DIY Music Distribution with Paul Gallagher

Our longtime friend of the Song Talk Meetup, Paul Gallagher, joined us to talk about everything he learning getting his latest EP out on streaming services, community radio, and other digital services.

Download the extensive and handy documents Paul provided for this episode:

• 10 Key DIY Release Takeaways
• DIY Release Detailed Breakdown

We talked about:

• Getting all your ducks in a row before releasing music, including written agreements with your co-writers
• Capturing a wider breadth of places for your music, beyond typical digital distribution services
• Registering with SOCAN for both reproduction and performance royalties – see this video about the new live music performance royalties and our episode about registration with Allister Bradley
• The importance of preparing and submitting metadata to various platforms
• Make sure your final master recordings are the best they can be
• How IRSC codes are the unique identifiers for your songs and are needed (and free) for tracking your songs on streaming services
• Paul also submitted individually to a ton community radio stations, or you can also use the !earshot Digital Distribution System to distribute to Canadian Community Radio stations – see Paul’s list of stations

About Paul Gallagher

Paul Gallagher is the Toronto songwriter behind Paul Gallagher Express — which, fun fact, isn’t a band at all. It’s just Paul, a bunch of instruments (mostly digital), and a healthy dose of curiosity.

He started out on drums as a teenager, and somewhere along the way turned his home studio into a musical playground. His songs blend classic storytelling with a dash of experimentation — sometimes tender, sometimes a little quirky, always unexpected.

Paul finds ideas everywhere: a news story, a random chat, or even while doom‑scrolling. For him, making music is pure DIY — one part exploration, one part joy, and maybe a few happy accidents along the way. In the spirit of do-it-yourself, he decided to try self-distribution and he’s here to share what he learned.