Steve came to us about doing a better job with our disco catalogue.
He put us in touch with the street and brought focus and sales to a decent chunk of business we were ignoring.
Jeff Burns
VICE-PRESIDENT, A&R
GRT RECORDS CANADA
When they moved me from the order desk to marketing to take on the disco project,
I was able to buy a '72 Celica for $500.
That finally meant no more hitchhiking
between Keele and Vic Park.
On the order desk I processed incoming purchase orders from sales reps and directly from accounts accross Canada. I got to know store managers and buyers.
I proposed and undertook an extensive survey of every dance floor in the city and established a database of information about every club and DJ and how they broke out within the disco community. I represented GRT at pool meetings and at every other possible touchpoint. I established a committee of prominant Toronto DJ's to evaluate and influence which records were worth releasing in Canada. That meant that the records we released got played and purchased.
It was a happy time and I lived my job (not a typo).
This was a tremendous introduction to some great people in the record business, several of whom remained colleagues down the road.
GRT Canada was the smallest of the seven major Canadian record companies in the 70's. Dan Hill, Prism, FM and Ian Thomas were signed to GRT, who bolstered operating costs by distributing labels like ABC (Steely Dan, Jimmy Buffett, BB King), Charisma (Genesis, Gentle Giant), Sire (Ramones) and others.
GRT USA was more about manufacturing than it was a label.
GRT Canada was a casualty of bankrupt American 8-track tape duplication facilities,