Music industry moves to Friday global album release

[ZLoth]

From AFP via Yahoo News:

Music industry moves to Friday global album release

The music industry has announced an agreement to release albums globally on Fridays, ending divergences among regions that have fueled piracy in an age of instant music.

Key groups representing music retailers, record companies and artists said that they would coordinate album releases to go out everywhere each Friday at one minute past midnight local time.

Thursday's decision, after nine months of consultation, is expected to go into effect by summer in the Northern Hemisphere, said Frances Moore, chief executive officer of the music industry's global body IFPI.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[texaskdog]

From AFP via Yahoo News:

Music industry moves to Friday global album release

The music industry has announced an agreement to release albums globally on Fridays, ending divergences among regions that have fueled piracy in an age of instant music.

Key groups representing music retailers, record companies and artists said that they would coordinate album releases to go out everywhere each Friday at one minute past midnight local time.

Thursday's decision, after nine months of consultation, is expected to go into effect by summer in the Northern Hemisphere, said Frances Moore, chief executive officer of the music industry's global body IFPI.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Some people have too much time on their hands.  Why do they care?

[vdeane]

They care because consumers these days aren't willing to wait for a product just because they happen to live in a country that has a later release date and will pirate the material.  We care because it's not fair for one country to get content first.

[Pete from Boston]

It's not?

[Laura]

Not in a world this globalized, it's not. I'm willing to pay money for something until there are nonsensical barriers to getting it. Then I will consider pirating it.

I wish they would have moved the global release date to Tuesday for everyone, though. I've always liked how there was something to look forward to on an otherwise unimportant day of the week.


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[Pete from Boston]

I don't understand what's unfair about something being released on different days in different countries.  Movies sometimes come out in different months in different countries.  I mean, is "I didn't get it TODAY when I wanted it" truly a sound basis for "unfair"?

[vdeane]

Why should someone get something first, especially over something as arbitrary as imaginary lines on a map?  The fact that movies can take months to cross these imaginary lines is ridiculous.

I guess it's hard to explain why something's unfair when it feels to me like it should be as obvious as the sky being blue (or is it white?).

[Duke87]

I don't understand what's unfair about something being released on different days in different countries.  Movies sometimes come out in different months in different countries.  I mean, is "I didn't get it TODAY when I wanted it" truly a sound basis for "unfair"?

When it comes to music and video games those months of lag are because it takes time to translate the game into the local language, and often publishers will wait to see how well it does in their primary region before they consider going through the effort. So, when Rockman games used to come out, yeah, I could pirate (or import) them as soon as they did but I can't read Japanese so that wouldn't really be useful. I waited the six months it took for the game to be available in English. Some games never were translated into English if they flopped in Japan because Capcom decided the expense of translating it wasn't worth it with low sales projections.


But music is different because generally there is no translation or localization involved. The same exact recording will be released unmodified everywhere. There therefore is no reason for the release everywhere to not occur on the same day other than traditions that are relics from when music was purchased in physical stores on physical media.

Meanwhile it is a sound business decision to release everywhere on the same day because when faced with wait three days to get it legally or pirate it a lot of people will choose to pirate it. Whether that's reasonable or not, that is the market reality the music industry is working with and they are simply adapting as they must in order to survive.

[Pete from Boston]

Why should someone get something first, especially over something as arbitrary as imaginary lines on a map?  The fact that movies can take months to cross these imaginary lines is ridiculous.

I guess it's hard to explain why something's unfair when it feels to me like it should be as obvious as the sky being blue (or is it white?).

I guess I expect that fair means that everybody gets what they are entitled to.  I'm not sure anyone is entitled to anything here.

[Laura]

Pete is very obviously from a different generation from me, Anthony, and Valerie.

When everything is instant via the Internet, there's no reason to delay the release. Why should someone in the UK have to wait for a US album (and vice versa) when they are purchasing digital copies of it.

In a similar vein, I loathe when one hit wonder musicians make their only hit song available on iTunes as part of the album only. I'm not going to pay $10 for one song, so I will illegally download it out of spite of you making it so difficult for me. You could have gotten a dollar, but because you wanted ten, now you are getting none. Or, because I'm too lazy for that, I'm going to buy the single off of a "greatest hits" or soundtrack album instead, where you will make less royalties than if you had just let me buy the original.

This may be the most spiteful thing I've ever said and done. Damn.


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[Laura]

When it comes to music and video games those months of lag are because it takes time to translate the game into the local language, and often publishers will wait to see how well it does in their primary region before they consider going through the effort. So, when Rockman games used to come out, yeah, I could pirate (or import) them as soon as they did but I can't read Japanese so that wouldn't really be useful. I waited the six months it took for the game to be available in English. Some games never were translated into English if they flopped in Japan because Capcom decided the expense of translating it wasn't worth it with low sales projections.

I'm fine waiting for a delay when it means that I will get good quality dubbing.

Amusingly, Mike and I don't have many generational gap issues, but this is one of them. He grew up with kung fu movies that had terrible dubbing. I cannot stand terrible dubbing. I'd much rather watch something subtitled if I find out that the dubbing is drastically different from the original. 


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[Pete from Boston]

How long do you have to wait?  A day?  Three?  I just haven't needed to have music ASAP the moment it dropped since high school, and I am a giant music consumer.  It's not the asynchronous release that seems odd to me, but rather why one would even notice it wasn't on the same day.

[vdeane]

In the case of Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, the fact that the expansion was released a week earlier in Europe and Australia than in the US resulted in members of a forum I was on rubbing salt in the wound by bragging about how they got the expansion first at every chance they possibly could.

Last I checked, DVDs still have their region locking BS.  There's no technological reason why different areas should have different content available.  I am generally the type of person who believes that all geographic distinctions within humanity should cease to exist.

It's also impossible to stream Doctor Who for free as it airs in any country other than the UK.  If you're American and don't have a cable/satellite package with BBC America, your only options (other than using a proxy to get into iPlayer) are to pay a la carte on Amazon Instant Video or wait several months for Netflix to get it.

As far as music goes, I was once a fangirl of the French singer Alizée (still am a fan, but not to the same degree), and there was some disappointment in the American fandom because the digital versions of her songs were unavailable in the US (but not France) until just a couple years ago.

[Pete from Boston]

All utopian worldviews aside, individuals have a right to collectively set up their local rules how they want, and companies have a right (and fiduciary obligation) to adapt their business practices to that.  Tell that to the dopes in your forum, or better yet, ignore them.

[Laura]

All utopian worldviews aside, individuals have a right to collectively set up their local rules how they want, and companies have a right (and fiduciary obligation) to adapt their business practices to that.  Tell that to the dopes in your forum, or better yet, ignore them.

We live in a global economy. Why should there be local restrictions for something that has global appeal? I can see where someone who mostly didn't grow up with the Internet doesn't see the value of it or care, but for millennials and younger, we've seen and experienced how the Internet has broken down barriers for most or all of our lives, so it's pointless when those barriers still exist.

It's amazing to me that it's the music industry that is front running the global releases, because they're usually the slowest to catch on to trends and changes.


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[Pete from Boston]

All utopian worldviews aside, individuals have a right to collectively set up their local rules how they want, and companies have a right (and fiduciary obligation) to adapt their business practices to that.  Tell that to the dopes in your forum, or better yet, ignore them.

We live in a global economy. Why should there be local restrictions for something that has global appeal? I can see where someone who mostly didn't grow up with the Internet doesn't see the value of it or care, but for millennials and younger, we've seen and experienced how the Internet has broken down barriers for most or all of our lives, so it's pointless when those barriers still exist.

It's amazing to me that it's the music industry that is front running the global releases, because they're usually the slowest to catch on to trends and changes.

"Global economy" and "single unrestricted economic zone" are two different things: the former exists, and the latter is not likely to exist in any of our lifetimes.  As I said above, countries and regions set their own trade regulations for a myriad of reasons.  To the question "Why should there be local restrictions for something that has global appeal?" the best answer is that the simultaneous international availability of Product X is either not a priority or not in someone's local interest.  Despite the implication otherwise, this isn't a recent, internet-sparked debate, but rather one going on as long as there's been international trade.

[Duke87]

How long do you have to wait?  A day?  Three?  I just haven't needed to have music ASAP the moment it dropped since high school, and I am a giant music consumer.  It's not the asynchronous release that seems odd to me, but rather why one would even notice it wasn't on the same day.

And that, right there, is where the generational gap comes in. The need to have the new thing the instant it exists versus having patience and being willing to wait.

Honestly, I'm not going to go pirate something just because I have to wait a few extra days for it to be released. It seems a bit silly to me too. But I can totally understand why someone would.

[english si]

The fact that movies can take months to cross these imaginary lines is ridiculous.

Indeed - I can understand "the day after it airs in America" (a common thing when talking about hit US TV shows), though simulcast in the early hours as well makes sense (I last did that with the opener of the most recent 24 season. They only did that episode, IIRC. They did the LOST finale) as recording devices exist and people have mornings/earlier evenings in which to watch the programme, rather than waiting until 10pm to watch Game of Thrones that the internet had exploded over and spoiled everyone*.

I think that, while internet has meant nefariously accessing content is easier (and legally accessing content too!) the global nature of it and the social media phenomenon means that even ~19 hours later means you get spoiled/miss the discussion.

*One UK paper didn't care that it hadn't aired in the UK and spoiled people about the Red Wedding in the morning of the day it aired in the UK (a few hours after it aired in the US). London (and probably other cities') evening papers had pictures of shocked people in America. I mean that's old media, let alone the internet. I'm pretty sure there was an article about "where are the videos of people from the UK" in one of the papers who published spoilers in a big way. <facepalm>

[english si]

(other than using a proxy to get into iPlayer)

I'm not sure that's easy to do any more as Auntie has clamped down, else my brother who moved to Dublin a month ago, who tries to get stuff legally wherever possible would be doing that kind of thing, rather than pirating the BBC shows he watches.

He didn't pirate them when he was in the UK, but thanks to silliness, he does now!

[Laura]

The fact that movies can take months to cross these imaginary lines is ridiculous.

Indeed - I can understand "the day after it airs in America" (a common thing when talking about hit US TV shows), though simulcast in the early hours as well makes sense (I last did that with the opener of the most recent 24 season. They only did that episode, IIRC. They did the LOST finale) as recording devices exist and people have mornings/earlier evenings in which to watch the programme, rather than waiting until 10pm to watch Game of Thrones that the internet had exploded over and spoiled everyone*.

I think that, while internet has meant nefariously accessing content is easier (and legally accessing content too!) the global nature of it and the social media phenomenon means that even ~19 hours later means you get spoiled/miss the discussion.

*One UK paper didn't care that it hadn't aired in the UK and spoiled people about the Red Wedding in the morning of the day it aired in the UK (a few hours after it aired in the US). London (and probably other cities') evening papers had pictures of shocked people in America. I mean that's old media, let alone the internet. I'm pretty sure there was an article about "where are the videos of people from the UK" in one of the papers who published spoilers in a big way. <facepalm>

Yes! I felt this way about the Sochi Olympics. Because most of the big events happened at 3 am, they weren't aired until the next evening...but the U. S. news media covered them right away, so it was a giant spoiler alert every morning.

You bring up a really good point - because of delays releases for popular shows/books/movies, you basically have to avoid the Internet and interacting with people until you get the chance to review it yourself, which sucks. It wouldn't have been a problem in the past because your pool of contacts would be limited. Now it's like I can't even log into Facebook until I've caught up out of fear of the first post being "OMG this spoiler happened!"

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[jeffandnicole]

I don't know how people out in the western time zone handles it here in the US.  Maybe they don't have any east/center time zone friends that could possibly ruin it for them.

I don't watch too much TV, especially with shows that could have potential spoilers.  But if I do have to delay watching something and catch it on the DVR later, I will stay away from Facebook.

[vdeane]

(other than using a proxy to get into iPlayer)

I'm not sure that's easy to do any more as Auntie has clamped down, else my brother who moved to Dublin a month ago, who tries to get stuff legally wherever possible would be doing that kind of thing, rather than pirating the BBC shows he watches.

He didn't pirate them when he was in the UK, but thanks to silliness, he does now!

Chrome's Hola Better Internet extension still works with iPlayer when I checked it just now.

[Duke87]

It's also impossible to stream Doctor Who for free as it airs in any country other than the UK.  If you're American and don't have a cable/satellite package with BBC America, your only options (other than using a proxy to get into iPlayer) are to pay a la carte on Amazon Instant Video or wait several months for Netflix to get it.

In a way though this does sort of make sense. People in the UK are entitled to "free" BBC programming because they pay for it through their "licence fee". People outside of the UK aren't paying for the content through this fee so we have to pay for it directly.

Still, there is no practical reason why someone outside of the UK needs to wait in order to access the same content. It could be made available instantly to anyone anywhere, with the caveat that you need to pay a monthly fee for access if you are located outside of the UK. BBC has chosen not to do this... I guess just because they wouldn't really gain much by doing so.

[vdeane]

They could at least put them on Hulu or something.

[Laura]

Still, there is no practical reason why someone outside of the UK needs to wait in order to access the same content. It could be made available instantly to anyone anywhere, with the caveat that you need to pay a monthly fee for access if you are located outside of the UK. BBC has chosen not to do this... I guess just because they wouldn't really gain much by doing so.

They would gain $$$ from people in other countries to help support the programming.


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