TGIF: Album releases switched from Tuesday

TORONTO As of July 10, the music industry initiated a worldwide shift toward pushing out almost all new albums on Fridays, upending the previous North American standard of releasing new tunes on Tuesdays.

Officially, industry execs are touting the globally synchronized release date as a tonic for piracy, an opportunity for internationally co-ordinated marketing, and a chance to stimulate sales with free-spending weekend whimsy.

“Friday has been chosen because our consumer research — which was conducted in eight international markets — showed that that’s the day when consumers overwhelmingly wanted to see music released,” said Music Canada president Graham Henderson in a telephone interview.

“Tuesday is just kind of a relic of the past.”

Privately, however, reaction in the industry seems to range from ambivalence to anxiety. A rather low-wattage slate of offerings last week makes it difficult to analyze the immediate effects of the change, and the week of July 17 release — perhaps headlined by Tame Impala’s stardust-touched Currents — isn’t a much better industry barometer.

David Bakula, Nielsen Entertainment’s senior vice-president of industry insights, says until a blockbuster release is issued on a Friday, it will be tough to fairly analyze the shift.

On the positive side, he suggests physical retailers could benefit from weekend shoppers, flush with disposable income. Optimists could also take comfort in the fact that, as Bakula notes, release dates seem to hold less weight in the digital age.

Further, many in the industry hope the shift will stop the illegal leaks of records with earlier release dates in international markets.

Still, Bakula also warns of several potential issues.

He notes audio streaming has typically peaked on Tuesdays and generally is higher during the week

He also points out, the former rollout strategy used to incite a sales spike on Tuesday, followed by a secondary peak on the weekend.

Now, sales might be front-loaded to the weekend and shiny new releases could gather rust even faster.

“That’s the thing that will concern me and make me take some pause on whether this is good or not,” said Bakula in a telephone interview.

Until there’s concrete evidence of the Friday shift’s effect on sales, it’s difficult to find a musician who will admit to caring.