BRISBANE, Australia — Jaxsta, the official music credits database, scores a major coup with the appointment of Beth Appleton as chief marketing officer, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
The British-born, Australia-based music industry veteran brings to the role more than 25 years’ marketing and digital experience at major and independent labels, most recently with Warner Music Australia.
Appleton’s “reach and impact” is demonstrated through her work with such global stars as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Michael Bublé, and with local Australian talent, from Thelma Plum to Morgan Evans and Jack Gray, comments Jaxsta CEO and co-founder Jacqui Louez Schoorl.
“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Beth to our team as we enter this exciting growth phase of the company,” she continues.
Appleton officially joins the company next Monday (July 12), ahead of the July 27 return of Jaxsta Pro, its business-to-business subscription platform that was temporarily made free as a way to support the music community during the pandemic.
At Jaxsta, Appleton will be tasked with developing and driving the business’ ongoing marketing strategy, a statement reads.
Appleton gave Billboard a glimpse at where those campaigns could extend. Russia is “such an interesting area for Jaxsta. The developing countries are often not put on the radar by people. Russia, India, Asia and Africa are such important markets,” she explains. “There are amazing opportunities there. Hopefully my connections will help across all continents.”
Jaxsta is “an international platform. Our job is to ensure that people around the world know about it,” she adds. “Absolutely I’ll be reaching out to labels, industry bodies, tech partners, to ensure that they have awareness, in the first instance, of Jaxsta. And then we can pursue how we can work together and add value. Which ultimately will deliver the best platform for the customers.”
Recently, Appleton served as GM Australia and senior VP marketing Australasia at Warner Music Australia, based in Sydney. During her ten-year term with the Warner Music Group, she earned a reputation as one of the best in the business and plaudits in Billboard’s Women In Music feature.
Appleton kicked off her career with EMI in London, before transferring to Australia for the first time in 2000. Later, she returned to the U.K. to work in digital capacities for Richard Branson’s V2 label and Universal Music before joining Warner Music Australia in 2011, in the role as director of marketing.
In 2014, she returned to the U.K. to spearhead global marketing for WMG, based in the capital, and came back to Australia in January 2018 to rejoin the domestic company.
Founded in Sydney back in 2015, Jaxsta debuted on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in December 2018 and now boasts more than 130 million official music credits sourced from labels, distributors, publishers and industry organizations.
“It’s very exciting. And what an amazing team,” Appleton says of her new job. “Jacqui is a wonderful person. And there’s the role that Jaxsta is taking on, I love it. It’s ethical, its delivering value back for everybody making songs. It really aligns with me.”
Source
