Avenue Of America Recording Limited

Toronto-based record company, established in June 1971 by President Gary Salter (after the collapse of his MTCC label) along with his father Abe Salter and Manny Brott. In January 1972 the company went public. Their bread-and-butter was "soundalike" releases which used anonymous vocalists who sounded like the original artists in cover compilations of current hit songs. The business model was to take the profits from these and apply them to signing and releasing original Canadian talent. The company owned a pressing plant (Modern Album Of Canada Limited) on 1244 Dufferin Street in Toronto (previously owned by Salter's MTCC and prior to that operated as Century Records/Cardinal Record Corporation Ltd., Universal Record Mfg. Co. Ltd. and International Records Corp. Ltd.) and mainly pressed releases in-house, Keel Record Mfg. Of Canada Limited was also used. Tape duplication was outsourced. Western Canadian distribution was handled by T.P.C. (British Columbia and Alberta) and Laurel Records (Manitoba). The company did not have a full distribution deal in the U.S. but most releases were distributed stateside by Buddah Records / Kama Sutra. In early 1973 their soundalike releases started being distributed in Japan. In early 1973 they became manufacturer and distributor for fledgling Toronto label Up (5) and in the middle of the same year started distributing Bronco Records (9). By November 1973 they lost their marquee artist Abraham's Children due to contractual dispute, they lost their A&R and promotional talent to other labels, Salter was staving off creditors, and it was reported Avenue Of America had closed its doors.