Global Record Release Day from 2015?

A report from Billboard suggests that the music industry is close to putting simultaneous global release dates in place to assist with combatting piracy. The latest plans could come into effect by July 2015, with all countries putting new releases out on a Friday.

There are currently various disparities, with UK releases on Mondays, US on Tuesday and Australia on the previous Friday to both- meaning that albums can be easily uploaded to global file sharing networks before official release in a particular territory. It’s interesting that it’s seen to be such a problem for the record industry as this is how it also works for other industries including the release of e-books and video games.

There may yet be some hurdles to implementing this, with a shadowy label executive telling Billboard: “This global street date is necessary for the industry but unfortunately it will be awkward for the physical retailers to change their ways of doing business. Now, they could have two-thirds of their sales in one day, which would impact retail operation”.