In contrast to the U.S. label, the Canadian subsidiary became a major source of original releases by Canadian artists. GRT Records, legally known as GRT of Canada Ltd., was established as the Canadian subsidiary of General Recorded Tape. It was initially based in
London, Ontario, as a Canadian distributor of
4-track and
8-track tapes produced in the United States. Its founding president was
Ross Reynolds, who later was the president of
MCA Records Canada. The company was relocated to
Toronto,
Ontario in 1969, and commenced distributing foreign label records and tapes, as well as recording its own artists. By 1976, the foreign labels distributed by GRT in Canada included GRT-owned Chess Records and Janus Records, as well as other labels such as
ABC Records,
Dunhill Records,
Island Records,
Festival Records,
Westminster Records,
America Records,
Impulse Records,
Musidisc Records, In addition to releasing records under the GRT label, other Canadian labels distributed included
Axe Records and
Daffodil Records. GRT Records went bankrupt in 1979, The Canadian band
Prism had sold in excess of 200,000 copies of its album
Armageddon, which was released the same year as the GRT bankruptcy. Both
8-track tapes and records by
The Ramones were
remaindered as a result of the GRT bankruptcy. Paradoxically, the remaindering of Ramones music in Canada is regarded as having contributed to the band's popularity in that country, ==References==