Josh Simons

Business

In 2015, Simons co-founded Vampr with Barry Palmer, guitarist for Hunters & Collectors, as a digital platform for musical collaboration. Simons said that the difficulty of building professional connections during his music career, while working other jobs to finance recording and touring, motivated him to create Vampr. After a period in London, he returned to Australia to develop the platform with Palmer.

Simons moved to Los Angeles to establish Vampr's headquarters and operations in the United States, where he served as Vampr's chief executive officer. In February 2023, the music credits platform Jaxsta announced an agreement to acquire Vampr. At the time the agreement was announced, Vampr had approximately 1.3 million users. Following completion of the acquisition, Simons joined Jaxsta's executive team and was appointed chief executive officer in June 2023.

The company rebranded as Vinyl Group in December 2023. As CEO, Simons led the company's expansion into digital media through acquisitions including The Brag Media (publisher of Rolling Stone Australia / New Zealand), Mediaweek, the digital publishing assets of Val Morgan and Pedestrian Group between 2024 and 2026. As of October 2024 the Vinyl Group is the only music company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. In an interview with NewsWire, he said that his aim was to "connect a thousand of the leading brands in the world with 100 million creators and a billion fans in a mutually reinforcing creator and fan ecosystem", having experienced what it was like to be a struggling musician himself.

In July 2026, Simons wrote about the concept of "adaptive media", which has its roots in "trust, context and cultural authority", and which exceeds the limitations of legacy media and social media.

In July 2026, Simons publicly accused the media trade publication Mumbrella of inaccurate reporting, unsupported speculation, and personal attacks following a series of articles questioning Vinyl Group's strategy, financial position, and his leadership. Mumbrella said it stood by its reporting. Simons specifically refuted the claim that an article in Concrete Playground had been written by AI. He complained to the Australian Press Council; however, they would not consider the complaint because Mumbrella is not a member.