Josh Simons

CEO

Josh Simons is the CEO of Australia’s only ASX-listed music business, Vinyl Group (ASX:VNL). Formerly known as Jaxsta, Vinyl Group launched in 2023 an umbrella brand that incorporated the company’s three existing brands: Jaxsta, Vampr and Vinyl.com.

Jaxsta is recognised as the industry’s single source of truth when it comes to music credits, and is committed to solving the music industry’s metadata problem, having won Billboard’s Master of Metadata Award in 2023. Meanwhile, Vinyl.com offers a world-class e-commerce experience including over 50K titles for fans to acquire, supporting their favourite artists.

Simons is also the co-founder of Vampr, the world’s leading music industry social-professional network and talent marketplace (often dubbed the “LinkedIn for creatives”). Recognised by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in 2022, Vampr helps 1.3M musicians, creatives and artists connect, discover collaborators and monetise their work in over 180 countries. Vampr offers a free solution for young musicians, built by a sympathetic founding team of established musicians with Simons’ co-founder, Baz Palmer, best known as the lead guitarist for seminal hall-of-fame rock band, Hunters & Collectors.

In his career to date, Simons has raised more than $20 million AUD. Prior to running Vampr, Simons spent the better part of a decade as a successful artist, songwriter and producer. His artist project Buchanan enjoyed multi-million streams and chart impressions worldwide. They retired from the live circuit following a sold-out arena tour opening for Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood. As a producer and songwriter, Simons has shared credits with Travis Scott, Troye Sivan and Kanye West to name a few.

In April 2020, Simons was named in The Music Network’s 30 Under 30 List in addition to being voted Reader’s Choice. Simons holds a Bachelor of Business from Swinburne University.