Why do releases come out on Friday, and is it midnight in my time zone or theirs?

Fridays because the music industry agreed on it in 2015. By default it’s midnight in each listener’s time zone, unless you pick one global time.

The label trade body IFPI announced “New Music Fridays” in June 2015. From July 10 that year, new albums and singles in more than 45 countries came out at 00:01 local time on Fridays. Before that, the UK and France released on Mondays and the US and Canada on Tuesdays, so fans in one country waited while another already had the record.

Spotify’s Release Radar still updates every Friday, as our guide to how the Spotify algorithm works explains.

On the clock, there are two settings. Spotify’s page on unreleased music describes both: 12:00 AM local time in each country, or the same moment worldwide, such as 12:00 AM UTC. With the worldwide option, listeners further west get it the evening before.

Your distributor sets which one you get. DistroKid’s page on future release dates says stores other than Spotify go live around midnight in listeners’ time zones. On Musician Plus or Ultimate you can also pick a Spotify release time, then choose local time or simultaneous under “Time synchronization.” Simultaneous uses New York time for every region.

A date one day early in Spotify for Artists is the earliest time zone. Our FAQ on a release that looks early covers that.