Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire. Photo Credit: Songtradr
Songtradr and Vinyl Group have announced an advertising-focused partnership agreement that they say will unlock “significant value” moving forward.
The Santa Monica-headquartered music licensing platform and Melbourne-based Vinyl Group (formally Jaxsta) unveiled their bolstered tie-up today. Traded as VNL on the Australian Securities Exchange, Vinyl Group counts Songtradr as its largest shareholder and operates Vinyl.com, networking-focused Vampr, credits database Jaxsta, The Brag Media, and, in its most recent purchase, Web3 platform Serenade.
Bearing in mind those varied holdings, Vinyl Group is now poised to “represent the digital advertising inventory of Songtradr and its brands on a global scale,” according to the involved parties.
That will specifically see the Mediaweek owner “manage and sell advertising across Songtradr’s portfolio of digital properties,” with the opportunity to bundle its own services as well, the companies communicated.
Particularly when it comes to Vampr, the businesses are anticipating a U.S. advertising-scale increase of “up to 20x” under the union. Meanwhile, the Funkified Entertainment parent Vinyl Group will “retain 50% of the net proceeds for any business procured under the agreement” with Songtradr, the two also noted.
Addressing the advertising pact, Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons said: “We are thrilled to be deepening our commercial relationship with Songtradr, accelerating our growth in digital advertising. This agreement broadens our capabilities and establishes the Vampr Ad Network’s position as a key player in the global music advertising ecosystem.”
And in comments of his own, Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire, whose company acquired Bandcamp in late 2023, communicated: “Songtradr sees a distinct opportunity for our digital properties to benefit from Vinyl Group’s existing and growing advertising network. We are confident this collaboration will drive significant value for our brands and audiences.”
Closing with a look at the figures behind Vinyl Group’s Mediaweek, Serenade, and Funkified buyouts, higher-ups eliminated all doubt in a late-September presentation by acknowledging a cumulative A$2.3 million cash component for the purchases.
However, that A$2.3 million payment doesn’t extend to music-NFT platform Serenade, for which Vinyl Group put up A$800,000 worth of stock and could pay another A$1,500,000 in shares if certain revenue and EBIT benchmarks are realized after one year, the presentation shows.
During today’s trading, Vinyl Group stock (ASX: VNL) turned in a 4.76% price improvement to finish at A$0.11 per share. Despite marking a dip from May of 2024, the day-end price is more than double that attributable to VNL as of late October of 2023.