For the first time in a long time, Tuesday will be just
another day for me.
For a few decades, new records have been released on
Tuesdays.
It seems like most of my life (Tuesday became the
official release day in April, 1989-prior to that it was Monday) that music came on Tuesday, although it wasn't until entering the work force as a "suit" that I really began to purchase music at a ridiculous rate.
Every
Tuesday (or Monday) since July 1, 1984, I would make the trek from my office
down to 11th Street to Sounds Of Market Street II to get my mitts on
the week’s new titles.
I think I paid for the manager's (Avi) trip home to Israel each summer. It was a great store with great prices and selection, and Avi could order almost anything I wanted, which was critical in the pre-Internet world.
In 1993, I moved to Connecticut, and the store of choice was
Strawberries in Bloomfield.
Less ability to order imports, but by then I had a few mail order outlets that could satisfy that sweet tooth.
In 1995, I ventured out to Phoenix, where my pilgrimage was to Zia
Records.
For more than twenty years, every Tuesday it was the same, and at all three
locations the store personnel came to expect me.
Sometime after 2006, my work schedule got more intense and I
found I was buying online more than at local stores, but every Tuesday, there
was that Amazon box waiting on my doorstep.
No one seems to know for sure why, but I have heard the
explanation offered that since Billboard charts are published on Wednesdays,
you get the most chart impact for a new release coming out on Tuesday, a full
week including a weekend.
But as of today (July 14, 2015), Tuesday will sing no more.
Recently, a group of people (mostly outside the US), decided
that physical music releases would start coming on Fridays, globally.
A global street date makes sense.
Prior to the change, the same album
may be released as much as a week apart in different countries, which makes no
sense when consumption is increasingly digital.
Why should people in Japan be forced to wait for the new One Direction CD when the rest of the world has to suffer?
But I am going to miss coming home on Tuesday nights and finding something new to listen to.
It's just not going to be the same on a Friday.
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I know a little of how you feel. Time Machine is on Fridays because I used to work a 4- 10s schedule with Fridays off. Now I type it on Thursday night for Friday morning publication. It used to make for a special morning.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it was just the extra day off. We deserved it, it was a crap job.
CW, I think yours is far worse! Did they just disallow the compressed schedule or are you in a new job?
DeleteIf I were still working in downtown Philadelphia the change in release day would have more of an impact because the jaunt down to the store had become an event, as I was working with another collector my last few years in the city..
But the store closed down, and the other collector got married, so nothing stays the same anyway.
For almost ten years I've been mostly buying by mail, so it's a little less of an impact on me, and more on my mail carrier.
But there won't be a package today, and that's a bummer (although there was not much coming out this week anyway).
Increasing work demands are why I've cut blogging way back-too much time spent in front of a computer already (and wicked carpal tunnel pain). So I commend you for keeping yours as active as you do.
New job, good people, not so much the-boss-as-the-elite.
DeleteAnd the Blog will stay active as long as I'm a windy cuss, and I don't see that abating anytime soon...
Good ol' ZIA. During my 20 years in Phoenix, I sure bought my share of CDs and DVDs from them. My entire 'MOONLIGHTING' collection and most of my 'FRASIER' sets came from Zia, and too many other items to remember and mention.
ReplyDelete~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
If you bought your share, who are the other people whose shares I bought at Zia?
DeleteHuh. This reminds me of my dad. Growing up, he used to bring home new CDs every week almost. Just stuff whose cover he liked - sometimes we dug it and other times it was trash. We ended up with the oddest collection of music.
ReplyDeleteI never realized Tuesdays were when new music dropped, so I guess this doesn't bother me?
Madilyn-
DeleteI expect most people won't even notice the difference. It seems like it's been a long time since a new album release was an event.
In Philadelphia, a new Bruce Springsteen record used to be bigger than Christmas-people would dress up like Clarence Clemons and go down the chimney of their record stores.
OK, that may be an exaggeration, but stores would often open at midnight to sell the record and people would be there buying it.
I doubt the same level of interest would hold in the digital world.
Not the same to sit at the computer at midnight to download an iTunes file.
Do you still have that music collection?
I never realized there was a set day for new music releases. Hmm. Goes to show you that there's always something new to learn.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably only noteworthy for collectors, Misha, although in my younger days it seemed like many new album releases were treated like an event...but with the changes in music consumption over the last decade or so, it has become a different world.
DeleteThis is interesting, because I also didn't know that music was released on Tuesdays. This sounds hipsterish as hell, I'm sure, but I listen to mostly Indie music, where artists release their own work and release it whenever they feel like. So I just digitally grab albums as they come.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what this feels like, though, to get into a nice tradition and then have it turned upside down. I don't suppose it's quite the same, going on the Tuesday that follows Friday's releases...?
The Amazon package arrived on Friday-I do most of my buying online these days.
DeleteAre you sure the stuff you buy isn't being initially released on a Tuesday (now Friday)?
Unless they sell the files off of their own site, I'd thought most distribution followed the same street date protocol...
I don't think they follow the same protocol for websites like iTunes, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, etc. You can pretty much post something whenever you please.
DeleteLike, I just randomly picked one of the Indie artists I currently listen to, and looked at the release date of his most current album. It was released March 03, 2014... which was a Monday.
It must be label-drivenm then (if they're with a major label, it will come out with the "normal" street date).
DeleteEven though even there there have been exceptions (Radiohead's In Rainbows came out on a weekend, but that was because a major chain had put it out on the floor early so the label let all retailers do it).
I seem to remember a Michael Jackson posthumous release coming out on a Friday.
You digital guys don't know the joy of combing through the record bins!