A Guide to the Global Release Day for Independent Artists (and their fans)
Nothing is more important for an independent music artist or band than the day they release an album. Despite all the adversities independent artists face in their effort to get the attention of the listening public, the release of an album can act like a great equalizer, if the band does their job, has a good track record with their fans, and gets the word out. Similarly, the fans of independent artists should understand the importance of the release day, and how their participation can help get their favorite artists to the next level and a little bit of elevated notoriety.
Traditionally, all albums in the United States and in parts of Europe and elsewhere have been released on Tuesdays. Though there was never a globally-recognized release day, as time went on Tuesday became the default. If you wanted you album release to be optimized, minding the Tuesday release day was a savvy move, even if you were a small band that may not have a chance of showing up on Billboard‘s, or anyone’s album charts. Since almost everyone released their albums on Tuesday, it was an easy time for the media to compile all the releases together. So even though a small independent band from Oshkosh may not have the same footprint as Taylor Swift, if they did their job and let folks know when they were releasing their album, their album might be found right beside Ms. Swifts on Tuesday in some lists.
So now labels and distributors from all around the world have pow-wowed and decided that Friday is going to be the universally-recognized global release day come July 10th, 2015. The idea is to curb piracy and streamline distribution amongst other benefits to the industry and artists by lining up when albums are released regardless of country of origin. It’s worth noting that if a band has a separate distributor for The United States and Europe for example, there still may be a different release date in the different continents or countries. But regardless, the date should still be on a Friday.
The reason this new date is crucial for independent music acts is because more so than ever before in the history of music were seeing independent bands receive more and more recognition on industry album charts. As an independent artist, or the fan of an independent artist or band, you may be used to thumbing your nose at Billboard and other such outlets as the music equivalent of beauty pageants and decree music shouldn’t be regarded as a contest of who can come in first. But the simple fact is an album release can be the opportunity for an independent band to get noticed like never before.
Because most mainstream consumers have turned to either buying single songs online after hearing them on the radio, or streaming music online from their favorite artists, many mainstream acts are seeing historic declines in their album sales numbers. Of course when you’re selling downloads in the millions and packing arenas, it all makes up for itself in the wash, but meanwhile the fans of independent bands and artists are still buying lots of physical albums, or purchasing cohesive albums online. Since independent fans rarely hear their favorite artists on the radio anyway, they’re still married to the album concept, and we’re seeing this reflected on industry album charts.
When independent Texas country artist Aaron Watson hit #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart with his last release The Underdog in late February, it was the first time an independent male artist had ever achieved this goal in the chart’s history. An independent band in the form of Southern rock outfit Blackberry Smoke hit #1 earlier in the year. On top of that, other independent artists are setting records left and right in all genres of music, and older artists—whose fans still buy records—are also setting personal bests on albums charts after decades of declines.
And don’t let anyone tell you these numbers don’t matter. When a fan buys a cohesive album, whether a physical or digital copy, they are showing a level of commitment to a band, both spiritually and financially, that the downloaders and streamers are unwilling to. A physical sale will mean more money in the pocket of the artist and their independent label (if they have one) than the equivalent amount of streams on Spotify. And furthermore, Billboard recently changed their album chart rules to calculate in streams, so even with this gerrymandering of the playing field, independent artists are still thriving.
And even if you’re a band that’s too small to even consider landing on any charts, a good showing from a successful album release cycle can still give you a boost of confidence, or an new benchmark set that can help propel you into the future and lend to your prosperity. It’s not all about numbers, it’s about giving your art the best platform to be shared with as many people as possible.
But back to the new Friday release day starting industry wide on July 10th. Here are five main keys to keep in mind.
1. Mind the release day.
Don’t think you’re too cool for school to follow “the man’s” rules. The global release day is one rule worth following. If you want a chance for your album to excel, and to compete on a level playing field and potentially pique the interest of the industry, you must release your album on a Friday to give it that full week of metadata aggregation. Take Jello Biafra’s wisdom to mind. You can be underground, but still do it right. Don’t give “the man” a leg up by acting like this particular rule doesn’t pertain to you.
2. Getting the word out leading up to the release will be key.
Frankly, it was surprising that Friday was the day chosen as the universal release day since in the media world, it’s the worst day of the week for getting the word out about whatever you’re trying to promote. The TV show The West Wing used to have a recurring theme of The White House releasing unsavory news Friday afternoon since more than likely by the time Monday rolled back around it would be forgotten or overlooked by the 9 to 5 media. Hopefully consumers and media outlets will recalibrate to the new system, but a Friday release means it’s even more important to make sure you get the word out about your album prior to the release, and have a lot of momentum behind it riding into the next week when the media comes back from hammock time and honey do’s.
3. A Friday release day has certain benefits. Take advantage of them.
One thing that’s terrible about the Tuesday release day is it’s smack dab in the heart of the work week. If you want to have a CD release show, you’re asking your fans to figure out how to wing it on a school night. If you wait until the weekend, you’re missing out on making your release a big event culminating all on one big day to break through the din of everyday news and events. Now that Friday is the day, you can set up an in-studio interview during Friday rush hour, throw an album signing event at a local record store at 6 PM, and then melt faces come midnight at your big weekend night release show. This might give you the momentum to carry the release into the next week.
4. All the old rules still apply, and may even be more important.
For the reason’s stated above about the challenges of getting the word out, a Friday release day makes all the older maxims about how to release an album even more crucial. Don’t go blathering about your new album over and over until you’re ready to announce a solid release date. Announce your release date roughly six weeks to two months before the release, and avoid holidays, or days you think similar bands might be releasing albums as well. When you know everything is going to be lined up and go off without a hitch, announce your release date, and either include a pre-order link, or follow up with a pre-order option shortly thereafter. Release a song or video prior to the album to start the buzz and drive those pre-orders. If you can, stream the album a week before the release. And then when that big Friday comes, have everything lined up like the grand finale of a fireworks display to go off like a controlled explosion.
5. Fans have a role in the successful album release too.
Pre-order, pre-order, pre-order, or order an album on the day of the release. If you want to help your favorite band or artist out, support them by buying their record as early as possible, or at least during the first week. This way all of that metadata will be waiting there to hopefully give them a decent showing on the charts, or at least result in something the band can be proud of. And don’t just think this is all about Billboard‘s charts. Americana, Texas country, and other genres and regions throughout the music world have their own charting system or other ways to highlight sales, and a solid showing by your favorite band can mean them maybe finding a better booking agent or manager, getting to play that festival they always wanted to, or getting signed to a bigger label. If a band can prove they can sell 5,000 records, then that means someone in the industry is more willing to give them a chance. Being able to gloat about getting to X spot on a certain chart can open doors. And even if a band is too small to worry about charts, handling the album release properly will still optimize the amount of sales, and hopefully propel then to the next step in their development.
March 28, 2015 @ 9:06 am
How is changing the release day supposed to curb piracy?
March 28, 2015 @ 9:12 am
In that respect, this move is about a decade too late. The advent of free streaming and the rolling up of many pirate sites has made the issue much less serious over time, but I think the idea is if you release an album on the same day everywhere, the likelihood that someone will take an album released in Australia weeks before it’s released in the States and torrent it for free download is less likely. There may also be other advantages in how an album is distributed digitally. This may be a much bigger issue in developing nations where albums are regularly pirated and sold more freely.
March 28, 2015 @ 9:35 am
The Tuesday release date largely came about just as a matter of practicality because the shipments of new movies/music/video games generally show up at stores on Monday.
And the reason the Friday news dump was a recurring theme in the West Wing is because it’s a common practice in real life.
March 28, 2015 @ 10:14 am
Right, and I think both of these factors are reasons the Friday release day could pose a challenge if not handled properly by labels and artists.
March 28, 2015 @ 12:04 pm
We are still doing this (standard release dates)? I haven’t adhered to a release date in 8 years! I didn’t think anyone did. Nobody, but labels and vendors (and maybe some retailers) care about a release dates anymore.
Artists haven’t cared in years. I remember over a decade ago rap/R&B artists breaking release dates. Beyonce dropped her last two albums on Fridays. Jamey Johnson fought for and now has the ability to drop his next album whenever he wants regardless of the day of the week. Many independent artists are giving away their albums digitally through social media platforms WEEKS before release dates!
New release albums are available online sometimes a month before their official release date! The following is a list of new releases for this year and when I was able to download them online:
The Decemberists 1/20/15 (downloaded 12/18/14)
Ryan Bingham 1/20/15 (downloaded 1/9/15)
Steve Earle 2/13/15 (downloaded 1/30/15)
Modest Mouse 3/13/15 (downloaded 3/7/15)
Houndmouth 3/17/15 (downloaded 3/9/15)
Retailers HATE new releases. They like the potential foot-traffic NR may bring, but there’s no money in marking the prices down to be competitive with the big lot chains and there’s too much risk in inventory (new releases are a guessing game) – you send half the shit back to the vendors after taking up potential shelf space.
No matter what the day of the week, standard release dates are an archaic operating procedure.
March 28, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
I want to elaborate on the trouble new releases pose for retailers. I worked many years for one of the biggest rack jobbers in the country. We distributed CDs to Walmart, Kmart, Shopko, Pamida, Best Buy and HEB. Despite having these very different chains in varied regions at our shipping disposal, we’d often pass on unproven, independent new releases due to the vendor penalties and (re) shipping costs that occurred if the title tanked. It often made better financial sense to chase a title in week 2 or 3, than whiff on a new release in week 1. New releases are a guessing game and I’d say with certainty over 60% of the new releases on any given Tuesday are a bust.
Further complicating things was the fact that many retailers graded us on TURNS – how fast that product sold. Retailers don’t care so much about product sell-off, as they do about how long it took for that product to sell and if it came at the cost of selling other products or titles. The space on the shelf has more value than the product itself. The average TURN for new release titles were .03 or 3 days at Walmart (Hits and Catalog titles had longer average turns). So, every new release was expected to sell within 3 days (on average). This meant we did not have the luxury sitting on a new release title for 3 or 4 weeks waiting for a second single to catch fire.
I’d imagine the remaining retailers selling music have to be even more deliberate about their decision making process making new releases even more risky.
March 28, 2015 @ 1:51 pm
“Nobody, but labels and vendors (and maybe some retailers) care about a release dates anymore.”
I wholeheartedly disagree with this. I know a lot of artists who adhere to the release date without the advisement of labels and vendors. I understand there’s also a lot of artists that blow it off, and that is one of the reasons their projects fail. And then they turn around and blame “Nashville” or the “mainstream” or they even blame an outlet like Saving Country Music for not paying attention to them when it’s really themselves to blame.
This is why I stopped writing pieces like this, because the result is usually people throwing your advice right back in your face, because its easier to blame everyone else for failure, when in truth the biggest adversary most artists face is themselves. Many artists don’t want to succeed because the underground has made it akin to selling out. All of the information and guidance is there on how to have a successful release as long as your music is good, but there is this cancerous idea in independent music that sucking at the business side of things gives your music soul.
The reason that certain music is popular is because they made the right moves and smart decisions. The reason why other music is not popular is because it was poorly executed.
As for music being available online before the release date, that is completely superfluous. All of those albums you mention charted, and charted well because they had proper release dates. If you have a proper release day, then it doesn’t matter when you release copies to consumers. All those sales will aggregate on the appropriate day.
Blow off release days and your music will be less successful and if you adhere to them. It is simple as that.
March 28, 2015 @ 2:15 pm
“As for music being available online before the release date, that is completely superfluous. All of those albums you mention charted, and charted well because they had proper release dates.”
My intended point was that moving the release date to Friday won’t put a dent in albums leaking. Also, I think a lot of artists intentionally leak their albums – creates a grass-root buzz about the album.
I think there have been many cases were artists broke street date and in some cases shattered the model and had successful albums. Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” comes to mind. Recently, U2 went the unconventional route of giving their album away, dateless (It’s going to be a cold night here, maybe I’ll do some compile a list). Why aren’t more artists doing this? Cause this industry has always been slow to change.
March 28, 2015 @ 2:24 pm
The title of this piece is “A Guide to the Global Release Day for Independent Artists (and their fans).” I don’t think surprise releases from Radiohead and U2 would apply, nor do I think they make a good case study for anything. The recently released albums from Aaron Watson and Blackberry Smoke were the examples I used. Obviously most of the artists I’m targeting with my advice in this piece have slightly less name recognition than U2.
March 28, 2015 @ 2:38 pm
touche
March 28, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
“Many artists don”™t want to succeed because the underground has made it akin to selling out.” Shouldn’t we be fighting this misconception? I know that when the masses listen to Luke or Chase it’s really easy to take pride in playing some Nickel Creek, and it feels good too! I think that this undermines a bigger problem. How many of us SCM frequenters wouldn’t be so upset by the bros or Sam Hunt if we didn’t feel like someone was taking away “our” country music and disrespecting us by extension? If a whole wave of Isbell wannabes (isbros? haha) came and made music that sounded like Jason Isbell, wouldn’t a lot of fans jump ship because “music row came and took away our music?” Are we as independent music fans really so shallow as to think that some invisible hand wants to steal our music from us every time one of our beloved artists becomes famous?
March 28, 2015 @ 2:28 pm
One of the reasons I posted this article was not just to give advice on how to navigate the new release date, but to explain why it is important for independent artists to do so and not feel like they are somehow betraying some independent/underground code of conduct.
March 28, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
I almost never pay attention to this stuff. I preorder an album or two I’m real excited about but normally I just wait until the price comes down and I have enough money to buy new releases.
March 29, 2015 @ 10:39 am
The release time for bro-country was moved to peak moonlight hours on Sundaze.
March 29, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
You mentioned piracy and I always look at it in a different light.
My teenage years were during the time when music CD’s came out. By my early 20’s I must have bought 300 of them. At the time, it was very difficult to really hear what an entire album was like unless a record store had a demo of it with headphones (no internet back then). Singles were very rare and overpriced (you’d spend a lot for 2 songs on a CD or cassette). What always drove me nuts was how many albums I would buy where there was one good song and the rest of the songs were horrible. It’s different now with the industry finally caving to iTunes and allowing real singles to be bought (although the ability to do so is spaced out over time and doesn’t always apply to all tracks).
The other thing I learned early on time was that while CD’s only cost a fraction of the cost of a cassette tape to manufacture, they’d be about 50% more to purchase. There were times when I’d see a brand new album on Cassette for $10.99 and the CD version would be $19.99. It drove me crazy when I knew how much cheaper CD’s were to manufacture.
In a way, I’ve always looked at the music industry as legal pirates and find it amusing when the music industry complains about pirates. It really is a thief complaining about another thief robbing them. The music industry was built on a business model of forcing you to buy a “bundle” (like Cable TV now) and overcharging.
I really always thought the Napster boom about 15 years ago was a direct commentary on how much animosity there was between consumers and greedy record companies. It’s a lot easier to justify stealing in your head when you’re stealing from a thief.
Sometimes I look at the modern tactics of the music industry (like with a Taylor Swift album release) and wonder how Taylor Swift can sleep at night. She claims to love her fans so much but is right on board with using every trick in the book to squeeze every cent she can out of her fans.
I never feel annoying spending money on independent country though.
March 29, 2015 @ 10:37 pm
My last 4 albums I released at whatever the biggest festival I was playing that year was. Huge crowds, signing after the set. Worked great, sold tons.
My next album will be finished the beginning of May, and I have no idea how or when I’m going to release it. I’m kind of starting over and I have nothing huge booked this year. It’ll definitely have to be something more creative than “on a Friday” though.
At my level of indy, you gotta really get in peoples faces somehow. No one gives a shit about my press releases or whether I release it on a Friday or not. I have to get arrested for public indecency or something as a publicity stunt to get any attention outside of what I get just doing my shows – which is where I sell the most CDs anyway.
It is definitely still ALL about the CDs down here on the bottom though. I make 20x more with CDs than I do on streaming/downloads. Almost enough to cover the bail money from my publicity stunts…
March 30, 2015 @ 7:39 pm
Great read trig, and perfect timing too, we’re starting to work on a new cd, and I’ll be taking this article to heart when the time comes!