GRT was the record label of General Recorded Tape, a California tape duplicator that turned itself into a record company. From Sunnyvale it manufactured cassettes, 8-tracks and open-reel tapes under licence from other companies’ catalogues, ABC and Buddah among them, and sold them under the motto “The Great Tapes”. In 1969 it bought Chess Records from Leonard and Phil Chess, and it also owned Janus, under which the Chess operation was administered in the early 1970s.

The Canadian company grew into something of its own. GRT of Canada Ltd. was incorporated in November 1968 and started out in London, Ontario, manufacturing and distributing pre-recorded 4-track and 8-track tapes. Marketing moved to the Toronto area soon after, and by 1969 the company had gone past tape duplication into record distribution and into making records with Canadian artists.

Under president Ross Reynolds, GRT built a substantial Canadian roster just as the domestic industry was expanding. Moe Koffman, Doctor Music, Everyday People, Terry Bush, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Ronnie Hawkins were among the early names. Lighthouse gave the label its first major success, and Ian Thomas, Dan Hill, Downchild, Chad Allan, Cathy Young, Prism and FM followed.

Distribution was the other half of the business and the larger half by volume. Through the 1970s the Canadian network handled Chess, Janus, ABC, Dunhill, Impulse!, Island, Sire, 20th Century, Roulette and Bang, along with Canadian independents such as Axe and Daffodil. By 1976 the main offices were in Willowdale, Ontario, with distribution and branch operations serving Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and other markets.

The timing mattered. GRT was putting money into Canadian recordings at the moment the Canadian-content regulations came into force and radio needed domestic records to play, and it stayed at it long enough to develop album artists of its own. The logo turned up on hundreds of Canadian records and tapes over the decade.

Trouble at the American parent came to a head in 1979. General Recorded Tape filed for Chapter 11 protection on July 18. Canadian management held for a while that the profitable Canadian company could carry on by itself, but GRT Records Canada declared bankruptcy on October 16, 1979, cutting about forty jobs and leaving a number of artists suddenly without a Canadian label. Dan Hill, Prism, Ian Thomas, Moe Koffman and FM were all caught by it. FM’s second album, Surveillance, was waiting for release when the company folded and was picked up by Capitol.

For about a decade GRT of Canada sat between the multinationals and the independents, with the reach of one and the appetite of the other. It began as an offshoot of the prerecorded-tape trade and ended as a label, a manufacturer and a national distributor with a real stake in Canadian artists. A good deal of what Canadian radio played in the 1970s, and a good deal of what collectors dig for now, came out of that operation.
-Robert Williston

GRT of Canada Ltd.
Incorporated November 1968
First operations: London, Ontario (tape manufacturing and distribution)
Main offices by 1976: Willowdale, Ontario, with branch and distribution operations in Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver
President: Ross Reynolds
Declared bankruptcy October 16, 1979
General Recorded Tape (parent)
Sunnyvale, California, later 9000 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 615, Los Angeles
Motto: “The Great Tapes”
Bought Chess Records from Leonard and Phil Chess, 1969
Sublabels: Aristocrat, Casino, Hit Collection, Janus, LS Records
Filed for Chapter 11 protection July 18, 1979
Labels distributed in Canada
Chess, Janus, ABC, Dunhill, Impulse!, Island, Sire, 20th Century, Roulette, Bang, Axe, Daffodil and others
Canadian artists on GRT
Moe Koffman, Doctor Music, Everyday People, Terry Bush, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Ronnie Hawkins, Lighthouse, Ian Thomas, Dan Hill, Downchild, Chad Allan, Cathy Young, Prism, FM and many more