The Brag Media Acquired By Vinyl Group In $10 Million Deal

Vinyl Group has today announced the acquisition of Australian publishing, creative agency and events group The Brag Media in a massive shakeup of the music media sector.

The deal was revealed to be $8 million in cash with a further $2 million in cash or stock based on financial performance. The release also showed The Brag’s impressive 2023 financial year results with $8.39 million in revenues and a profit of $334,824.

The sale was funded by a new round of investment of $11 million in Vinyl Group by existing investor, Wisetech Global CEO Richard White.

The deal also sees CEO Luke Girgis entering into a full-time employment agreement as Publisher and Managing Director of The Brag Media.

Girgis said: “The next phase in the evolution of The Brag Media will take place under the umbrella of Australia’s only ASX-listed music business, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Right from the earliest discussions we had, it was clear that the Board, Josh and the team shared our vision for the future of the business, and I’m thrilled that they’ve made this commitment with us. I’d also like to acknowledge my Co-Founder and Managing Director Sam Benjamin. This business would not have reached the heights that it has without Sam’s investment, support, leadership and mentorship over the past six years.”

Vinyl Group has had a busy few months as Australia’s only ASX-listed music company, changing its name just weeks ago and now adding a fourth pillar to its business alongside music data company Jaxsta, online retailer Vinyl.com and music social network Vampr. The company made headlines earlier this year with a shift to new leadership under Vampr founder Josh Simons.

Simons said: “Vinyl Group’s suite of products work together to empower participants of the music ecosystem and reach all corners of the creator economy, and we can’t wait to start working with the iconic mastheads that Luke and The Brag Media have successfully developed in Australia. We’ve identified several impactful synergies between the two businesses that will deliver immediate cost efficiencies and revenue, including streamlining Vampr’s in-app ads business and leveraging The Brag Media’s impressive audience reach to bolster Jaxsta, Vinyl.com and Vampr in the market.”

The Brag Media is just shy of its seventh birthday at the time of today’s acquisition and was a project of Sam Benjamin’s Seventh Street Ventures and CEO Luke Girgis. Seventh Street Ventures’ other businesses include the Providoor and Kaspa food delivery businesses, Arkie Childcare and more.

Announcing its formation as Seventh Street Media in 2017 with its acquisition of existing media titles The Brag, Tone Deaf and JPlay (which was closed in 2018), the company hired ex-Music Network editor Poppy Reid, starting trade publication The Industry Observer and youth title Don’t Bore Us in its first four months, creating a stable of music titles.

Two years later in 2019, Seventh Street Media rebranded as The Brag Media, landing a deal with the US Penske Media Corporation to return Rolling Stone Magazine to the Australian market. The deal later expanded to incorporate a local version of Variety. The print version of The Brag was shuttered early the following year.

In 2020 The Brag’s leadership team was rounded out with ex-Music Feeds founder Joel King who expanded the group’s commercial operations into agency and events, helping to create the Rolling Stone Awards, Variety CMO dinner and various other events. The group also took on expanded representation duties for Penske Media international titles like Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Rotten Tomatoes, Crunchyroll, Hypebeast and more.

In 2022 The Brag acquired The Music Network, consolidating its titles with the closure of The Industry Observer and Don’t Bore Us. In early 2023 The Brag was retired as a stand-alone digital title, becoming a content directory for the group’s other titles. Don’t Bore Us was also reborn as a gig guide app, currently in beta, while it was announced that US company Evolve Media would now be represented commercially by the group, including its music title Music Feeds. Most recently, the group announced the acquisition of commercial rights for popular music festival Bluesfest, signalling further expansion of its commercial activities.

The Brag’s currently active Australian titles are Rolling Stone, Variety Australia, Tone Deaf and The Music Network.