«
»
White Collar Criminals

EUROPEAN VS. U.S. RECORD RELEASE DATES; WHAT’S THE POINT?

 Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 12:53pm by

iphone imageWe get a lot of press releases from record labels here at the MetalSucks Mansion that announce release dates of bands’ new records. Oftentimes the U.S. and Europe (or other territories) have different release dates, sometimes several weeks or even months apart. In today’s modern world this makes absolutely no fucking sense.

I understand why record labels have traditionally set different release dates for different territories; if a label has an office in Europe, presumably that office’s staff is a lot better equipped and has the right relationships to better market a release in that territory. Makes total sense — if your marketing efforts hinge around old-world media like print, radio, and MTV. But the Internet is global; an email newsletter, e-card, or MySpace page can reach everyone across the entire planet, no matter how remote their location. And the Internet is increasingly the most important part of all music marketing campaigns, especially in the marginalized world of metal where radio and MTV are pretty much irrelevant.

With physical retail taking a back seat to digital — not that physical retail was ever really that important for metal releases — releasing albums by territory is even more of a moot point. Why divide your marketing assets across different arms of your company and to the detriment of the artist if you can reach everyone all at once?

It makes absolutely no fucking sense to pretend that someone in the U.S. isn’t going to pay attention when an album they’re eagerly anticipating is released in Germany a month ahead of the U.S. A determined, web-savvy music fan will find music the moment it’s available for purchase, whether that be finding the European Amazon store, ordering it directly from the label, or signing on to the International version of iTunes. A less morally-inclined or more impatient fan might just opt for a free download on a torrent site instead, since the option to purchase isn’t easy to find. In this case having separate release dates actually HURTS the artist.

So, record labels: what the fuck? Get with the program. It’s 2008. The Internet. Utilize it.

-VN

  • TJ

    Couldn’t agree more.
    Last year, Heaven Shall Burn’s newest record was released in Europe.
    Then, for some weird reason, it was delayed in the States by about 6 or 7 months.

    So it was readily available to download online for 6 months, but not for me to buy in the store?
    By the time the album was released in the US, I’d already listened to it a few times and decided it wasn’t worth spending the money on.

  • http://www.myspace.com/evilsammy Sammy

    They’ll be typing their response to you on their 28-year-old Royal typewriter, then dropping it in the mail to you.

  • d.o.g.o.b.g.y.n.

    Different release dates are almost as much proof as you’re ever going to get that record labels (at least in the US) are out of touch.

  • http://myspace.com/failsafefight bmwtech

    Other than Itunes,(and Trent Reznor) who has really come up with a good way to market music online successfully and make a ton of money? The labels don’t have an answer.

  • http://metalmartyr.com Metalmartyr.com

    They have an answer, Tech. I think they are held back by the RIAA or they want to save face by not conforming in hopes that physical records sales will suddenly skyrocket and save their industry.

    Either way…it’s a bit retarded…TIMMMYYY!

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    Some of this is old mentalities and models; some comes from the ineptitude of some business owners and disorganization within those companies. Regardless, you’re absolutely right that the changing demands of an technologically empowered music buying public need to be considered, and setting a global release date is a good start.

    I don’t know if a particular label or release inspired this post, but I know that Candlelight was a source of frustration for me as I waited for a domestic version of October File’s latest album to come out.

  • Bucksatan

    there are a number of different reasons why a record (esp not a high profile record, that isnt a priority) gets different releases dates, if it is even released, from territory to territory.

    -different territories have different manufacturing delivery deadlines, some territories can turn them around quicker than others, esp DVD.

    -budgets, in the major label world, different countries have their own marketing budgets and decide if and when the record gets released. Universal UK marketing spend on a record is different from the spend at Universal Germany

    -different lead times for set up in different countries, the US needs a 3 month lead for long lead press, ie Revolver. of course you being a .com you are going to believe that this isnt important anymore. Not True, the label and the artist/manager want the most media exposure upon streetdate to have your awareness out for your release. And if i am an artist manager, i especially want this because it builds may artist brand name so i can sell more t-shirts, mugs, and other shit with the bands name on it as well as concert tix.

    -touring! probably the biggest reason why records come at different times. if your band isnt coming to the US for 3 to 4 months, it might not makes sense to put the record out with the rest of the country. You got to realize that music retail only buys a 4 to 5 week supply and if they buy a record and there is not action on it, it goes gets returned and its a lot harder to get that record back into a record store once its returned

    a lot of you will probably think, who cares, as long as you can buy it digitally, that shit doesnt work for most artists and managers.

  • Rich

    Sometimes record companies will release records in more favourable territories first in order to create a buzz for the album that they can then use when releasing it somewhere else.

    Certain bands are more popular in Europe, 36 Crazyfists for example. If the album gets good reviews and sales (which the record company hope presumably) they can use quotes, ratings and sales numbers to promote it, in say the States, as proof almost that it’s a good record.

    That explains gaps of weeks or months but not one day as is often the case.

  • http://www.myspace.com/evilsammy Sammy

    @Bucksatan:

    I don’t buy the touring argument. The U.S. is a huge country and a tour can last several months. So if that was the case, wouldn’t the album be released in geographical waves across the country?

    By the time a band reaches, say San Diego, they might already have been on tour for months, with the album several months old. Plus, with bands who receive radio air play, wouldn’t a band/label want lead time to build momentum for the coming tour?

  • Tommy Leebowitz

    What pisses me off the most is that the Japan and UK releases usually get bonus tracks that the US version doesn’t have. Why can’t all releases just have all the tracks?!

  • http://www.rock-metal-music-reviews.com Paul Raven

    The same thing happens with books – and guess what, the publishing houses will piss and moan about people buying imports from Amazon. Because, y’know, it’s totally not their problem their business model is broken, AMIRITE?

  • http://myspace.com/tythemetalhead deathmetalfan99

    tommy i agree. i know pearl jam sucks but here is a perfect example.
    on one of their records they had a bonus track on side b that they only sold in europe. i have heard it and it is the best pearl jam song ever. it sounds like zeppelin. dont know the name but it is a killer song

  • http://metalmartyr.com Metalmartyr.com

    Don’t say “Pearl Jam Sucks” just because your on a metal site and you want to save face. Pearl Jam doesn’t suck…most of their newer stuff leaves a bit to be desired but the band doesn’t suck.

  • http://metalmartyr.com Metalmartyr.com

    And you may be thinking of Yellow Ledbetter.

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    @Bucksatan: thanks for such a detailed explanation. I think what Vince was getting at is that the current system, regardless of the issues and reasons you’ve cited, doesn’t jibe with the desire of the tech-savvy consumer. The music biz has been slow to respond to this growing market segment and to adapt to this new business environment not only strategically, but also from an operations standpoint as you make clear above. The only logical way forward for these companies is to assess current practices for the bottlenecks and institutional snags that make initiatives like global release dates so difficult.

    Metal is such a niche market and as we divide artists and potential buyers into subcategories (thrash, revival, hardcore, math metal, etc.), reaching those smaller groups is critical to an album’s (relative) success. Instead of making excuses for why a label isn’t giving the customer what he wants, how about stopping to see if those reasons are worth losing sales from an eager, enthusiastic cluster?

  • Malacoda

    This pisses me off. The Berzerker’s last release was Australia-only and now I have to wait 19 days later than Europe to get the new Scar Symmetry, Holographic Universe.

  • http://www.hibernum.net hibernum

    So I hear that in Japan, CDs are crazy expensive. Like 25 bucks. So to sucker the Japanese into buying the Japanese version and not a cheap import, Japanese CDs all have bonus tracks. I chalk that up to Japan is a crazy place.

  • http://metalmartyr.com metalmartyr.com

    I spent some time in Korea and CD’s are expensive over there as well….but you can get bootlegs of just about anything from video games, movies that aren’t even in the theaters yet, sports jerseys, clothing lines and all sorts of shit.

  • anus

    I get the best of both worlds cause I live in Australia so fuck you all!

  • brian

    One big reason is bands aren’t always signed in every territory, or the deals come together at different times. It’s never the same company releasing it everywhere.