About The Music Network

The Music Network

The Music Network (TMN) is Australia's music industry trade publication, reporting on the business of music since May 1994. Founded by industry figure John Woodruff as a paper-based publication for record labels, radio programmers, retailers, managers, publishers and promoters, it printed 927 weekly issues before going fully online in March 2013. Today it operates as a digital B2B news service under the Vinyl Group, which acquired it in January 2024 as part of its acquisition of The Brag Media.

Overview

The Music Network is a trade publication — its readers are the Australian music industry itself rather than the general public. It covers industry news, appointments, deals, chart data, radio airplay, streaming, live music business and policy. Its website, themusicnetwork.com, publishes daily industry reporting and runs charts including the TMN Country Hot 50. The publication's tagline, in use on its newsletter, is "Reporting from inside the Australian music business since '94."

History

The Music Network was founded by John Woodruff in May 1994, initially as a paper-based publication serving the Australian music industry: record labels, media networks, music and DVD retailers, radio and television programmers and music directors, sales representatives, artist managers, music publishers and concert promoters. In an era before industry news moved online, the weekly paper was the business's bulletin board.

In January 2009 the magazine was sold to the music marketing and publishing group Peer Group Media, under the ownership of Adam Zammit, who replaced Woodruff as owner. After the sale the website relaunched on 8 June 2009 with a new design, logo and layout, under managing editor Jade Harley — the former Future Entertainment general manager who had become managing editor in March 2009. That September the title was publishing the "TopSwaps" chart, which monitored the number of songs downloaded from file-sharing sites each week — a very 2009 artefact of the industry's digital transition.

TMN printed a total of 927 issues before ceasing its weekly print magazine in March 2013 and going fully online. (Owner Peer Group Media continued to print the Sydney street magazine The Brag at the time.) In 2017 TMN was acquired by Jake Challenor, who served as its publisher and editor. In 2019 the publication began operating the "TMN Country Hot 50" chart in cooperation with Radio Monitor, publishing a new chart every Friday morning with airplay data — replacing the previous TMN Country Airplay Chart and described as "the most comprehensive country airplay chart in the history of Australian radio."

In February 2022 The Brag Media purchased TMN, with Challenor joining The Brag Media as executive editor, B2B. Challenor departed in February 2023 to set up the PR agency Sound Story. In January 2024 the Vinyl Group acquired The Music Network as part of its acquisition of The Brag Media — bringing the industry trade title under the same roof as Rolling Stone Australia, Tone Deaf, The Brag and the Don't Bore Us network.

The trade press role

TMN's function is best understood by its founding audience list: record labels, media networks, music and DVD retailers, radio and television programmers and music directors, sales representatives, artist managers, music publishers and concert promoters. The weekly paper was the connective tissue between these constituencies — the place where an appointment at a major label, a new signing, a radio add or a retail campaign was announced to the whole business at once. In the pre-internet 1990s and 2000s, that made the paper essential professional reading; in the digital era, the daily website and newsletter serve the same purpose at greater speed. Few Australian media properties have served a single professional community so continuously: "since '94" is not a slogan but a statement of institutional memory.

The Peer Group Media years

The 2009 sale to Peer Group Media brought new investment and a digital-first push. Owner Adam Zammit installed former Future Entertainment general manager Jade Harley as managing editor in March 2009, and the website's June relaunch — new design, logo and layout — signalled the title's online ambitions. The TopSwaps chart, tracking weekly file-sharing downloads, showed a trade paper trying to measure an industry in the middle of its digital convulsion. The decision to end the weekly print run in March 2013 after 927 issues was the logical conclusion: the industry's news cycle had moved online, and a weekly paper could no longer keep pace with it.

The Challenor years

Jake Challenor's 2017 acquisition gave TMN an owner-operator in the classic trade-press mould: he served as both publisher and editor for five years, steering the title through the streaming era's consolidation of the Australian business. The 2019 launch of the TMN Country Hot 50 with Radio Monitor — Friday-morning airplay charts for the country sector — was characteristic of the era: data products for industry niches underserved by the general music press. When The Brag Media bought TMN in February 2022, Challenor stayed on as executive editor, B2B, before departing a year later to found the PR agency Sound Story.

Content and Features

TMN's content is industry-facing: news of signings, appointments, acquisitions and partnerships; chart and airplay data; analysis of streaming, radio and live music trends; and coverage of industry events and policy debates. Its reporting has broken significant local stories — including the exclusive on NME's Australian print launch in April 2020 and coverage of Rolling Stone Australia's 2020 return. The TMN Country Hot 50 remains a distinctive data product for the country music sector. The daily newsletter delivers the top industry stories to subscribers' inboxes.

Coverage and Audience

Based in Sydney, The Music Network covers the Australian music business nationally for an industry readership: label executives, promoters, managers, publishers, agents, media and radio professionals. Its B2B positioning distinguishes it from consumer music press — it is the publication the industry reads about itself.

The February 2022 sale to The Brag Media — then Australia's fastest-growing music media business — and the January 2024 absorption into Vinyl Group reflect the wider consolidation of Australian music media, in which trade and consumer titles increasingly share corporate roofs.

Ownership

The Music Network is owned by the Vinyl Group, which acquired it in January 2024 as part of its acquisition of The Brag Media. Previous owners include founder John Woodruff (1994–2009), Peer Group Media under Adam Zammit (2009–2017), and Jake Challenor (2017–2022), followed by The Brag Media (2022–2024). Further ownership and financial details are not publicly confirmed.

Three decades on, the title's premise is unchanged from John Woodruff's 1994 founding insight: the Australian music business needs its own dedicated record — a publication that treats label appointments, airplay data and industry deals as front-page news. Under Vinyl Group ownership it sits within the country's largest music media portfolio, alongside the consumer titles it once merely reported on.

Digital Presence

The publication operates at themusicnetwork.com as a digital-only title since March 2013, with daily news, the TMN Country Hot 50 chart (published Friday mornings), and a daily industry newsletter. Its social channels extend its B2B reach across the Australian music business.

Sources and Further Reading

• Wikipedia, "The Music Network" — founding, ownership history, print run and charts.
• The Music Network, "NME will launch an Australian print edition next month" (April 2020) — example of TMN's industry exclusives.
• The Music Network, "Rolling Stone Australia returns after two-year hiatus" (2020) — TMN's trade coverage of the local publishing revival.