Global Release Day (alternatively known asNew Music Fridays) is the universal day of the week for releasing new music. Global Release Day was established in 2015 to combat the rise inmusic piracy, as music was previously released on different days internationally: Tuesdays in the United States and Canada, and other days in different markets. Friday was set as Global Release Day as a result of a trend of Friday releases that started withBeyoncé's 2013surpriseself-titled album.
Historically, new music was made available on varying national release days. In major markets such as the United States and Canada, new music was released on Tuesdays, largely because theBillboard charts were published on Wednesday, and because retailers could prepare their stock ahead of the weekend. Other markets varied in their music release days, such as France and the United Kingdom where music was released on Mondays.[1]
American singer-songwriter Beyoncé released hersurpriseself-titled album on Friday, December 13, 2013, in a break with industry norms. The Friday release meant that fans across the world could experience the music at the same time, and new music on a Friday was seen as enabling listeners to enjoy the album over the weekend. This move set a trend of artists releasing their albums on Fridays.[2] Due to increasedpiracy as a result of the rise ofdigital music andstreaming, theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) decided to create a unified Global Release Day, on which music releases are made uniformly available around the world, to streamline global music consumption, minimize piracy, and create a culture-shaping moment each week. On June 11, 2015, the IFPI announced that the Global Release Day will be set for Fridays, known as New Music Fridays, as a result of the impact from Beyoncé's album.[3][4][5]
Today, music releases are now uniformly available in all 45 signatory countries on Fridays at 00:01 local time. The change in release schedules has changed the previously traditional days when official music charts were published, as countries try to capture a full week's sales from Friday mornings to Thursday nights. For example, theOfficial Charts Company moved theUK singles chart from being published on a Sunday to a Friday, with theBBC also moving its new Top 40 charts program from Sundays to Fridays.
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