Seventh Street Media acquires Tone Deaf, The Brag and J Play
Seventh Street Media has expanded its portfolio after reaching three separate agreements with privately owned music publications Tone Deaf, The Brag and J Play – and vowed to become the “biggest music media publisher in Australia”.
Girgis, the CEO of new publisher Seventh Street Media, wants to become the dominant force in Australian music media
The publisher said it will retain all existing staff at the publications. Poppy Reid, former editor of The Music Network and writer for Rolling Stone will also join the team, as will Nathan Jolly, who has previously written for Junkee, The New York Post, The Music Network and Channel [V].
Seventh Street Media also announced its intentions for further acquisitions and launches throughout 2017 as part of an overarching strategy to penetrate the music media space and ultimately become the “biggest music publisher in Australia”.
CEO of Seventh Street Media, Luke Girgis, said today’s announcement marked an exciting new era in music media publishing in Australia, and noted the native content opportunities the combined brands would offer.
“The Brag, Tone Deaf and J Play all provide opportunities for Seventh Street Media to be at the forefront of native advertising and gives us the opportunity to invest in and grow all four brands completely independently, whilst ensuring the companies never compete for the same space or audience,” he said.
“With native content quickly becoming the gold standard for advertisers, media publishers who cannot adapt to become content houses and influencers themselves will not be able to cut through and reach millennials effectively.”
The Brag is a NSW-based street press and national online publisher with a history spanning two decades, which was formerly published by Furst Media.
Tone Deaf, an online music media publisher, aims to give insights into artists and festivals on the Australian music scene, with former CEO Nicholas Jones sharing his confidence in the ongoing evolution of the product.
“After six months of work with Seventh Street Media, Darve Smith and I are pleased to hand over the reins of Tone Deaf to an amazing team who I’m confident will continue our mission of promoting great local music,” he said.
“We feel very much like parents watching their kids move out and grow up. We wish Tone Deaf the very best into the future and look forward to watching as it continues to grow and play an important role in promoting local music.”
J Play, a B2B resource with a 10-year history, tracks every song Triple J plays, every day. Seventh Street Media will relaunch the website in coming months and has plans for new reporting, analysis and data tools to better assist the industry with investment and growth decisions.
News of the acquisitions comes after last night’s launch of Seventh Street Media’s new pop music portal Don’t Bore Us, which will aim to be “the hottest new destination for the latest pop news, reviews and exclusives”, a statement from Seventh Street Media said.
Seventh Street Media describes itself as a “newly established company which was incorporated after Seventh Street Ventures partnered with Luke Girgis”.
topics
business to business publishing
Darve Smith
digital publishing
Don't Bore Us
Furst Media
J Play
Luke Girgis
Nathan Jolly
Nicholas Jones
Poppy Reid
Seventh Street Media
The Brag
Tone Deaf
