With the growth of the Internet, streaming media and haphazard album releases stemming from illegal downloads and pirating – it makes all too much sense that the industry standard for music would eventually shift, and artists across the genres are both actively pushing back. Within EDM, take into account Spor’s latest album ‘Caligo’, released weeks early because it was leaked in it’s entirety, Knife Party’s willingness to give up ‘Abandon Ship’ to eager fans, and of course – there was the media aftershock of Queen B’s self titled album release on a haphazard Friday in 2013. The simple fact of the matter, is that musicians far and wide have effectively been forced into forking over their music before it’s official release date.

In the wake of almost six months of discussions with record companies, musicians, music executives, music unions and retailers – the International Federation of the Phonetic Industry, commonly abbreviated by IFPI, has announced a pivotal shift in album release dates – moving it from the traditional Tuesday that we’ve all grown up with and flipping it to Friday. There’s been push back from indie labels and merchants, who are against implementing a change – but all things considered, they might not have much say.

From Frances Moore of the IFPI:

“…Moving a whole industry to a global release day involves big challenges. Inevitably a global project involving more than 50 countries is not going to make every stakeholder in every country happy. There will be upheaval for some, no doubt. However, the truth is that there has been no credible alternative to a Friday proposed that would work at the global level.”Considering labels such as Spinnin’ Records, Tool Room and Revealed aren’t part of the current IFPI – as a whole, EDM might not necessarily abide by the new regulations for music. However, considering the high rate of cross-collaboration and crossover between Pop Music and EDM, the question remains – how will the Dance Music Industry be affected? And for now, we don’t have the answers.