Music Distribution in Canada: A Complete Guide for Independent Artists

The musical landscape of Canada is getting rich and varied. This is the right time for budding artists to showcase their talent on a global stage. It doesn’t matter whether you are a rookie musician creating a banger within the four walls of your bedroom or an accomplished artist making tunes in an expensive studio. With the advent of digital platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube, an artist can distribute his tracks worldwide without any hassles. However, what matters is whether or not you are using the correct platforms. In this piece, we will go more into music distribution in Canada, spotlight leading music distribution companies and give you a how-to for getting your music out into online streaming platforms.

Why Music Distribution in Canada Matters

Music distribution in Canada is not just a path to get your music out to the world. It is the bridge that reduces the gap between the artist and the listener and helps the musician to build a rapport with the listener. Moreover, music distribution is an efficient route for indie artists to monetize their tracks and generate income from them.Here are the reasons why music distribution matters to Canadian artists:-

• Global Reach: Even without a label, an artist can share his tracks across the globe through a digital streaming platform—a precursor to the global reach of the artist. 
• Monetization: Music distribution guarantees that artists receive clear-cut royalty splits from the streams, downloads, and licensing.
  
• Professional Growth: Establish your brand as an artist. Music distribution helps the artist to grab the attention of the music industry professionals.

Independent artists in Canada now have immense opportunities to distribute their tracks without a label, which enables them to have complete control over their tracks and gives them a higher revenue. 

Top Music Distribution Companies in Canada

Still confused about where to find the perfect music distribution platform in Canada? Then, keep your worries at bay. It is the time when the musical landscape is ever growing, and so is the competition. To shine amidst the stalwarts of the music industry, you need a quality music distributor to release your track. Pricing, royalty assurance, ownership of tracks, unlimited releases are some of the factors that a young artist searches for.  So, here is a list of the top music distribution companies in Canada:

1. Gallery Vision (Recommended for Canadian Artists)

Faster delivery of tracks to the digital streaming platform and free music distribution are the USPs of Gallery Vision—a rapidly growing music distribution company. They promise unlimited releases of your tracks on Spotify, YouTube, JioSaavn, and more. Moreover, the artist gets complete ownership over their tracks. GalleryVision also assures a transparent split of royalties. So they became the top music distribution companies in Canada

Visit their website here: https://www.gallery.vision/

2. DistroKid

Unlimited uploads and clear-cut royalty splits make DistroKid an approachable music distributor for Indie artists- an ideal platform for artists looking for hassle-free music distribution.

Visit their website here: https://distrokid.com/

3. CD Baby

CD Baby distributes tracks to over 150+ streaming platforms. They charge only a minimum fee on artists without any hidden costs. 

Visit their website here: https://cdbaby.com/

4. TuneCore

TuneCore is a pioneer among the leading music distributors around the world. Maximum royalties with 100% ownership over their tracks provide artists a higher revenue potential.

Visit their website here: https://www.tunecore.com/

5. Amuse

Another ever-evolving music distribution platform that offers tools of daily release for artists, such as access to marketing, lyrics verification, and automatic syncing. Complete royalty to the artist is another advantage of opting for Amuse.

Visit their website here: https://www.amuse.io/en/

How to Choose the Right Distributor?

One of the yardsticks which measures the success of an emerging artist is whether he chose the right music distributor or not. Here, we outline the major factor that helps an artist to choose the right distributor:

1. Cost: Go for a music distribution company that charges no upfront fees. Otherwise, look for a distributor like GalleryVision who offers you free music distribution service.
   
2. Royalties: An ideal music distributor gives you either a 100% or higher share of royalties to the artist.
   
3. Support: Providing artists with additional services like playlist pitching, sync licensing, and marketing options makes a distributor stand out among his competitors.
   
4. Ease of Use: Certain music distributors are equipped with user-friendly dashboards for uploading and managing music for the music artists. They give real-time data to the artists on their sales reports and fan bases across the globe.
   
5.  Global Reach: Does it distribute to all major platforms? Never limit your releases to a single streaming platform. A premium distribution company uploads your tracks on almost all major streaming platforms, as seen in the case with Gallery Vision and CD Baby, who distribute an artist’s craft on 150+ platforms. 

Steps to Distribute Your Music in Canada

Prepare Your Music: Do you have a great song on your hands and want to release it? If so, you’ll want to have a quality audio file of your song ready to go. WAV or FLAC will be best because it will allow the track to sound professional without a lot of noise inhibiting the sound quality

Select a Distributor: Choose a distributor who aligns with your needs. Compare all the music distribution companies and go for the one which offers 100% ownership of your tracks, pricing at a nominal rate or a free music distribution.

Upload Metadata: Accurate metadata is necessary to avoid further confusion and chaos. Keep in mind to add song title, artist name, cover art and genre to your releases.

Choose Platforms: Release your track on all digital streaming platforms who are dominant players in the current musical scene like Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. there is no better way to maximize your impact on the world stage, just go for releases on multiple streaming platforms.

Promote Your Music: Promotion of your tracks using social media platforms, email newsletters, and playlists can build a momentum around your release.

Why is Gallery Vision Ideal for Canadian Artists?

Music distribution in Canada has become easier and more convenient due to services offered by a wide array of streaming platforms across the world.  Gallery Vision makes it easy for independent artists in Canada to distribute music globally for free while maintaining full royalty control. It’s perfect for artists who want:

• Global reach without upfront costs
  
• User-friendly platform for beginners and pros
  
• Access to all major streaming platforms
  
• Faster distribution and tracking of your releases
• Unlimited releases
• 100% ownership over your tracks

Final Thoughts

In today’s world, selecting the right music distributor is the key factor that helps a musician to reach the top of his game. For a Canadian artist, all you need is talent and a perfect music distributor to enable your tracks to hit a million streams without making any compromises on royalties and ownership. The music distribution in Canada is becoming more diverse and inclusive, and so are the distributors.  At Gallery Vision, we offer to deliver your tracks on time on various streaming platforms without any fee and support your musical career in becoming a pop icon. 

FAQ