Indie Retailers Favor Monday Over Friday As Global Release Day

CIMS Wants Releases On Monday, Not Friday

The COALITION OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC STORES (CIMS) is opposed to the move to abandon national release dates for music product in favor of a single GLOBAL RELEASE DAY on FRIDAYS.

The organization agrees that aligning new music releases on a single day around the world could be beneficial for the music business, sending a clear message to consumers, enabling more coordinated and powerful marketing and promotions, and combating release week piracy resulting from different street dates.

According to CIMS, agreeing to the concept of a GLOBAL RELEASE DAY is a separate issue to the decision as to which day it should be, however. The COALITION does not agree that FRIDAY is the best day for such a move.

CIMS feels a move to a FRIDAY would entail additional costs for many in the industry, and that while these costs are easily calculable, tangible costs, the forecasted beneficial revenue effects of a GLOBAL RELEASE DAY are inconclusive and subject to a range of opinions.

More and more global releases have been coming out on a MONDAY and the industry has proven that it can handle these with no additional cost.

Based on a detailed review of the challenges and opportunities of the shift to a single day, CIMS strongly endorses a worldwide MONDAY street date for music and rejects the proposed move to FRIDAY

KIM BAYLEY, Dir. General of the ENTERTAINMENT RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, said, “The evidence suggests that virtually all the benefits of a GLOBAL RELEASE DAY can be captured on a MONDAY without any additional costs. It is a no-brainer. The potential to create a NEW MUSIC MONDAY focusing all of the industry’s marketing efforts at the beginning of the week is very exciting.”

A2IM Pres. RICH BENGLOFF agrees: “We understand the value in coordinated global marketing campaigns, and we see a global street date as having a positive impact on our industry and we stand in support of our music colleagues and independent music retail.”

AIM Chairman/CEO ALISON WENHAM stated: "Supporting independent retailers is a core principal of independent record companies, and we work together very closely. If the retailers' view is that MONDAY is the best day for new releases -- why would we argue otherwise? They are after all the experts in retail."

Among those represented by CIMS are: ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT CORP., ALLIAMCE OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA STORES (AIMS), AMOEBA MUSIC, ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC (AIM), DEPARTMENT OF RECORD STORES (DORS), HASTINGS ENTERTAINMENT INC. NEWBURY COMICS, REDEYE, ROUGH TRADE NYC and UK and SC DISTRIBUTION, among others.

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