Have you ever thought about the reason why artists release new music every Friday? What can an artist gain from it? Why do artists still drop on Friday when it can take one social media moment for a hit to go viral? This article will discuss the pros and cons of releasing your musical projects on Fridays.
How The Friday Release Became Commonplace In The Music Industry
Decades prior to 2015, new music was released every Tuesday rather than every Friday. What changed the release date was a survey from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. That survey concluded that consumers would rather listen to new music between Fridays and Saturdays rather than Tuesdays. The head of the IFPI, Frances Moore, said in a statement that "[Consumers'] love for new music doesn't recognize national borders. They want music when it's released on the internet- not when it's ready to be released in their country."
Before streaming became the primary method of listening to music around 2015, the main concern of labels and artists profiting off of music was piracy. The brand strategy director of Stem, Shanna Jade, told Complex that "Tuesdays were always the release date for the United States, but other countries would release on Mondays, and others on Fridays... that meant someone in a country with a Monday release date could purchase something the day it was available to them and upload it to a piracy site."
Now that piracy is less of an issue due to streaming, that stems the question: why does everyone release on the same day? Here are some pros and cons of releasing new music on Fridays.
Pros
Better chart ratings. To release on Fridays give artists a chance to maximize their potential for a high chart ranking. Compared to releasing on a Tuesday, you can have a chance of maximizing all of your numbers in a seven-day window rather than the three-day window that is 'Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday'. When a song performs well on the charts, it can be considered a performance benchmark for a label and the employees associated with the record.
To be spotlighted on streaming services. Now that streaming is the main way to consume music, platforms like Spotify and Apple Music are now the new gatekeepers and tastemakers of the culture. It creates an incentive for artists to release on Fridays with the chance for people to be featured on a "New Music Friday" playlist.
Cons
The possibility of being overshadowed by mainstream artists and their releases.
The risk of breaking the traditional Friday releases. This isn't much of a con here. It can actually be a pro considering how you market your content. You can book with theMSQshop to help with finding the perfect strategy to release your music.
Should You Still Release New Music On Fridays?
Ultimately, it's up to you when you would want to release new music. One thing to consider is the genre of music that you're creating. Some genres like rap music are known for their Friday releases while a music genre like rock is known to release on Wednesdays and be more successful.
Written by: Jay Guevara. @justinhisprime on all social media.
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