All About Music Distribution with Frank & Lisa Horvat

Frank Horvat is an award-winning and critically acclaimed composer and pianist. He maintains an active schedule of recording projects and performances of his own compositions. His portfolio of works consists of chamber, pop/rock, electronic, musical theatre, film, and large ensemble pieces. His music has been premiered on four continents and featured on TV networks like the CBC, HBO & Bravo and a variety of radio stations internationally.

Since 2007, Frank has released over 19 albums and been featured on many more, showcasing his versatility across labels such as ATMA Classique, Azul Music, Leaf Music, and Centrediscs.

In 2021, Frank Horvat delivered a powerful testament with the album “Music for Self-Isolation”, hailed as one of CBC Classical’s top five classical albums of the year and Ludwig van Toronto’s ‘Year In Review: Classical Gems’. He joined us that year on Song Talk Radio – be sure to check out that episode.

For this show, Frank and his wife/manager Lisa Horvat talked about the how-tos of music distribution.

We talked about:

• Previous appearances by Frank on Song Talk Radio: The TV Theme Draft Show Extravaganza and Songs for Self-Isolation with Frank Horvat
• Halloween Special – Song Talk Radio
• The importance of mastering your music for release
• Popular distribution companies such as CD Baby, Distrokid, TuneCore, Routenote, AWAL
• Some distributers also offer additional services like mastering and promotion
• Digital distribution vs. shopping your songs to a label
• Differences in the ways music was made and distributed a generation ago
• Be sure you understand the agreement you’re getting into and how it aligns with your artist presence and business model (e.g. subscription, pay-per-release, free)
• If you want your lyrics attached to your release, upload them to LyricFind or Musixmatch
• Get your Metadata (performers, songwriters, places recorded, genre, etc) sorted out and get it right when you upload
• Be sure to get your free UPC and ISRC codes
• Be sure to also register your recordings – see our episode with Allister Bradley on this
• Export an instrumental mix of your song (without the vocals) if you’re considering pitching it for TV or film
• Considerations if you’re releasing a cover song