Australia’s Vinyl Group Hits the Right Note with $1.6M Serenade Crypto Collectibles Deal

Vinyl Group, Australia’s only listed music company, has acquired the assets of London-based Serenade, a platform focused on digital and physical collectibles, in an equity-based deal valued at up to US$1.6 million. 

Vinyl launched its website last year, aiming to replicate the experience of “crate-digging” for records in digital form, CEO Josh Simons told Decrypt. The acquisition marks the group’s expansion into the UK and European markets while enhancing its offerings in the digital collectibles space. 

“The plan was always to expand Vinyl.com’s offering to include music merchandise, digital collectibles, and experiences that connect fans with creators, and the acquisition of Serenade was the next step in that process,” Simons said.

Under the terms of the deal, Vinyl has made an upfront payment of $553,000 in shares, with an additional $1 million in shares contingent upon revenue and earnings targets.

The deal was finalized over the weekend, with Vinyl notifying Serenade that due diligence requirements had been successfully met. Vinyl’s share price jumped more than 8% on Sunday following the announcement, rising to a three-week high above $0.06.

The performance-related earn-out requires the combined business of Vinyl.com and Serenade to achieve $2.76 million in revenue and $345,000 in earnings before interest and taxes within 12 months of the acquisition.

Serenade, which operates a marketplace for both physical and digital collectibles, has previously supported over 200 global artists, including high-profile names such as Liam and Noel Gallagher, Muse, and Sum 41.

The company also has partnerships with major record labels, including Warner Music Group and Beggars Group.

Serenade operates on the Polygon blockchain, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Its key product, NFC-enabled digital “Smart Formats” built atop Polygon’s infrastructure, has seen 56% month-on-month sales growth since its launch in January, the company claims.

NFC-enabled digital Smart Formats are physical collectibles embedded with Near Field Communication technology that link to a digital asset or experience, typically hosted on a blockchain. 

These formats allow users to access digital content, such as music, exclusive videos, or digital artwork, by interacting with the physical item through their smartphone or other NFC-enabled devices.

Serenade CEO Max Shand will join Vinyl Group under a full-time employment agreement. Shand will receive five million options, vesting in stages upon achieving specific performance goals as part of his incentive package.