Jaxsta is getting a big hit of indie spirit.
The Sydney, Australia-based online database of information for the music community has struck a commercial data access agreement with Merlin, the independents’ digital rights agency.
The new partnership unlocks a treasure chest of music credit information for Jaxsta users, and Merlin’s 800 members, which represent tens of thousands of record labels from 63 countries, can be properly accredited on the platform, explains Merlin CEO Charles Caldas.
The new arrangement caps an exciting month for the team behind Jaxsta, which launched an open beta on June 13 after years of deal making, software testing and data ingesting.
Jaxsta CEO Jacqui Louez Schoorl says the new Merlin deal is particularly sweet. “The independent music industry has supported our journey from the beginning, and we have been proud to support independent music through a myriad of initiatives including our memberships with A2IM, AIM and AIR,” she says in a statement announcing the pact. “To be able to represent the wider community via a partnership with Merlin is a dream come true.”
Adds Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, “Delivering accurate and transparent data reporting is of crucial importance both to Merlin and our growing global membership of independent labels and distributors. This partnership with Jaxsta will help ensure our members’ repertoire is properly accredited, wherever in the world it is accessed and enjoyed.”
Headquartered in Sydney and with reps in Los Angeles, New York and London, Jaxsta was established in 2015 by entrepreneurs Jacqui Louez Schoorl and Louis Schoorl as the official credit resource for artists, musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers and others in the wider music community
It’s been described as the IMBD for music, with a mission “to give credit where credit is due.”
In 2017, the company took a leap forward when it announced a Grammy Awards data partnership with the Recording Academy and at the end of 2018, Jaxsta officially listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), under the code “JXT”.
At launch, Jaxsta boasts a content-owner supplied database covering more than 100 million credits across 25 million webpages, reflecting the music credits of 19 million recordings.
Currently, the service hosts more than 5 million individual production credits and 4 million profiles, from individuals to groups, companies and organizations. Those figures are constantly growing. The company says it expects to boost the total number of credits within the platform by 30% before the conclusion of its open beta.
Jaxsta has existing partner agreements with the three majors and various indie record labels, publishers, royalty agencies and trade associations, including the RIAA, Official Charts Company, CD Baby and many more.