OFFICIAL: IFPI Sets Friday As New Global Music Release Day
As we reported yesterday, international recording industry trade body IFPI has declared that by summer Friday at 12.01 AM will be the new official date and time for new global music releases. Friday is already new release day in Germany and Australia, but the shift means big changes in the US, UK and elsewhere.
In a statement, the IFPI named three reasons for the shift:
1) Consumers Want It – "Music fans live in the digital world of today. Their love for new music doesn’t recognise 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."
2) A Global Release Day Celebrates New Music – "By creating a single day for new releases across the world, it’s an opportunity to re-awaken the excitement and anticipation of new music everywhere. Many artists feel the sense of an event in releasing music has been diminished. That is why the artists involved in the discussion around the project have been so fired up by the concept."
3) Piracy – "The global release day narrows the gap on piracy by making it less likely that consumers will go to pirate sites when they can’t get new releases in their country. This will help channel revenues back to the legitimate rights owners."
Not Everyone Agrees
Some major retailers including Target are sending messages that they may dump music all together rather that spend the money needed to make the change.
Beggars Group chief Martin Mills adds, "Whilst I acknowledge the needs of a digital world for co-ordination, it seems to me to be crazy to throw away one of the trading week’s two peaks, and the ability to re-stock and rectify errors before the week’s second peak."
