Australian Music Database Jaxsta Announces Its Closure

Just under two years since it became part of the larger Vinyl Group, Australian music database Jaxsta has announced it will close down next month.

The news was announced in an email to subscribers earlier this week, with Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons noting that as of December 17th, “Jaxsta will no longer be available for public subscription.”

“This decision wasn’t taken lightly,” the message continued. “Over the past year, we’ve worked hard to build a sustainable business by reducing infrastructure costs, refining the platform, and doing everything we could to lower the costs with key data partners to allow the service to keep running.

“Despite these efforts, the current model does not scale, which means we can no longer offer the service in a viable way.”

The move comes after a busy six months for the company as they aim for profitability, resulting in high profile departures, legal headaches and the closure of Rolling Stone’s regular print edition. Simons has doubled down on efforts to turn the company around, reaffirming his commitment to get to profitability in Q4 while finding synergies with AI to “10x” the content on the company’s media assets.

Jaxsta’s closure means that current subscribers will have their subscriptions cancelled on December 17th, with a prorated refund being issued for any remaining time on plans.

On the current Jaxsta website, a FAQ section explains that the closure in fact sees the platform “placed into hibernation,” adding that Vinyl Group “will preserve Jaxsta’s technology with the goal of exploring commercial opportunities to restart this work in the future if conditions allow.”

Users are additionally advised to remove or update any Jaxsta links which have been shared online, while the site notes that personal data exports are not offered at the current time, though repertoire reports can be generated up until its closure on December 17th.

Known for being “the world’s largest database of official music credits,” holding more than 340 million music credits with over 355 data partners, Jaxsta was first launched in 2015 by Jacqui Louez Schoorl and Louis Schoorl with the intent of ensuring credit in the music industry could be given where it’s due.

Jaxsta launched its public beta in mid 2019, with new partnerships and appointments taking place in the ensuing years, including CEO Beth Appleton stepping down in 2023 to make way for Simons to take her place.