The best day to release music, and why it's Friday

Release on a Friday. Since 2015, new music around the world has come out on Fridays, and the stores are built around it: Spotify's Release Radar updates on Fridays, the big editorial new-release playlists refresh that day and listeners know to look for new songs heading into the weekend. Picking the day of the week is the easy part. Picking which Friday is where the planning goes.

This guide explains why Friday became release day, how a release goes live across time zones and how to pick a Friday far enough out for everything a release needs.

Why music is released on Fridays

Until 2015, release days varied by country: Monday in the UK, Tuesday in the US, Friday in Germany and Australia. A song could be out in one country days before another, which made life hard for fans and invited piracy in between.

In June 2015 IFPI, the body that represents the recording industry worldwide, announced a single global release day. From July 10, 2015, new albums and singles in more than 45 markets would come out on Fridays at 00:01 local time, according to the industry FAQ published with the switch. The reason given was the listener: research showed fans wanted new music ready for the weekend, and streaming searches and social media talk both peak heading into it.

Charts moved with it. The UK's Official Chart switched its publication to Fridays so a chart week covers a full week from release, as Fortune reported at the time. The industry has released on Fridays ever since, and the day is widely known as New Music Friday.

What happens on Spotify on a Friday

Friday is when the stores turn over their new-music slots, and a Friday release arrives in time for all of them.

• Release Radar updates every Friday, according to Spotify's help page on its playlists. It brings each listener new songs from artists they follow or play.
• Editorial new-release playlists, such as Spotify's New Music Friday, refresh on Fridays with the week's picks.
• Listeners go looking. Fans expect new music that day, and so do the people writing about it.

A song released on another weekday can still be found, and nothing stops you choosing one. On a Friday, though, the song is at its newest exactly when the stores and listeners are paying the most attention.

Release day and time zones

Most releases go live at midnight in each listener's local time, so the song reaches New Zealand first and the west coast of the Americas last. A fan in Sydney can hear it most of a day before a fan in Los Angeles. That's normal, and it means your release day is a rolling one.

Plan your posts around it. If most of your listeners are in one region, time your release-day posts to their morning. If they're spread out, a post as each region wakes up keeps the song in front of people all day.

Which Friday to choose

Once you know it's a Friday, the real question is which one. Work backward from the date and make sure there's room for each of these:

• Delivery. The stores need your music in good time. Spotify asks for it at least 7 days before release so its editors can listen, and earlier gives you room if something needs fixing.
• The pitch. Spotify takes pitches for unreleased songs, and editors plan ahead, so pitching weeks out gives them time. A pitch at least 7 days before release also puts the song in your followers' Release Radar.
• The pre-save. A pre-save link lets fans save the song before it's out, so it lands in their library on release day. It needs time to be shared.
• Posts before the day. Listeners who've heard a clip in the weeks before are the ones who press play on Friday.

Check your own calendar too: a Friday when you can post, answer messages and play the song live if you perform. The release date planner lets you pick a Friday and see the landmarks around it, and our guide to how early to send your music covers delivery in detail.

Busy Fridays and holidays

Some Fridays are crowded, when a lot of big releases land at once or a holiday changes how people listen. A quieter Friday can give a new song more room on your fans' screens. If your song fits a season or a moment, a Friday ahead of it gives listeners time to find it while it matters to them.

For every other step of a release in order, read how to release music.

The date Audora proposes

When you start a release in Audora, it proposes a Friday with room for the editors, and builds the release around that date:

• A pitch for the people who market it to the stores goes out with every release, written from your answers about the song.
• Your own moves (the pitch in Spotify for Artists, the pre-save, the Canvas) come up on the release's calendar on the day they matter.
• A promotion campaign is planned around release day, every post written in your voice with its caption, hashtags and the picture or video it needs, for you to approve.
• Your music goes to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, YouTube and 140+ stores, and into the databases radio stations, cars and song recognition read.

TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (Stories included) and Facebook Pages post automatically, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Stories carry no link sticker, so your release link goes in your bio.

The steps for your release, each dated to the Friday you pick, sit in your Audora account. Audora keeps tuning them, adding, dropping or retiming a step as it learns what works best for its artists, and your calendar follows. For everything a release gets, read what every track gets.