Ed Sheeran Leaves Warner Music After 15 Years
After a fifteen-year partnership, Ed Sheeran has ended his agreement with Warner Music. The artist initially signed with Warner’s Asylum imprint in 2011, following a meeting with Ed Howard (now Co-President of Atlantic UK) at a Bruno Mars concert in 2010.
Sheeran’s albums were released in the United States through Warner’s Atlantic label.
At 35 years old, Sheeran has achieved significant commercial success over the past two decades.
He has sold over 170 million copies of his eight studio albums worldwide, and his music has accumulated 126 billion global streams and 38 billion views on YouTube.
In a statement to fans, Sheeran said, “I leave the company with SO much love and gratitude for everything we have achieved together. This isn’t a ‘disgruntled artist leaves record label’ type situation.”
Ed Howard also released a statement, saying, “On behalf of the wonderful Warner Music teams around the world that championed him over the years, I know we all stand squarely in his corner as Ed steps into his next chapter.”
Warner Music will continue to distribute Sheeran’s existing catalog.
Earlier albums are owned by Warner, while newer releases are licensed to the label through Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man label under a long-term distribution agreement.
Sheeran’s future plans are currently unspecified.
Sheeran stated he first met Ed Howard from Asylum Records at a performance in Notting Hill when he was 18, and briefly lived with Howard and his wife. He played Howard some of his music, unaware at the time that Howard worked for a record label. He added that Howard and Ben Cook, who ran Asylum at the time, regularly attended his early performances. Following the release of his debut EP, ‘No.5 collaborations’, Sheeran signed a deal with Asylum.
“Over the last 15 years, I’ve put out so much music and had so much success with that company. We’ve built something amazing together and enjoyed such life changing stuff happening to us. My life is hugely different now to what it was when I was a teenager, and I’ve been feeling in my gut for a long time that a lot of things in my professional life need to change. I am, underneath it all, a singer songwriter who plays pub gigs. And I’ve sorta morphed into this pop star who plays stadiums over 15 years, it’s a super amazing thing to have happened but also a lot to get your head around.”
“I decided to leave Asylum / Warner last month. I leave the company with SO much love and gratitude for everything we have achieved together. This isn’t a ‘disgruntled artist leaves record label’ type situation. This is a boy who started as a teenager on the company with different priorities, to the father of 2 man who exists now, who feels like he needs a shift and change in the way he does things professionally. I love Ed Howard forever, I love Asylum forever, and the door is always open for the future. Thank you everyone across Warner worldwide who has worked on my projects over the last 15 years, it’s been an incredible journey. Excited to see where the next 15 years takes me. Loads of love to everyone x.”
