Jaxsta

Jaxsta
IndustryMusic
Founded2015
FounderJacqui Louez Schoorl, Louis Schoorl
HeadquartersSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Key people
  • Josh Simons (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Jorge Nigaglionii (Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary)
  • Alli Galloway (Chief Marketing Officer)
ParentVinyl Group
Websitejaxsta.com

Jaxsta is an Australia-based database of official music credits, including performers, artists, engineers, producers and songwriters. Jaxsta's data is content-owner supplied rather than crowd-sourced.[1]

History

Jaxsta was founded in Sydney in 2015[2] by former movie and music industry professional Jacqui Louez Schoorl and her husband Louis Schoorl, a producer and songwriter.[3] Jaxsta has offices in Sydney and Los Angeles,[4] with representatives in London and New York.[5]

The idea for Jaxsta was first formulated by Louez Schoorl in 2006 when she was transitioning from the film to the music industry[6] and noticed music credits metadata was becoming lost with the transition to digital music,[6] as the credits that had once populated vinyl record sleeve and CD booklets were vanishing as downloading was becoming more prevalent.[7] Jaxsta derives its name from the credits on vinyl "jackets" (covers) – the stars of the jackets – i.e. liner notes.[8]

The company was launched in beta mode on June 13, 2019,[1][2] with the claim that it contained more than 100 million music credits, including those for 1.9 million songwriters, 1.3 million artists, 150,000 producers and 100,000 engineers.

On April 22, 2020 Jaxsta announced it was waiving the $US150 annual membership fee and making Jaxsta membership free for the rest of 2020 to assist the music industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On September 10, 2020, Jaxsta came to an agreement with music licensing platform Songtradr in which the latter invested A$1.92 million into the company.[9] This arrangement allowed Jaxsta members to utilise the revenue collection service provided by Songtradr, while the latter would leverage Jaxsta's metadata to identify uncollected fees.[9]

Database

Jaxsta claims to be the "world's only official music credits database", obtaining its metadata directly from record labels, publishers, distributors and industry associations.[10] Its data partners include the three major labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, the Merlin Network[11] of independent music companies and unions including the American Federation of Musicians and SAG-AFTRA,[8] as well as independent distributors such as CDBaby, DistroKid[12] and SoundCloud Repost. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and The Recording Academy.

An API is available, providing programmatic access to the data.[citation needed] In November 2022 a new feature was added that matches works to recordings, allowing users of its database to secure lost royalties, source song licenses and syncs.[13]

Awards

Jaxsta was named Master of Metadata at the 2023 Music Business Association Bizzy Awards. The award recognizes significant impact data processing, credit clarification, streamlining and more. [14]

Membership plans

Jaxsta's business-to-business membership plan was launched on November 21, 2019.[15] It offered music industry specific tools such as chart alerts for artists and non-artists, industry events calendars, market insights and gave members the ability to claim and manage their Jaxsta profile page .[16]

In August 2021, to coincide with the return of paid memberships, Jaxsta introduced two levels of membership: Jaxsta Core, a free introductory membership, and Jaxsta Plus, which for $US49 a year offered members access to a suite of features such as Credit and Chart Alerts, the ability to claim their profile (or the profiles of those they represent), Prioritize Your Credits, and more.[17]

In June 2022 Jaxsta's membership plans evolved to reflect the music industry's demand for accurate metadata, resulting in the introduction of a further two levels of membership: Business and Enterprise. Jaxsta Plus was rebranded Creator, and Jaxsta Core became the free membership level.[18]

Jaxsta One Sheet

In November 2021, Jaxsta introduced the Jaxsta One Sheet in an effort to help music professionals create a "shareable resume".[19] The One Sheet is pre-populated by information on the user's Jaxsta profile, including credits, social media statistics, TikTok plays, contact details, bio, image and more.[19]

Content

In December 2019, Jaxsta launched its podcast, Humans of Music, hosted by former Rolling Stone Australia editor Rod Yates.[20] Guests have included Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody, Billy Bragg, Bethany Cosentino, Neko Case, John Butler and M-Phazes.[20]

In June 2020, it was announced that Yates would head up Jaxsta's dedicated editorial portal.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b "Jaxsta has launched the public beta of its massive music credits database". The Industry Observer. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Music Credits Database Jaxsta Launches Public Beta". Hypebot. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Louis Schoorl | Disney Music Publishing". Archived from the original on 29 October 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Jaxsta Expands Music Credit Database With Merlin Partnership". Variety. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  5. ^ Reid, Poppy (16 December 2019). "What is it like to be the CEO of a publicly listed music company?". The Music Network. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b Kruger, Colin (4 November 2018). "Market turmoil no obstacle for music industry data bible Jaxsta". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  7. ^ "StackPath". amnplify.com.au. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  8. ^ a b Mayfield, Geoff (19 May 2020). "Jaxsta Aims to Bring Back Liner Notes, and Create an IMDB for Music". Variety. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Songtradr invests in Jaxsta, shares jump 250%". The Industry Observer. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Jaxsta". jaxsta.com. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Merlin inks data partner deal with music credit resource Jaxsta". Music Business Worldwide. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  12. ^ "DistroKid and Jaxsta Sign Data Partner Agreement". The Music Network. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Jaxsta introduces new metadata matching tool for rightsholders". Music Business Worldwide. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  14. ^ Brandle, Lars (22 May 2023). "Jaxsta Named Master of Metadata at 2023 Bizzy Awards". Billboard. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Jaxsta Pro Launch: Cutting-edge Hub for Music Businesses, Artists and Creatives to Research, Discover and Connect". Bloomberg. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Music Credits Database Jaxsta Offers Free Pro Service for Rest of the Year". Billboard. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Jaxsta introduces new membership structure for Jaxsta Pro". The Music Network. 18 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Jaxsta Revamps Platform And Launches Business Subscriptions - Jaxsta Ltd (ASX:JXT)". www.listcorp.com. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Jaxsta launches One Sheet to help artists curate a 'shareable music resume'". The Music Network. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  20. ^ a b "Jaxsta launches 'Humans Of Music' podcast". The Music Network. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  21. ^ Wilson, Zanda (16 June 2020). "Former Rolling Stone editor leads Jaxsta's original content offering". The Music Network.