TrueFire Studios

TrueFire and JamPlay have joined forces to form TrueFire Studios, an alliance of leading companies in the online music education industry. Uniting their respective online video lesson libraries, mobile and desktop apps, and patented learning tools, TrueFire and JamPlay now provide music students with unparalleled resources for advancing their musical goals.

Today, TrueFire and JamPlay serve a worldwide community of over three million music students with their instructional video content. While TrueFire and JamPlay websites and brands will remain intact and continue to operate independently, their alliance under TrueFire Studios facilitates open collaboration of content production, technology development, and marketing programs.

“Using online technologies, intuitive learning platforms, and best-in-class artists, TrueFire Studios is focused on our mission of democratizing music education,” says Brad Wendkos, founder of TrueFire. “We’ll accomplish this by leveraging the synergy of uniting leading music education companies, offering students the most comprehensive range of music lessons, across all popular instruments, and continuing to develop leading-edge learning technologies and apps.”

Growth Catalyst Partners (“GCP”) has invested in TrueFire and JamPlay to create TrueFire Studios. GCP is providing additional equity capital in full support of TrueFire Studio’s strategy, which includes further advancing their patented learning technology platforms, building the world’s preeminent destination for music artists and students, and bringing other complementary online music education companies into the alliance.

“Music instruction is a natural industry to embrace online resources globally. TrueFire and JamPlay are both leaders in leveraging groundbreaking video content and technology to accelerate the shift to online and mobile video lesson consumption. Together, we now have the largest library of video music lesson content and our combined resources will provide TrueFire Studios with a truly differentiated offering across the global music instruction industry,” says Scott Peters, Managing Partner of GCP.

Both companies’ success is largely due to the quality of artists and educators that author and present their interactive video curriculum. From GRAMMY award winners to top session players and touring musicians, their combined faculty of 375 educators features marquee-name artists including Tommy Emmanuel, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Pat Martino, Brent Mason, Phil Keaggy, Steve Vai, and Stu Hamm.

“TrueFire Studios’ hub of educator-centric tools help artists hone their educational voice, present their curriculum in a variety of formats, and take advantage of exceptional revenue share opportunities. Combining forces with TrueFire will expand our resources, artist tools, industry reach, and team of passionate professionals dedicated to providing the most exceptional online learning experience in the music industry,” says Jeff Booth, Co-Founder of JamPlay. Chris Dawson, Co-Founder of JamPlay added, “We have been fans of TrueFire since they founded the company in 1998. Their educational philosophies, lesson content, technologies, and faculty of artists are very much aligned with our own. Joining forces with such a respected organization, backed by the pedigree of GCP, creates the synergy needed to create a true market leader.”

Bob Carrigan, an accomplished CEO (previously for both Dun & Bradstreet and IDG Communications) and a long-time banjo and guitar player, is an investor in TrueFire Studios alongside GCP. Bob added, “I’ve been a lifelong music learner. TrueFire’s and JamPlay’s course libraries present 45,000+ interactive video lessons for guitar, bass, and other stringed instruments, across all genres of music and all levels of play. Proprietary apps and patented learning platforms present video lessons on all mobile and desktop devices with tab, standard notation, practice jam tracks, progress tracking, and a suite of learning tools for controlling video, audio, and notation such as looping and slow motion. Other patented platforms allow educators to teach students one-on-one and group instruction anywhere in the world.”

About TrueFire Studios

TrueFire Studios is an alliance of the world’s leading online music education companies. We are passionate about democratizing music education by providing affordable, anytime, anywhere access to best-in-class artists and the most comprehensive music lesson library on the planet, across all major instrument categories. We provide exceptional revenue-share opportunities for educators while preserving artist-led music education for future generations.

For more information, visit www.truefirestudios.com, www.truefire.com, www.jamplay.com.

About Growth Catalyst Partners

Growth Catalyst Partners is a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on information, marketing, and tech-enabled services businesses. GCP’s strategy involves targeting growth segments of industries and identifying market-leading companies with breakout potential. GCP partners with top executives within those industries and provides capital and expertise to the incumbent management teams of the targeted businesses. GCP was founded by veteran private equity investor Jim TenBroek and leading investment banker Scott Peters, who have led hundreds of transactions and successful investments in services businesses for over 20 years. For more information, visit www.growthcatalystpartners.com.