However, one eccentric sales representative in particular is going out of his way to support local record stores and build relationships with the indie music scene. Kevin Crump, also known by Instagram alias the Record Detective, joined Microforum in April of 2023 after leaving an HR role at Sick Kids Foundation. He’d been long steeped in music, having grown up in the punk rock music scene, and later started his own bands as well as the noise rock record label, Wintage Records, which ran from 2005-2013.

Crump initially launched the label as a means to distribute his own noise rock band, Disguises, then taught himself to hand make records with a lathe he bought at a vintage audio store. He made it his mission to help promote Toronto’s noise and experimental scene with what little resources he had, hand decorating cassettes and distributing them via mail-order throughout Canada, the United States, Japan and Europe.

Shortly after his first daughter was born, Crump put the label to rest, knowing that the endeavor wasn’t raking in enough profits to support his growing family. He teetered on the periphery of the music scene, taking events and communications jobs before ultimately landing at Sick Kids Foundation for over five years. “It took me out of music completely. So then at the end of those five years, I knew I had to figure out how to get back to music,” he explains. 

Around that time, Crump started creating Record Detective content on Instagram, in which he’d tour local record stores, or break down a particular record, artist or genre. His videos are characterized by comically exaggerated voices, quick facts, a seemingly infinite rotation of sunglasses (he never films without them), and a magnifying glass that he wields like a microphone. “I’m going about it in the most genuine way that I can. I wear my heart on my sleeve – I’m a really hard Leo,” he says.

During the hunt for a music related job, a little bit of research conducted by Crump’s wife revealed that there was a record pressing plant in their own backyard in Toronto’s Stock Yards, so he set out to apply for an entry level job on the pressing floor. He arrived to the interview incredibly enthusiastic, overstating the additional experience he could bring to Microforum Vinyl Record Pressing, like marketing and events planning, but he didn’t get it. 

“Because I lived close by I started going by all the time, to the point where I was a nuisance,” Says Crump. For three or four months, he continuously requested another job interview, until he finally got it. This time, he kept his ideas to himself and stuck to the script for a pressing job – he was hired right away. 

“I loved working on the floor because I could zone out with my playlists running. I’d just be blowing my ears for eight hours, rocking and producing records,” he says. “But it was an entry level position. I needed something a little bit more.” After a few months on the floor, he encountered a man in a suit that he’d never seen before, Microforum’s Vice President, so he started approaching him with ideas. 

Impressed with the initiative, he invited Crump to a meeting where he could formally pitch, and decided his on-the-ground knowledge of the indie community warranted him a sales account: North American indie music. After all, he was already spending a large amount of his free time in local record stores, crate digging for his own collection. 

Starting with zero clients, Crump approached the job in the only way he knew how, positioning himself as a traditional A&R man and building relationships at the grassroots level. He took over Microforum’s social and press outreach, and started partnering with local record shops to host events, while also inviting clients to play at gigs. 

A lot of the feedback he’s gotten from clients is that they’re surprised he’s so involved; he supports them even after their record run is complete. His hospitality towards any new client includes, at minimum, a tour of Microforum, which many bands report as being their first time inside a record plant. Oftentimes when the band comes back to pick up their record, he’ll also take the opportunity to interview them and share it on Microforum’s socials, like his recent interview with Toronto-based garage rock/shoegaze band The Get Alongs, who visited the plant to pick up their new 7”. 

As for events, one of Crump’s first instatements is an ongoing series called “Industry Plant,” which is essentially an industry listening party hosted by local record stores. So far he’s organized three, with a fourth in the works. The first one featured the recent Let Me Talk My Shit Too album by Asun Eastwood and Wizdome Bunitall, presented in partnership with Toronto’s Play De Record at Decoy Bar. Toronto DJ North English opened the night, before Eastwood and Bunitall took over the deck. 

He doesn’t pay for ads on social media, but a year ago, Crump says Microforum’s Instagram following was close to 500 – now it’s nearly 1,700. “I’d love to see it up to 10,000, but eventually we’ll get there. We’ve got all kinds of content coming,” he says. 

Another one of Crump’s main objectives is to help indie bands produce affordable records, via Microforum’s fast track vinyl product which uses lathe cut plexiglass rather than metal lacquers. The material allows for a turnaround time of four to six weeks, give or take 5% sound quality, which allows the plant to offer short runs of 50 records. “We had found that over the course of time, small indie bands were getting priced out because metal lacquers to make traditional records were getting very costly,” he says. “This way they can put up the cost, without being out of pocket for too long.” 

Crump doesn’t push bells and whistles either, rather letting his clients tell him what kind of record they’re looking for and making sure they understand their cost options. An artist can purchase printed colour labels and go for a professional label look, or they can go bare bones and save money using blank labels and jackets and decorating them at home, he explains. “When I used to do my own 50 or 100 record runs, I’d take the blank jackets out onto my balcony, make a stencil, and spray paint them all sorts of colours. It’s super cheap for somebody to do it that way.” 

As for what’s next, Crump is curating a two-day post-punk and noise music festival, “Noise Before Christmas,” at Decoy Bar, running from December 20 to 21. And in the spring of 2025, he hopes to host Microforum’s biggest event yet, a skate metal festival which is likely to take place at the plant and would see a number of Microforum’s clients take the stage. As it’s still in the conception phase as of now, he’s throwing around the title “Rock the Record Plant.” “It’ll be a mixed bill of music,” he says. “You’re gonna get some gangsta rap, you’re gonna get some hardcore punk…extreme music in all levels from all genres.”