What is this stupid announcement all about? Internationally agreed release dates? Bollocks. Release dates were always only a way for major labels to alert radio it was time to play something and retailers that it was time to order stock. There is no "agreement" on release dates. If I want to release my next hit on a Wednesday through iTunes I can and will. Likewise Amazon will stock it and sell it whenever. I remember when I had No Limits on BBC2 my producer was horrified when I programmed tracks that were not released, out of print or by dead people. "Why?" I asked. The majors were not running my programming which was simply based on whether music was good or not. All the better if listeners could not hear it, see it or buy it elsewhere.

The day of the chart is simply a PR way for the industry to try to save a dying promotion item. Sometimes I despair. There are far better and more important ways to promote and sell music.

I'm not sure it's going to work either. Though the world (well, Universal, Warners and Sony), has agreed release day should be Friday, there is no guarantee that it will be the SAME Friday everywhere in the world. For example, if the release is by an artist who benefits from being local when their album is released, then it makes sense to go with UK this Friday, Germany, next Friday and the USA the Friday after that. Noel Gallagher puts the whole thing so eloquently here:

Bloke's a berk.