Music Release Dates: Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
The only way to get through the daunting week of work or school is to give each weekday a milestone. Monday generally sucks, knowing you have four more days until you’re free again, but you at least have classmates and coworkers to wallow with you in misery. Wednesday is Hump Day, Thursday is thirsty (Happy Hour, anyone?), and Friday is TGIF.
What about Tuesday you ask? We used to look forward to new music releases on Tuesday -- new tunes to get us through the rest of the week. Now the global release date has been moved to Friday. Tuesday is as irrelevant as ever.
(Photo: Wired U.K.)
If you're an avid Spotify listener like me, you probably noticed it one fine Tuesday on your morning drive when you tried to put on the New Music Tuesday playlist—only to find it renamed New Music Friday. For others, it may have happened on your weekly Target trip when you noticed the signs in the electronics aisle pointing to a Friday release of the album you were patiently waiting for. Like many, I was severely disappointed when I first heard the news in July. And if you can’t tell, I still haven’t adjusted.
(Photo: Fusion)
Historically, each country had its own release day. France and Britain chose Monday, whereas Germany and Australia have always released on Friday. Prior to 1980, the United States didn’t have a set day; albums were released whenever record stores received shipments. However, record label execs argued it wasn’t fair that some artists were losing a week of sales just because their box was buried deeper than others in the stock room. So they decided to give music stores the weekend to receive shipments and Monday to stock the shelves -- hence the Tuesday release.
But that was when music was physical product. Now we live in the digital age where we can download music onto our smartphones. Thanks to the Web, if an album is released on Friday in Austrailia it can easily be available to the rest of the world long before Tuesday.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a U.K. based organization that serves as the United Nations of the music industry, announced the change to Friday releases earlier this year. The main goal of the organization is to reduce piracy of the new albums. The IFPI announcement noted that the organization collaborated with artists, labels, unions, and retailers to decide upon a unified release day. The IFPI believes this will allow artists to better focus their social media campaigns and press events, and also re-ignite excitement about new music releases.
(Photo: Hip Hop n' More)
"Music fans live in the digital world of today," said IFPI CEO Frances Moore. "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."
A Friday global release day makes sense—after all it’s payday for most and it kicks off the weekend. However, I can’t help but miss waking up on Tuesday to an album with 12 brand new tracks I want to play on repeat for the next five days. The anticipation is half the fun.
Now we'll spend our whole lives, week in and week out, waiting for Friday. Why not let Tuesday keep its moment in the sun? So this one’s for you New Music Tuesday. Thanks for all the joyful mornings you let me cruise to work with the windows down belting out your new jams. You may be gone—but you’ll never be forgotten.
