Jaxsta recruits Rod Yates to lead new editorial portal
Experienced music journalist Rod Yates has joined Jaxsta, where he’s in charge of driving editorial for the official music credits service.
Announced today (June 16), Yates is Jaxsta’s first Head of Original Content, a new role which sees the veteran writer develop original content for the Australian-originated platform.
Jumping into features and news is a “major enhancement of Jaxsta,” says Jacqui Louez Schoorl, the company’s CEO & Co-Founder, one which should illuminate music fans who visit the platform for a deep dive into their favorite recordings and artists.
“One of the key ideas driving Jaxsta has been to tell the story behind the music by shining a light on all those incredible people who create it,” she explains.
“Now we get to bring those stories to life in even more colour.”
Amongst the first pieces on the new editorial platform are Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Gretchen Peters paying tribute to legendary songwriter Mickey Newbury; Hottest 100 champs The Rubens analysing 10 key songs from their career; and artist/TV personality Briggs highlighting the hip-hop albums that have influenced him.
The Rubens
The www.jaxsta.com portal also features music news from respected titles, and the site is home to Yates’ “Humans of Music” fortnightly podcast.
“Rod’s curation of our content and his ability to interview creative souls are exemplary, as evidenced by the work he’s done on our podcast,” explains Schoorl.
“Those interviews are truly compelling. I’m so proud of the work he’s produced and I’m excited for this major enhancement of Jaxsta.”
Jacqui Louez Schoorl
Yates brings to the job 25 years’ media experience. He served as editor of Rolling Stone Australia for four years until January 2018, when the famous title’s then-publisher Paper Riot went into liquidation.
His works have been published in a full range of titles, from the Sydney Morning Herald to Mojo, Kerrang!, FHM, Zoo, Mother & Baby, Classic Rock and more.
“Jaxsta’s database of official music credits is rich with stories waiting to be told, and I’m so happy to help tell them,” he explains. ”We have some incredibly exciting plans for Jaxsta’s original content – watch this space.”
According to a statement issued Tuesday (June 16), Jaxsta boasts 105 million official credits, 42 million individual web pages, 10 million profiles and 1.8 million artists’ credits.
Jaxsta has struck up data partnership agreements with more than 30 record labels, publishers, royalty agencies and industry associations across the globe, including ARIA, Merlin, the RIAA, The Recording Academy and the three manor music companies: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.
In recent months, Jaxsta announced it would unlock its top-tier platform Jaxsta Pro and temporarily wave the fee, a gift to the music industry during the health crisis.
The freebie will last “for at least the remainder of 2020,” a statement confirms.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.