Vinyl Group

Vinyl Group Ltd is an Australian music technology company. It is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its subsidiaries are Jaxsta (a music credit database), Vampr (a music networking platform), Vinyl.com (an online record store) and The Brag Media (a publishing and events business).

History
Vinyl Group was founded as Jaxsta in Sydney in 2015 by former movie and music industry professional Jacqui Louez Schoorl and her husband Louis Schoorl, a producer and songwriter.

Jaxsta was listed as a public company on the ASX on December 28, 2018.

Jaxsta launched Vinyl.com in May 2023, offering a catalog of vinyl records across all genres with verified creative contributions metadata on every album.

In February 2023, the company announced it would acquire Vampr, a music networking platform that connects musicians and industry professionals. The acquisition was completed in June 2023. Vampr’s founder and CEO Josh Simons initially joined Jaxsta as Chief Strategy Officer and was subsequently appointed CEO on 29 June 2023.

Jaxsta Limited rebranded as Vinyl Group Ltd in December 2023 to better reflect its expanded operations.

In January 2024, Vinyl Group completed the acquisition of The Brag Media, a publishing and events business with about 10 million monthly active users (MAUs) across its brands, significantly enhancing Vinyl Group's reach and sales opportunities. The acquisition deal was valued at $8 million and was supported by an $11 million funding facility.

Operations
Vinyl Group Ltd focuses on leveraging technology to enhance music networking and collaboration. The company's portfolio includes Vampr, a platform for music professionals to connect and collaborate, Jaxsta, a database of official music credits, and Vinyl.com, a chart-accredited record store.

Vampr
Vampr is a social-professional network and talent marketplace, helping creatives in over 180 countries find collaborators and monetize their work. The platform has introduced features like Credits and Verification, integrating Jaxsta Creator features into Vampr Pro subscriptions.

Jaxsta
Jaxsta is a database of official music credits, offering subscription, API, and freemium access. It supports rights holders with recording matching, achieving a 97% match rate. The database contains over 330 million official, deep-linked music credits across 105 million pages.

Vinyl.com
Vinyl.com is an online record store which launched in 2023. It allows music fans to buy records and explore liner notes, offering over 50,000 records across all genres. The platform is powered by Jaxsta Official Music Credits.

The Brag Media
The Brag Media is a publishing and events business that represents iconic titles like Rolling Stone Australia, The Music Network, Variety, and Billboard. It reaches over 30% of the Australian population each month and produces events like the Rolling Stone Awards.

Financial performance
For the quarter ending March 31, 2024, Vinyl Group reported a revenue increase of 218% quarter-over-quarter to $1.86 million, partly due to the integration of The Brag Media. As of March 31, 2024, the company had $2.901 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company aims to achieve profitability through synergies and efficiencies from its acquisitions.

Leadership changes
On April 28, 2022, it was announced that Louez Schoorl would be moving into the Founder role, and former Chief Marketing Officer Beth Appleton would be Jaxsta's new CEO. The Music Network reported that "the change will allow Louez Schoorl to focus on the Jaxsta product and our community and creative relationships". Before joining Jaxsta in July 2021, Appleton had been the Senior Vice President Marketing Australasia at Warner Music Australia.

Josh Simons, founder and CEO of Vampr, and former indie-rock musician with his band Buchanan, was appointed CEO and succeeded Appleton on 29 June 2023.

Board composition
Linda Jenkinson is the Chairperson of the board for Vinyl Group. She is also a recipient of the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards, a former Director of Air New Zealand (NZE: AIR) and the third women to list a company on the NASDAQ.

Ben Katovsky, a non-executive director, is the CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management, responsible for overseeing the operations and strategy of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund and other related entities.

Steve Gledden, Managing Partner of Straight Bat Private Equity, and Ken Gaunt, Director of Sydney Seaplanes, also serve as non-executive directors, while CEO Simons was appointed to the Board as the sole Executive Director on 16 May 2024.

Notable shareholders
The company has received substantial investment from music licensing company Songtradr, who first invested in 2020 and have steadily increased their holding over time to become a significant shareholder.

Billionaire, founder and CEO of WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC), Richard White, is currently the largest shareholder. According to company disclosure in June 2024, Robert Millner, Chairman of Soul Patts, also participated in the company's latest securities offering.