Ed Sheeran’s Megahit Makes Case for Record Labels in Spotify Era
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Max Lousada was on a mission to launch Ed Sheeran into music’s stratosphere. The pop artist was about to release his third album in early 2017, and it fell to the Warner Music team led by Lousada to make the collection Sheeran’s biggest yet.
The campaign started when Warner Music Group released two Sheeran singles at once, a tactic from the days of Elvis and Fats Domino. Later, the U.K.-born Lousada bucked modern convention again by spurning promotional offers from streaming services and releasing the album to everyone at the same time. The world’s three biggest pop stars -- Taylor Swift, Adele and Drake -- had previously restricted online access to their new works to paid services and rang up big sales as a result.