Calgary vinyl pressing plant appears to be closing

Jan. 4, 2017 – It appears one of the only vinyl record pressing plants in Canada has shut down its operations.

Canada Boy Vinyl opened in Calgary in September 2015 expecting to take advantage of a surge in record sales — a Nielsen music report at the time said sales jumped by 52 per cent in 2014.

Its machines, purchased from a pressing plant in Britain, were capable of processing up to 70,000 records per week.

But things have not gone according to plan for Dean Reid, the founder and chief operating officer of Canada Boy Vinyl.

“This New Year brings bad news. It is with great sadness that I must report that we do not expect CBV to be able to continue operations,” said Reid in an automatic email response.

The news follows a Facebook post in early December which announced it was ceasing operations until the new year. The shutdown now appears to be more permanent.

“I know you are all looking for updates and answers and my intention is to give everyone an official report by January 9th and hopefully sooner,” Reid wrote in the email.

“I promise you that I will be updating everyone with the information as soon as it comes in to me. I am moving as fast as possible as I know you all have deadlines to meet and records to sell. You are all extremely important to me.”

He thanked the public for its patience as Canada Boy Vinyl constructs a “plan that is in everyone’s best interest.”

Reid spent 20 years in construction, playing bass guitar in his spare time, before he decided to take the plunge into a music industry that has become anything but a safe bet.

He sought out investors to help finance his dream in August 2013 and got in touch with someone in England with some aging record-pressing equipment for sale.

At the time Canada Boy opened for business in 2015, there were only about 40 pressing plants in the world. Canada Boy was believed to be the only pressing plant in Canada after Montreal-based Rip-V ceased operations earlier that year.

In a November 2015 interview with The Canadian Press he said he understood the risks involved.

“I wanted to try and get involved in a career that was way more in line with what I love and am passionate about — and that is music,” Reid said.

“One of the things I was interested in was starting up a record label and I started doing some research into it. I quickly found out it can be one of the arguably worst businesses a guy could ever get into. I’ll try and enjoy it while it lasts.”

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. 2017