the memo. Just recently, both Universal Music Group and Sony Music in the UK decided to release digital singles on the same day as radio release. That is, instead of attempting to build anticipation, a old-school trick that's almost impossible to achieve these days. “Wait is not a word in the vocabulary of the current generation," remarked UMG UK chief executive David Joseph. “It's out of date to think that you can build up demand for a song by playing it for several weeks on radio in advance."
These aren't the only labels to get the memo, and this is hardly groundbreaking stuff. Welcome to 2011... or, the 2000s more like. But the struggle by big media against instant-release has been ongoing, and Hollywood is already fighting against 'day-and-date,' across-the-board releases. But if the net has taught any lessons, it's that labels have almost zero control over the exact release date of a project, or even the version of the song that ultimately leak
