I met Kevin Crump last year at the Gussapalozza Festival and we were just two of the dozen media tents working side by side talking with the artists about our place in the music industry. It is a wonderful festival that really tries to connect as many people as possible.

Microforum Vinyl Record Pressing is the company that helps put together your physical property. It could be your new CD or album. When I spoke with Kevin, he is a very passionate guy about working with Indie artists to help them with putting their music out for the world to buy.

I had it in my mind that he was a guy with small space trying to organize all of this. When I arrived, I was very surprised at the size of the building. It is 70,000 square feet made to handle any job from very small runs to huge jobs for some of the biggest acts in the world. This place was made for any size artist and record company to use.

Blast- What is the general purpose of this place?

Kevin- Currently we are working on bespoke box sets. A bespoke box is a specifically designed and manufactured box for you, according to your requirements. We have recently worked on U2’s box set when they did their shows at Las Vegas’ Sphere.

Microforum is the only place that does everything in house. We can work on the size of the record, the speed of the record, the way you want to present your album jacket and even the colour of your vinyl.

On our floor we have seven presses. Five are automatic and two are manual. They both do their own thing. The automatic machines

Blast- Let’s say we have a young band that wants to do everything themselves. They clearly have a budget they want to stick to. Is there a minimum amount of pressing they have to do? How should they approach this?

Kevin- Not to boast, but I come from an Indie background, and I understand what they are looking for. Back in the days, it was difficult because most bands would only want to do a run of 100 pressings, and these companies would only do a minimum of 500. We now see this need and Microforum has adapted to help out these kinds of problems for bands. We are trying to be cool about this and offer them some new choices that would fit in their budget.

(Talk about Different plastic quality)

 Blast- What other services do you offer Indie artists?

Kevin- I am really trying to organize a full package for the Indie artist. For example, we are looking into manufacturing tapes again. Cd’s are making a comeback as well. I think if vinyl prices go up, CD’s will be the way people buy their music again.

We have something called a MVM record. For bands that are using their own money, this is a good way to go. Instead of cutting into a lacquer plastic which is a more expensive process, and usually you would have to do a run of 1000. Maybe your band only wants to do 100 pressings; we can now use a plexiglass instead of cutting into acetate. With this method, the quality is still near perfect, and the cost is reduced to about half. This is a great way to save money on small runs.

We also have done something completely different. We came up with a three-inch record and a record player with a high-end needle to celebrate Record store day. This is a unique way to present your music.

MicroForum is really out to support vinyl culture anyway they can.  Whether it is a record store or going out to Records shows, vinyl is still an important component to listening to music the way you want. Cassette Tapes have a certain sound as well as CD’s. Even if you download music, it has its own characteristic sound. So go explore these sounds and choose which one you like the best.

Blast- What is the final message you would like to express to the world?

Kevin- We really want to be the place where independent musicians can come to create a physical product. We are not Genre specific, and we welcome every walk of life to come and put out their product anyway they want. We have 5 sales reps that are very passionate about music and really want to collaborate with your vision.

A lot of other record plants are not as transparent as we are. If you want a tour of the plant to understand the process, we will accommodate that. Other record places really don’t do that. This gives the artists a lot of confidence in what the final product will be. They feel like they are a part of that process.

If an artist decides to go ahead and work with MicroForum one on one, they cut out all the middlemen and can save a ton of cash.

Since MicroForum is so dedicated to Indie artists, Kevin suggested maybe holding a festival at their plant. So maybe you go out to see great music and artists can get guided tours to understand how the plant works. HMMM, I think they may be on to something. Can you imagine having 4-6 micro-breweries and some food trucks with a cool merch table?

Listen, if you are an Indie band, you should really connect with Kevin ay MicroForum so he can begin to educate you on making a good decision about the direction of your music and how it should be sold.

You can reach him at: Vinyl Record Pressing Toronto | Vinyl Pressing Toronto

If you would like to meet him one on one, he and I will be at Gussapalooza this year at the Media section. Come by when you are in between bands and start the conversation to get your band to the next level.

There Instagram page is : www.instagram.com/microforumvinyl/

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