Marketing and Promotional Stunts

From 2005 - 2011 Ed Sheeran marketed himself by doing an extreme amount of gigs and getting interviews and opportunities to play his songs acoustically with small radio shows or youtube shows on the internet and Ed Sheeran actually made his breakthrough through SBTV by uploading a video there. In 2009 Ed Sheeran played 312 gigs. He said that he had seen in an interview that James Morrison had done 200 gigs in a year and he said that he wanted to beat that number... so he did. He tells Something for the Weekend about this and plays "Lego House" before it becomes famous.

Ed Sheeran also went on VirginRedRoom in 2009 before he was famous playing "Homeless" from his EP "Loose Change."

Another way Ed has promoted himself is through his own website which is http://edsheeran.com where he has all his latest news, the dates for his live shows, pictures, videos, lyrics and his online shop (you can buy albums and merchandise).

Ed Sheeran is also on twitter, facebook and myspace.

http://twitter.com/edsheeran
http://www.facebook.com/EdSheeranMusic
http://www.myspace.com/edsheeran

Ed Sheeran's support act in Example's tour obviously was also a great source of marketing for him and pushed him towards becoming famous.

Others around the country have been doing thousands of covers of Ed Sheeran's songs including celebrities like Rizzle Kicks.

During 2011, in order to increase fans, opportunities and popularity amongst the UK, Ed has been showing up on TV shows such as "This Morning" and "Something for The Weekend" and doing a countless number of interviews and live performances. He also appeared in Glastonbury Festival in June 2011.

Ed Sheeran singing You Need Me I Don't Need You

In late 2011 Ed Sheeran also went back to Crisis. The homeless shelter he visited and volunteered at some time ago where he got the inspiration for The A Team. He played to them and this was recognised by a lot of people increasing Ed's popularity.

Music Videos

Like many other artists Ed Sheeran has just released music videos for his songs that have hit the big time. The A Team (Sheeran's first commercially recognised song) was played by Ed on "Later...with Jools Holland" and was then released as a digital download in the UK. The A Team entered the UK chart at number 3 and shortly after this video was made:

The A Team artwork by Phillip Butah

The video cost under £20 to make and was shot by photographer Ruskin Kyle totally in black and white. The song was based on a true story that Ed learnt from a girl called Angel when volunteering at Crisis homeless shelter. When Q magazine interviewed Ed he said: ""I played at a Christmas gig for the homeless charity Crisis. I met this homeless girl there and her story inspired me to write a song. I wrote a tune about a similar situation, not entirely based on her, because I didn't want to pinch someone else's story." The video obviously reflects the sad situation that Ed saw when talking and learning about this girl and after the song got released and got into the top of the charts so quickly, Q magazine interviewed Ed and he said: "I got lots of messages from parents saying that something similar had happened to their daughters. When I wrote it I never thought that it would connect with so many people, but it's great it has."


The artwork for the  album cover (containing acoustic and extended versions) was again designed by loyal friend and artist to Ed Sheeran Phillip Butah.


Digital Spy's Robert Copsey wrote a review about the song and said:

"The true story of a homeless drug addict who will 'go mad for a couple grams' and whose face is 'crumbling like pastries', Sheeran's frank honesty and lump-in-the-throat-like emotion are weighted by a folky melody and off-kilter acoustics. It might have taken him a while to get here, but as the saying goes, slow and steady..."

Matthew Morgan

Shortly after "+" was released, the song "You Need Me I Don't Need You" became popular with Ed Sheerans recent fans. The song is about Ed Sheerans slow rise to fame and highlights the fact that he has done it all by himself - sometimes a bit too much, people seem to generally think. Ed Sheeran made this video, which is mainly focused on a man called Matthew Morgan who is doing the sign language for "You Need Me I Don't Need You." It is again filmed only in black and white and Ed Sheeran only comes into the video right at the end where he sings the last few words of the song.

You Need Me I Don't Need You by Phillip Butah

Everyone seemed surprised by Ed Sheeran's idea to appeal to all the deaf fans out there as well including The Mirror who said:

"Rising star Ed Sheeran has surprised his critics and fans by simply using sign language in the music video for his new single. The stroke of artistic genius has pleased Sheeran's devoted fan base as the song 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' was pinpointed as a reason behind his success after originally filming the song on SB:TV."

The originally filmed SBTV version is below:

People were perhaps most surprised though by Ed Sheeran's video of "Lego House." The music video is about a crazed, obsessed fan who is stalking Ed and quite obviously, in the video, wants to be him. The things that most surprised everyone though was that Rupert Grint was starring in it! Metro Web Reporter tells us that Ed had previously told The Sun: "When I was coming up with ideas for the Lego House video, I knew that I wanted Rupert to be in it. I've grown up with the Potter films and have massive respect for him as an actor. This video is going to be brilliant."

"Lego House" is filmed in colour unlike every other video (perhaps to show the colour of both Ed and Rupert's hair) and is quite strange and funny with this very famous actor aspiring to be like this newly found singer. Below is the behind the scenes video...

Will Ed Sheeran be able to keep up such a good stream of music videos?

Tours

In 2010 Ed Sheeran was invited by Example to be a support act in his 2011 tour. This was then closely followed by Jamie Foxx spotting Ed Sheeran in Los Angeles in "The Foxxhole" and inviting him to his house to record with him for the rest of his stay. His fanbase then started rapidly increasing due to the amount of gigs/open mics he was doing and his supporting act on Example's tour. Ed Sheeran then started his own tour around small venues in the UK in 2011(tour diary's part 1, 2 and 3 below).

Record Label - Asylum/Atlantic

Ed signed with Asylum/Atlantic records recently (January 2011) after releasing a series of albums and singles through his independent label including the album "No 5 Collaborations Project" which played a key part in his rise to fame. Speeakz posted on Pin Board Blog that Atlantic Records announced this over twitter to the world by saying: "We are very happy to announce that the immensely talented Ed Sheeran is now officially part of the Atlantic family! Welcome aboard Ed!" We all now know that the record label has helped him push through the last stages of becoming famous and showing his music to the world after his long rise to fame through his album "+ 

Asylum records was founded in 1971 by David Geffen and Elliot Roberts specifically to sign one artist. It was then, in 1972, taken over by Warner Music Group. At this point in time the music genre is generally hip-hop, rock and alternative metal and all music is distributed under Warner Bros. Records. 

Atlantic records was founded in 1947 by Herb Abramson and Nesuhi and Ahmet Ertegun. It is best known for the music genres jazz, R&B and soul and music is distributed under Atlantic Records Group.

Concert Photos, Videos and Reviews

A few of Ed Sheeran's concert photos and videos...

Live at Rock City in Nottingham

Sarah O'Malley from The Guardian says:

"At only 20-years-old, his performance has the confidence and content of artists twice his age."

"Constructing each song with only voice and guitar loops recorded live on stage, it is hard not to be impressed by his musicianship. "

"Throughout the night, you get the feeling that he is enjoying this just as much as the screaming fans in front of him." 

Live at Shepherds Bush Empire

Emily Jupp from The Independent says:

"His voice is great, clear, bright and versatile"

"Sheeran comes across as a down-to-earth guy, someone you'd share your lunch with if they forgot theirs" 

Ed Sheeran singing Give Me Love at Shepherds Bush Empire in London

Ed Sheeran singing You Need Me I Don't Need You at Shepherds Bush Empire in London

Ed Sheeran singing his most famous hit "The A Team" on Jools Holland (Above)

The Album Artwork of "+"

Ed Sheeran's album "+"

The artwork for Ed Sheeran's album "+" was done by Phillip Butah, an artist from East London known well for designing portraits of people that reflect their personality and character. Phillip Butah gives a deep insight into the designing of the artwork for "+" describing the portrait as "the emerging singer finally coming out of the darkness which represents the dark clubs and venues that the singer would go to and perform on his steady rise."

Phillip Butah himself

Ed Sheeran has known Phillip Butah for years and in his own blog Butah tells us how he thinks that Ed Sheeran's album is one of the most anticipated album's of the year. We also find out that he hasn't just done one drawing of Ed: with the album cover being followed up with iconic pictures of his singles like "You Need Me I Don't Need You."




Community Channel also got an interesting insight into Sheeran's and Butah's relationship. From the interview with Phillip Butah we can see that Ed and Phillip are very good friends who intend to help one another in their career's. Also we can see that Ed Sheeran clearly admires Butah's artwork as he says that Phillip was one of the best artists he had ever known and that he wants him to keep providing artwork for his albums. This shows us that Ed intends to continue his friendly, helpful relationship with Phillip.

I personally think that Ed Sheeran's album artwork is really good because it is different to the average album artwork. Instead of there being the normal stereotypes on the cover, Ed Sheeran has used a nice, classy, pastel portrait of himself which I think shows his personality and character just like Butah said.

Reviews of "+"

We all know that Ed Sheeran's rise to fame hasn't been through luck, another artist, or the Xfactor, he has put all the work in himself by doing hundreds of gigs and gaining a massive fanbase. Through the years he has done independent albums with songs written to appeal to his loyal fanbase, however, since his big break he is had to write a commercial one with a mix of his new and his old style, but how well did he do this without loosing his previous fans?

Although Ed Sheerans album had been a number 1 hit, many reviews of the album have very mixed opinions and views on whether the album is infact, a number 1 hit. I think that Ed Sheeran has done a great job on his first commercial album as it can be very hard for artists to create an album that will not only appeal to a chart type audience but also to his oldest and most loyal fans.

"His first commercial effort "+". It's a challenge he carries off with relative ease on standouts 'Grade 8' and 'Drunk', where the Damien Rice-meets-Wiley sound blends together in the same unexpected fashion as a bacon and peanut butter sandwich."– Digital Spy Music

Digital Spy Music definately have a lot of good things to say about Ed Sheerans album. From the quote below we can see that they obviously believe, like many other people, Ed Sheeran has created a completely new sound ("Damien Rice-meets-Wiley") and that he has a done a very good job on his first commercial effort. The review also says that Digital Spy Music believe the songs "Drunk" and "Grade 8" stand out amongst the others, and at this point they have not been big hits with the public yet with "The A Team", "Lego House" and "

You Need Me Man I Don't Need You" stealing the limelight. So could these two possibly be two more big hits in the charts for Ed Sheeran in 2012? I think that they could. On the album "+" Ed Sheeran has generally written quite slow and lyrical songs, however "Drunk" and "Grade 8" are the exact opposite of this. They are more upbeat, catchy and carry that standard structure of a hit song. I think that these songs definately have a fighting chance of getting into our charts.

So is there anything bad anyone has to say about Ed Sheeran's new album "+"?

"The funniest thing is how dated and tame it all sounds coming from someone with such obvious drive to succeed." - NME Album Reviews

This review suggests that Ed Sheeran's fans are disappointed with his new album "+" in comparison to other albums he has done in the past. The public have obviously been quite impressed with albums like "Want some?" and "No.5 Collaborations Project" which pushed Ed Sheeran to be successful in the music industry and were expecting more from his first commercial album in term of new sounds and lyrics.

Some people, however, believe that Ed Sheerans album is not good, is not bad, but fits somewhere in the middle. The Observer believes that although Ed Sheeran's album is good, it may only be seen as good to a certian audience. Preferably teenagers.

"Half-rapped banalities about watching Shrek 12 times and being "crap at computer games" will certainly win hearts, but perhaps only those of a certain age." – Music, The Observer

I, however, do not believe that this album is just for teenagers as it would not become so popular in the charts through such a small target audience. Although teenagers can have a big impact on how well a new singer can do in their brand new music career, I don't think that his album just appeals to teenagers and I think that "+" and Ed Sheeran himself will do very, very well in years to come with his heartfelt lyrics, individual genre of music and appeal to so many audiences who can relate to all of this.