The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) made an announcement Thursday that will affect music lovers around the world: starting this summer, no matter where a new album or single is released, new music will become available on Fridays.

Currently, different countries have different days when new music hits the shelves. New albums in the UK are released on Mondays; in the US, it's Tuesday, while in Germany it's Friday.

Starting this summer, said the #link:http://www.ifpi.org/news/Global-release-day-announced:IFPI announcement#, new music around the world will be released as of one minute past midnight local time each Friday.

"Music consumers everywhere will know to look for new releases on Fridays regardless of where they are," the organization said in a statement.

"In today's globalized world, it makes no sense for new music to be released to fans on different days of the week," the IFPI's chairman Frances Moore said. "At the same time, we view this as a tremendous opportunity to breathe new life back into the release of music. Friday has a compelling logic to it, at the start of the weekend when fans most want to listen to and to buy music."

The decision to create a global release day followed consultations with the 1,300 music labels represented by IFPI, the international federation of musicians (FIM), and other leading retailers and representative organizations.

German retail chain Saturn, for instance, welcomed the decision, with the company's Marcus Nolte saying: "The move to a Friday release day has worked very well for music fans and retailers in Germany, creating a surge of interest around new releases just before the weekend."

The IFPI said that artists will benefit from the global release day with better opportunities to use global social media to promote their music. It also said fans would gain a "sense of occasion" around the release of a new record.

In addition, an "aligned global release day will also reduce the risk of piracy by narrowing the gap between release days in different countries," the IFPI said.

mz/msh (AFP)