© Rex Features
The Entertainment Retailers Association has claimed that waiting to unveil the majority of key releases in the run-up to Christmas is damaging sales.
"Cramming all the key releases in the fourth quarter is problematic both for consumers and retailers," The ERA's Kim Bayley told BBC Newsbeat.
"The first half of 2012 has seen one of the weakest release schedules retailers can remember in both music and video games.
"It is very difficult for retailers to sustain their year-round investment in staff and rent when sales are crammed into such a short window."
Rihanna's Talk That Talk recently claimed the lowest sales for a number one album when the record, originally released in 2011, returned to number one with sales of 9,578.
© Rex Features
However, Brian Rose, the managing director of the commercial division at Universal UK, has defended his label's decision to schedule releases during peak sales times.
"August is not a great month to release a big new record because most people aren't buying music at that point," he said.
"We don't put all our hopes into an autumn release period - we are very much a 52-weeks-of-the-year business, but there's solid business reasons to release a lot of them in the autumn.
"In December we'll sell 20% of all the albums we'll sell in a year, so it's still a big opportunity."
"If you've got umpteen albums and DVDs all fighting for that key retail and media space then clearly not everyone is going to achieve their sales," he said.
"I think there are lots of potential sales which aren't achieved."
Robbie Williams, One Direction, The Wanted, JLS, Little Mix, No Doubt, Muse, The Killers, Ellie Goulding, Leona Lewis, Tinie Tempah, Alicia Keys and Green Day are just some of the acts releasing albums in the run-up to Christmas 2012.
