Ed Sheeran - Joining a Label

Ed Sheeran is a singer-songwriter who has topped the charts worldwide with his first two albums + and X. He began gigging around London aged just 17, starting to build a fan base, but his aim was always to secure a record deal so he could take his music to the widest possible audience.

Ben Cook, president, Atlantic Records UK, says:

"When I first saw Ed perform, it was a chemical reaction to his talent. He walked through the door with his guitar over his shoulder, rucksack on the other, he'd been sofa surfing for months on end, funding himself from gig to gig hand to mouth, but he had an incredible drive and he recognised a record label was the next partner he needed to deliver his ambition."

Atlantic signed Sheeran in January 2013. Cook says:

"We formed a strategy that made sense for him as an artist, retaining the intimacy and DIY flavour of what he'd done while introducing more people to his music." He released an EP called No 5 Collaborations Project, featuring grime artists such as Devlin and Wiley. "The day it was released all his artist peers went nuts about him on Twitter. It was a way of putting his head above the parapet."

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http://www.ifpi.org/nurturing-and-promoting-talent/ed-sheeran