Too Lost Music Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Xelon Entertainment, the Melbourne distributor founded in 2007 by Ashley Gay, the New York company announced on October 20, 2026. It is Too Lost's second Australian deal in three months, after Brisbane's GYRO.Group in July. No price was disclosed, and the deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Gay stays on as President of Xelon and joins Too Lost's leadership team, with a business development brief across Australia, New Zealand, the wider APAC region, the UK and Europe, according to Music Business Worldwide. It mirrors the GYRO.Group deal, where co-founder and CEO Andy Irvine kept running the company and also became Too Lost's Head of APAC.
Who is Xelon, and who does it distribute?
Xelon began as a local artist services operation that brought music from European acts such as Tiësto and Armin van Buuren to Australian listeners. It says it has distributed more than one million recordings, with a focus on electronic and dance music, and it operates from Melbourne, New York and the UK. Its label clients include Sweat It Out, Central Station Records, Balance Music, 23rd Precinct, Unearthed African Recordings, Urbana Recordings and, most recently, Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto. Releases it has handled include work by Hans Zimmer, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Dom Dolla, Pitbull, Carl Cox and Purple Disco Machine.
It was growing before the sale: in September, Music Week reported a new London office and a New York partnerships hire, and put Xelon at close to 40 staff working with more than 1,000 labels.
What is Too Lost building?
Too Lost, founded in 2020, closed a nine-figure investment round in March led by Charles Goldstuck's GoldState Music and private equity firm TA Associates, alongside a senior credit facility from Pinnacle Financial Partners. GYRO.Group was its first acquisition after that money arrived. The company now says it has more than 170 staff across ten offices and claims to deliver about 10% of the world's newly released music each day.
Together with GYRO.Group, these partnerships meaningfully expand our presence in the region and give independent labels and artists across APAC and beyond a stronger global alternative to the major-label system.Gregory Hirschhorn, CEO and co-founder of Too Lost, via Music Business Worldwide
Gay framed the sale as scale without a change of character: joining Too Lost means expanding “with greater technology, resources and global infrastructure while continuing to serve our clients with the same local expertise and independence that have defined us from the beginning.” Hirschhorn said the plan is to bring Xelon in “while preserving what has made the company so successful.”
My distributor just got bought. What should I check?
Neither company has announced changes to client contracts, royalty splits or payout schedules. But independent artists and labels have reason to watch what follows as DIY distribution consolidates around companies with private equity money behind them. Capital is part of the pitch: GYRO.Group said that under Too Lost it would increase investment in artist advances and catalog acquisitions, a market that also includes Pipeline's indie advance fund. An advance is still recouped from your own royalties.
A promise to stay the same is a statement of intent, not a contract term.
For anyone whose distributor changes owners, a short checklist is worth running:
- Your agreement. Reread the term, the notice period and whether the distributor can assign the deal to a new owner. Those clauses decide how easily you can leave if the service changes.
- Your money. Note your current payment schedule and royalty rate today, so any change later is visible rather than gradual.
- Your contacts. Ask who your label manager or support line will be after closing, and whether DSP pitching stays with the same team.
- Your exit. Keep your own copies of masters, artwork, ISRCs and release metadata. Moving a catalog is routine: Too Lost's own transparency report showed 9,234 catalog migrations requested in a 30-day window, Music Ally reported on October 14.
That transparency page, launched a week before the Xelon news, publishes figures including support resolution times, payout acceptance times and client retention. “The purpose of this initiative is simple: hold us accountable,” Hirschhorn said at the launch. For Xelon's labels, once the deal closes, it is a public yardstick to measure the new owner against, the same way artists already watch how a distributor handles takedowns and disputes.
The deal still has to clear its conditions before the end of the year. Until it does, Xelon remains Ashley Gay's company, and its clients' contracts are the ones they signed.