists will be created. The big names and artists that labels expect to sell big would get released on the "global" day, and everybody else would just be released whenever. The Beyonce's and Katy Perry's and Taylor Swift's of the world are the ones that the labels stand to lose big on if the albums dont sell well enough with all of the money they front from promo/videos/top name producers etc. They want to get a return on the investment and if they think moving the release date will sell a few more units, they'll do it.

And its not like its totally unprecedented. There were several examples of albums "leaking" and then suddenly seeing their street dates moved up. Whether these albums actually leaked or if it was just for publicity by the labels we'll never know.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Aug 13, 2014 10:07:48 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

I really dont think there are many people out there that pirate because they want an album faster who would buy it instead if it was legally available. The culture. People don't pirate to steal music. They pirate because that's how they get their music.

I will pirate a song if its not on iTunes... But Im somewhat OCD so I have to have the official version and will buy it if I like the song. Streaming costs just $10/month. It seems a lot easier to keep track of songs and song management in general. I wasnt sure if Id like it or not but its a much easier and cost effective and legal way to go if I can.

[CookyMonzta]

Aug 13, 2014 9:28:38 GMT -5 KeepDeanWeird said:

Aug 12, 2014 19:13:36 GMT -5 CookyMonzta said:

They should have thought about Friday album release dates a very long time ago! That is when most movie companies authorize the release of new films to theaters.

As for SoundScan, they should have considered Monday-to-Sunday sales-tracking the sooner they went online in 1991! Didn't it start out as a Monday-to-Sunday procedure, and then they moved the 7-day tracking week to coincide with Billboard's old national-sampling methods and Tuesday album release dates?

"Billboard's old national-sampling methods" Ah, yeah, funny how SS exposed the bias of record store reports against certain genres - particularly country as well as catalog titles, except for Dark Side of the Moon.

And BDS exposed the biases of radio's own music charts. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, the music charts of WRKS 98.7 'Kiss' FM in New York City didn't have a single rap song on its own top-40 chart, despite heavy airplay on that station (case in point, L.L. Cool J's 1990 hit, "Around-The-Way Girl", which reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the R&B charts).

[onebuffalo]

It needs some tweaking:

www.billboard.com/articles/business/6229283/IFPI-department-of-record-stores-global-release-day-tuesday

[areyoureadytojump]

^
Trade Bodies Say Global Release Day a Good Idea – Just Not the One Proposed
By Ed Christman | August 25, 2014

The proposed change to a global streetdate of Friday is receiving pushback from a coalition of independent record stores.

When the IFPI has announced that the industry is considering a global Friday streetdate, a spokesman told Billboard that the Friday streetdate is not a done deal, and that the merits of which date should serve as the global street date are still being debated.


Well, here comes the debate. In an e-mail to the industry, The Department of Record Stores -- which is comprised of small indie regional chains in the U.S. and Canada with a total of about 100 stores -- agrees that a universal street date would be a positive change, but instead of sticking to the script, the coalition proposes that the rest of the world move to the current U.S. day: Tuesday.

"The worldwide change should be made in a positive way and it should be done to maximize opportunities to increase sales for all retail partners," the note said. Tuesday would be the least disruptive, argues The Dept., because North America and the U.K. are the world's largest markets for music, and so the Tuesday street date used by Canada and the U.S. would mean that only the U.K. would need to move up its street date, currently Monday.

The next-best worldwide street date is Wednesday, according to Department of Record Stores' Michael Kurtz, who added in his e-mail that "Friday is the worst choice for a worldwide streetdate," because it will require costly changes and would lead to less sales.

Even though some top industry executives say the debate is still ongoing, others say it is a done deal -- that it will be Friday, even if the majors and IFPI are not publicly acknowledging so.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

What costly changes would moving the date to Friday cause that moving it to Wednesday wouldn't? And no crap keeping Tuesday would be least disruptive for US & Canadian retailers lol

[Kurt]

Aug 26, 2014 22:00:22 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

What costly changes would moving the date to Friday cause that moving it to Wednesday wouldn't? And no crap keeping Tuesday would be least disruptive for US & Canadian retailers lol

I think it mainly has to do with physical shipments and sales - consumers' purchasing habits would have to adjust (I don't think there's a clear loser of a day here, just that Tuesday has been a long-established day for new music and other media/entertainment releases in the US), as would distribution companies' shipping schedules (Monday being the obvious loser there for requiring weekend transit and employees to stock shelves ahead of time).

To me, Tuesday seems like the ideal day — artists can drum up excitement going into Tuesday and keep press appearances rolling throughout the week to remind consumers to go buy the album — but maybe that's just due to what I'm used to from living in the US. Wednesday just means one fewer day of such "reminders" in the work week. (I also liked the earlier Monday releases, plus the occasional early stock if I went to the store over the weekend, while I was in France, but I recognize that I'm not a typical music consumer.) Regardless of the date, I do think a global release date would help combat piracy — opponents of the argument (e.g. Forbes's recent article) suggest piracy is dead due to streaming, but in instances where the label doesn't do an advance album stream, the only way to listen after an early Friday release is to download the leak; much of that could be avoided if the album is available to hear worldwide (which is also why I support the idea of early album streams via iTunes Radio, SoundCloud embeds, etc.). (That was probably more me rambling than answering your question, haha.)

Also, maybe an interesting and quick read related to the subject: www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2010/09/08/129725205/why-albums-are-released-on-tuesdays

[Au$tin]

Honestly, for the US anyway, I've always thought Mondays made way more sense for release dates over Tuesdays because of the tracking period of the charts. And it's not like Monday releases are rare occurrences. My Everything came out on a Monday just this week, for example. I understand that shipping albums on Sundays may pose a problem, but let's be honest here, physical sales are decaying. Why not a digital release of all albums on 12AM EDT Monday with physical copies being released on whatever standard day has been set by the individual country?

[Az Paynter]

Aug 26, 2014 20:52:09 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Trade Bodies Say Global Release Day a Good Idea – Just Not the One Proposed
By Ed Christman | August 25, 2014

[ARTICLE HERE]

I like how the article made exactly zero mention of the territories that are already ON a Friday street date.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Have sales been any steadier in Australia/New Zealand than in the rest of the world? Because if not this whole thing is just grasping at straws to try to find anything to save the industry's numbers without looking at obvious things like price point as a cause of sales decline

[¤ Matthea ¤]

IMO, they should make Monday the street date. Monday is the start of the week. All new releases can be released digitally on that day. Because of the time zones the US would still be one of the last countries to get new music, but the time difference would be smaller than it is now.

Physical release can follow in a day or two.

[areyoureadytojump]

Aug 27, 2014 0:21:51 GMT -5 Az Paynter said:

Aug 26, 2014 20:52:09 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Trade Bodies Say Global Release Day a Good Idea – Just Not the One Proposed
By Ed Christman | August 25, 2014

[ARTICLE HERE]

I like how the article made exactly zero mention of the territories that are already ON a Friday street date.

The original article did.

The article makes a good point that the US and the UK have the largest markets so they should ultimately decide.

[Az Paynter]

Why should they though? Simply being the biggest isn't good enough, it can just easily be construed as typical Americans wanting the world to revolve around them as per. That's clearly not what this is, and I'm sure nobody's here for that kind of overblown exaggeration but what is the actual purpose of other territories changing their release dates? Different places set their release dates based on the culture of that particular market, where is the global benefit for conformation, and more specifically, what's the global benefit for conforming to the US model?

[areyoureadytojump]

^It goes both ways.

You live in Australia. You want it to stay on Friday.

I live in the USA. I want it to stay on Monday/Tuesday.

Ultimately, we have no say in the matter.

They should just leave it alone. Doesn't really matter to me...

[Az Paynter]

That doesn't answer my question. Why is one better than the other?

[areyoureadytojump]

^I don't think there is one for conforming to the US.

It's up to the billion dollar companies to decide.

[trebor]

IFPI Holds Conference on Global Friday Street Date While U.S. Opposition Mounts
By Ed Christman | September 15, 2014 6:04 PM EDT

While the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is moving ahead with plans to establish a global new release street date that would see all new releases coming out on Friday, U.S. opposition to moving it from the long-established Tuesday release is mounting.

In addition to independent record store coalitions, who were the first to publicly oppose such a move, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), the U.S. independent label organization, and Target, the giant discounter, are also publicly opposing a Friday street date. The Entertainment Retailers Assn. wants to see research on why Friday would be beneficial before it weighs in on the topic, says a spokesman for the trade group. And sources say that the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), which represents indie labels around the globe, also have concerns about the Friday street date, but the organization hadn't respond to an e-mail at press time.

Trade Bodies Say Global Release Day a Good Idea – Just Not the One Proposed

Those organizations and companies all endorse the concept of a global street date -- where new releases would come out the same day in all countries around the world -- just not the one chosen by the IFPA, the RIAA and the heads of the major labels.

The IFPI's conference call, held today (Sept. 15), focused on the plan for switching to Friday, and the proposed day is moving forward, despite U.S. retail opposition to that day. The conference call included a mixture of organizations representing record companies, retailers, international musician unions. Other than some U.S. retailers and WIN, most organizations are in favor of Friday, sources who were on the conference call tell Billboard.

"The proposal is for Friday because, taking all factors into account, Friday brings the most benefits overall for the industry at a global level," according to a IFPI spokesman Alex Jacob, who e-mailed Billboard on the Friday before the conference call today. "The key benefits include higher consumer footfall and online traffic levels over the weekend period, as well as increased social media activity which can help create a buzz around new releases and increased willingness to spend."

Yet the Tuesday street date used in the U.S. has been in place for a couple of decades. Since the music industry began the concept of releasing new records on the same day, other entertainment software industries -- books, DVDs, and video games -- have adopted Tuesday as the day to issue their new titles as well. So in the U.S., consumers know that Tuesday is the day to go to stores for new releases, making it the third largest sales volume day of the week, after Friday and Saturday.

"We completely support -- and want to help -- the music industry's effort to fight piracy, and we are 100% aligned for a global street date... but we think that the current Tuesday street date works best," says Target spokeswoman Jill Hornbacher. "It aligns with all the other entertainment properties in North America. Our guests have come to know that they can find new movies, new music and video games on that day. Tuesday is the day that helps us provide the best experience for our guests."

A2IM also favors keeping Tuesday as the street date. "Our position is that we favor a Global Street Date for the social media/digital commerce but we favor a date earlier in the week, preferably the same date as DVD’s, games, and books as they generate physical retail store traffic and result in less logistical challenges," A2IM head Rich Bengloff wrote in a note emailed to other industry leaders. "The issue is what day of the week and the proposed Friday street date has received a very poor reaction from our members."

The Entertainment Retailers Assn. welcomes a global street date, at least in principle. "We believe it is incumbent on anyone proposing the change to Friday to demonstrate why that day is the optimum choice," a spokesman for the trade group tells Billboard.

Prior to the conference call, IFPI's Jacob noted that the objections of U.S. retail would be discussed. "It’s worth adding that two of the world’s top ten markets -- Germany in 2005 and Australia in 2006 -- have already smoothly and successfully moved to a Friday," Jacob wrote to Billboard. "Some other smaller markets have also made the transition, such as the Czech Republic last year which switched from Monday, and the [industry in those countries] do not report any of the problems being flagged by [U.S.] retailers."

The move to a global street date is aimed at fighting piracy. With multiple street dates around the world -- Friday in Australia and Germany; Monday in the U.K. and Tuesday in the U.S. -- records released on Friday are put up on the internet immediately, making it easier for music fans in other markets to make unauthorized copies rather than buy the records when they come out on Monday or Tuesday. So a move to a Friday street date would make music commercially available in all markets on the same day.

The Department of Record Stores, one of the indie coalitions behind Record Store Day, were the first to contest the idea of a Friday street date. They say the Tuesday street date allows for errors in shipping and ordering. If an order gets lost in transit, or if a record turns out to be bigger than expected, the Friday street date leaves no room for errors, and if errors do occur it could lead to lost sales and impact customer relations. Meanwhile, the Tuesday street date gives stores time to restock for the weekend, if a record unexpectedly explodes upon its release.

The Friday release date will hurt in-stores as well, according to an email sent to industry executives by Michael Kurtz, who heads up the indie retail coalition, Department of Record Stores. "Artists and promoters are comfortable doing events on Tuesday -- or most days not on or near the weekend -- as it does not compete with their weekend concerts/shows -- which are the artist and promoters’ bread and butter," Kurtz wrote. "If the street date is moved to Friday then artist street date events will stop." Kurtz also noted that "stores who do a healthy online business say that most of the orders they receive are during working hours. No one can understand why a street date would be picked [Friday] that is followed by 48 hours [Saturday and Sunday] when most customers are not at work, and thus more are away from the computers and less likely to purchase music online. Again, this will lead to lost sales."

Other sources say lost sales are not the only concern; there will be increased costs associated with such a switch. "Those charged with looking at the logistics on the ground about the proposed change, are concluding there will be huge costs in moving it to a Friday street date," one source tells Billboard. "This sounds like its coming from the top of companies and organizations. The closer that anyone is to the logistics, they think its a mess."

In addition to record labels and retailers, the IFPI also expects that the chart weeks will change in conjunction with a move to the Friday street date. Currently, the Nielsen SoundScan week runs from Monday through Sunday.

[onebuffalo]

Retailers pushing back:

www.billboard.com/articles/business/6274133/global-release-date-retailers-association

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/6327772/retailers-indie-labels-pushing-for-monday-global-release-day

Retailers & Indie Labels Pushing for Monday Global Release Day
By Harley Brown, New York | November 25, 2014

In August, it was reported that the music industry had its eye on a Friday global release day that would take effect July 2015. Now that proposition is getting some pushback from a cohort of retailers and indie record labels, who are endorsing a Monday over a Friday street date.

In an announcement made Tuesday (Nov. 25), organizations including the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Amoeba Music, Newbury Comics, Rough Trade U.K. and U.S., and Redeye Distribution agree to the concept of a global release day -- they just want it on a different day.

This news follows opposition to a Friday date first broached in September, when Target spokeswoman Jill Hornbacher said her company believed Tuesday worked best for retail synchronization and logistical reasons, which were echoed by A2IM head Rich Bengloff. "It aligns with all the other entertainment properties in North America," she said. "Our guests have come to know that they can find new movies, new music and video games on that day."

"The evidence suggests that virtually all the benefits of a Global Release Date can be captured on a Monday without any additional costs," Kim Bayley, director general of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said in a statement. "It is a no-brainer. The potential to create a New Music Monday focusing all of the industry’s marketing efforts at the beginning of the week is very exciting."

The idea of a universal release date was initially floated to combat piracy: Australia currently has a Friday street date, which means digital piracy begins almost immediately once the new release is shared across the Web before fans in the U.K. (which has a Monday street date) or the U.S. (Tuesday) have a chance to purchase the music legally. Advocates for releasing albums in the beginning of the week point out that it would cost less than releasing them on Friday, as many labels already release albums, tracks, etc. on Monday. (Even though, as Australian Music Retailers Association executive director Ian Harvey told Billboard, the costs and logistics of moving to a Friday release date were "non-issues.")

Added Alison Wenham, chairman and CEO of the Association of Independent Music, "Supporting independent retailers is a core principal of independent record companies, and we work together very closely. If the retailers' view is that Monday is the best day for new releases -- why would we argue otherwise? They are after all the experts in retail."

The Department of Record Stores also endorses a Monday release date, as they initially argued that a Tuesday street date allows for errors in shipping and ordering that a Friday release date does not. Plus, a Monday/Tuesday release gives stores time to restock for the weekend in case an order gets lost in transit, a record is bigger than expected, or if a record happens to explode upon its release.

[funkpunkandroll]

Target is making a big hoopla about the Friday move saying if that happens, they won't sell music (which is dumb imo):

Music industry close to naming Friday as new global release day
By Ryan Love Tuesday, Feb 24 2015, 2:51pm EST

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is said to be on the verge of confirming Friday as a new global release day for albums.

It was first reported last August that major labels and retailers were in discussions about a new worldwide street date for record releases in an effort to combat piracy.

While new albums are currently released on Mondays in the UK and Tuesdays in the US, they go on sale on Fridays in countries including Germany, Australia and Ireland.

Trade paper Music Week reports that a decision to settle on Friday could be reached soon.

IFPI CEO Frances Moore said: "The whole dynamic of the global release day consultation has been driven by one thing and one thing only - how best to serve the music consumer.

"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.

"The artist organisations and many retailers and record companies internationally support Friday, and this is backed by consumer research in many countries."

Moore admitted that there are "other voices who prefer other days", but added that they intend to "make an announcement as soon as possible".

Music Week further reports that US retailer Target could stop stocking music altogether. This follows early reports that retailers' initial concerns included physical delivery schedules across the world.

Read more: www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a631300/music-industry-close-to-naming-friday-as-new-global-release-day.html#ixzz3SiueH7YH
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook

[theonlyone]

Feb 24, 2015 22:22:33 GMT -5 funkpunkandroll said:

Target is making a big hoopla about the Friday move saying if that happens, they won't sell music (which is dumb imo):

Since they do not carry much music on the shelf anymore already, they may just be wanting to use this reason as cover for a plan to eventually stop selling music in store anyways and lessen any feared negative reaction.

[Kurt]

Feb 24, 2015 23:34:01 GMT -5 theonlyone said:

Feb 24, 2015 22:22:33 GMT -5 funkpunkandroll said:

Target is making a big hoopla about the Friday move saying if that happens, they won't sell music (which is dumb imo):

Since they do not carry much music on the shelf anymore already, they may just be wanting to use this reason as cover for a plan to eventually stop selling music in store anyways and lessen any feared negative reaction.

I highly doubt that, having just read the Power 100 issue of Billboard where their work with physical music is praised (over 1M copies of 1989 were sold through Target and one exec was quoted as saying that their first call when discussing specially physical releases was to Target) - except for maybe Walmart, I'm fairly sure they're the biggest physical retailer, and they score a bunch of exclusive deluxe editions, now more than ever, I certainly wouldn't expect them to actually pull their music section...but they've been picky in the past too with early iTunes releases (Frank Ocean, Watch The Throne, Beyoncé).

As for the rumored Friday date, I feel like I prefer an early-week release day, but maybe that's just due to familiarity.

[funkpunkandroll]

^^ I think Target still will do exclusive deals with new albums, that's not likely to change even if they go ahead with the Friday global release thing. I doubt Target will want consumers madder than they are by taking out the music stockage.

[funkpunkandroll]

Feb 24, 2015 23:42:21 GMT -5 Kurt said:

Feb 24, 2015 23:34:01 GMT -5 theonlyone said:

Since they do not carry much music on the shelf anymore already, they may just be wanting to use this reason as cover for a plan to eventually stop selling music in store anyways and lessen any feared negative reaction.

I highly doubt that, having just read the Power 100 issue of Billboard where their work with physical music is praised (over 1M copies of 1989 were sold through Target and one exec was quoted as saying that their first call when discussing specially physical releases was to Target) - except for maybe Walmart, I'm fairly sure they're the biggest physical retailer, and they score a bunch of exclusive deluxe editions, now more than ever, I certainly wouldn't expect them to actually pull their music section...but they've been picky in the past too with early iTunes releases (Frank Ocean, Watch The Throne, Beyoncé).

As for the rumored Friday date, I feel like I prefer an early-week release day, but maybe that's just due to familiarity.

That's another reason I think it's dumb. I feel they just say that to get attention. They're not going to take their music off the shelves any time soon. Like I said, even with them shortening their shelves (even more so than Wal Mart), there's still some musical money to be had in Target. Other than that, I have no issue with people wanting to release albums on a Friday. I would be okay for a Monday release for U.S. albums as well but it is what it is.

[areyoureadytojump]

This Friday release date will not happen in the USA.

More cds are sold each week than digital albums.

EDIT: I could be very wrong.

[funkpunkandroll]

^ Oh. So it's just a European thing? I guess that does speaks volumes since the U.S. has majorly stepped out of discussions then. So we'll still have Tuesday releases even with the global release day set? Then what was that hullabaloo about with Target???

[areyoureadytojump]

^That's just my opinion. US retailers and record labels don't seem too enthused.

[areyoureadytojump]

hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=294824

FRIDAYS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

The IFPI is “on the verge” of announcing Friday as the global release day for new music. The move would bring all territories in line with Australia and Germany, Music Week reports.

“The whole dynamic of the global release day consultation has been driven by one thing and one thing only—how best to serve the music consumer,” IFPI CEO Frances Moore tells the trade. “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. 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. 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.”

Objections have come from indie label peeps, including Beggars’ Martin Mills, merchants such as Target, which has threatened to drop music from its stores as a result of the change.

and....................

hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=294825

FRIDAY STREET DATE SPECULATION

The Music Week report about an “imminent” switch to a worldwide Friday street date got us thinking—always an iffy proposition. Here are a couple of random ruminations:

Potential impact on the bible, SoundScan and the charts: People are wondering if SoundScan will change the reporting week because of this shift. In the current reporting period, new releases would lose three days of sales in their debut week. The whole model of strategizing to score a #1 debut would have to be rethought. Titles in their second and third weeks with seven days of sales could realistically beat out a debut, which would have just three days of sales, for #1.

Potential impact on terrestrial retail: Because movies and books will still presumably have a Monday/Tuesday street date, concerns over additional payroll have been raised at Target. That said, any major retailer that doesn't have an inventory/merchandising crew in in Friday to stock up for the weekend is on borrowed time anyway.

We’re reminded of Michael Eisner’s take on the extended work week: "If you're not going to come in on Saturday, don't even bother showing up on Sunday."

[funkpunkandroll]

Feb 25, 2015 12:00:35 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

^That's just my opinion. US retailers and record labels don't seem too enthused.

Oh OK, got you.

[Envoirment]

I'd rather it be Monday. Don't like having both the single & album charts running different from each other (Sunday-Saturday in the UK). I'm pretty sure a lot of other countries are similar. The only country I know that does Friday releases is Ireland. Although I get the thought behind it - release Friday & potentailly have boosted sales thanks to the weekend/being a new release? Although I doubt it'll boost sales much at all.