IFPI announces "Global Release Day"...how will the Japanese respond?
 

I created a thread about the new "Global Release Day" initiative on the General Music Chat forum; you can see it here. To sum up what's going on with the music industry:

New albums and singles worldwide are going to be released on Fridays, starting this summer.

But this is the Asian Music Chat forum, and the big question surrounding us is this: How will the "Global Release Day" initiative of Friday releases impact the Asian music industry - especially Japanese pop (where we rely on the Oricon) - in any way possible?

This news of putting new music releases on Fridays is a very significant change from the usual Tuesdays - or Wednesdays, in Asian terms (such as Japan) - that we get new music on.

What are your opinions of this "Global Release Day" initiative set by the IFPI, the international arm of the recording music industry? Do you think this will impact the Japanese music industry? A big question is this: Do you think this could affect the Oricon sales numbers landscape the way it is currently set up right now (Monday through Sunday for weekly sales numbers)? This is a question that we're going to have to find out over time as summer approaches, because now people worldwide will have to deal with getting music on Fridays, not mid-week, especially the Japanese who are used to do "Furage" on the Tuesday before the following Wednesday's advertised release dates.

If the Japanese music industry follows this "Global Release Day" initiative, I have a feeling that artists and record labels are going to advertise Saturday release dates much more often and put their "Furage" day on Friday instead of Tuesday! I also have to wonder how will this affect AKB48 and their runs at a million for every single they are about to release...

http://www.ifpi.org/news/Global-release-day-announced
http://www.ifpi.org/news/Viewpoint-b...al-Release-Day
http://mashable.com/2015/02/26/albums-released-fridays/

Here's a Japanese source involving this "Global Release Day" initiative:
http://jaykogami.com/2015/02/10774.html

And, Karen, we know that I'm on your ignore list...but you need to read this. This news is very significant...I don't know what the future of Japanese music industry will be with the international recording industry announcing that Friday is going to be the new Tuesday, and how this could affect Oricon sales numbers and rankings for future releases the way it is right now.

all country must follow this?

I think if all country must follow this, there will be transition time...for each country get used to the new regulation

In France it's already the case if I reckon correctly...

I think now there should be a case like this here in Japan. AKB48's "Green Flash" just leaked this weekend, ahead of this upcoming Wednesday's official release. Arashi's "Sakura" leaked last Saturday, ahead of last Wednesday's official release. There has got to be a case why there should be more Saturday releases instead of Wednesdays - all because of AKB48, Arashi, and maybe even Ayu releases as well...

If this is supposed to do what I think it's supposed to do, then this should be a really good thing

I find it ridiculous that it took copyright holders (in this case, record labels) this much time to realize that the only way to reduce piracy is by getting rid of the stupid, outdated decentralized record label model. By that I mean medias should be solely owned by one copyright holder instead of how it is now (i.e. look at how famous Western artists have their albums released at different times and owned by different labels/distributors). The model as it is now makes for limitations for people in certain countries, which leads them to piracy because they have no other option. If, now, all albums and singles are supposed to be released on the same day, then that will reduce the number of people pirating music because they weren't able to buy it on iTunes in their country and that's a good thing

But for Japan I don't see this as much of an improvement. I mean, companies like SME and Avex are already so protectionist that you can pretty much only buy their music in Japan so it makes no difference honestly. Oricon needs to alter their model as well but that's nothing new

I hope Japan follows this, people tend to buy more on weekends, specially Saturday, so the music industry would experience better debut numbers.

I agree with that point. Most of the Japanese music releases that are released domestically rarely extends beyond Japanese shores, such as coming to the other side of the Pacific (USA and Canada) or Eurasia (Europe) (save for Utada Hikaru, Dir en grey, etc.)...so, yeah. I'm not sure if Japanese labels think this Saturday release move is even necessary.