"Is This It" was released in Australia on July 30, 2001 to capitalize on the Strokes' recent tour of the country. The record was streamed on Australian websites by the band's distributor BMG and remained available for listening even after the CD release. Geoff Travis, head of the Strokes' UK label Rough Trade, commented that the Australian continent had "special dispensation" and that an export ban was put in place to ensure no interferences with release plans in the rest of the world. The Japanese release date of August 22 was timed to occur after two one-off shows by the band at the Summer Sonic Festival, while the UK release of August 27 coincided with the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City postponed the group's "CMJ" Music Marathon performance, and shifted RCA's US release of "Is This It" from September 25 to October 9. The Strokes chose to replace the song "New York City Cops" on the CD version of the album with a newly recorded song, "When It Started", after they witnessed the "valiant response" of the city's police department during the tragedy. The vinyl release retained the original track list, as a result of its release falling on September 11.