1. Artist research
Ed Sheeran

2. This is the album
cover to his latest
album +
Keeping it plain and
simple he chose to
have a portrait and
the album name + on
the cover, the colour
orange is
representative of his
hair colour and his
first album was even
called orange. He
constructs a star
image out of this
feature of himself to
make himself stand
out. HE also
celebrates the one
thing people like to
mock; his ginger hair.

3. This is a promotional photo
spotted in HMV and over the
internet. This constructs a playful
image with him looking away from
the camera with a cheerfull look
on his face, eyebrows raised,
tongue sticking out and a little
message stuck on the end saying
„‟hi!‟‟ . This is supposed to be fun
likable and playful. Gelled hair
and a hoodie constructs an image
of “youth” and refers to the fasion
of his target audience.

4. Official website
http://www.edsheeran.com/

5. Ed keeps in contact with his fans through regular updates through
social media. Social media has become the fastest, cheapest and
easiest way to promote yourself. Updating fans with regular tweets,
facebook updates, youtube videos, myspace page and a sound cloud,
access to his music is at his fans finger tips. Also this shows him to fans
as a down to earth person who also likes to tweet, go on facebook and
youtube and this connects to fans on a personal level.
News updates, concert dates, pictures and even lyrics to his songs are
available on his website, bringing his fan base little closer to him, being
loyal to them and in turn they buy his music and enjoy the songs he
creates. Even if he does not have a relationship personally with each
his fans he delivers a kind of fan service and this seems to keep them
happy.

6. Also he has a facebook link so you can like his page, a twitter feed and a live Ustream
so he can perform live and talk to fans via webcam.
Links to buy his album and single are available on his site too this all promotes his
music, personality as part of his star image and portraits him as a down to earth
person.

7. YouTube.
With many YouTube videos out of Ed Sheerans songs and live performances he
spreads his music through different platforms and can also get direct feedback
through comments and gains publicity and a wider ranging audience. Who ever
stumbles on his music and likes it will be a fan rather than marketing himself to a
certain audience. He also promotes his videos as related searches to similar
artists.

8. With over 5 million views on his new single „lego house‟ he can be classed as
a YouTube hit. The „like‟ bar is almost all green and his comments from fans
are mostly positive.
With all his songs reaching millions of views Ed Sheerans fan base love him.

9. Secondary audience research

11. Only bad feedback I could find in his comments about him. (comment on
the official „you need me I don't need you‟ video, I‟m not a fan of the
concept of video either.
The rest of the comments directed towards him are positive and
everyone seems to show him support on YouTube.

12. When you think of what style an Ed Sheeran video will be like, you wont find any
consistency as each song tells a different story and the video usually has a
narrative but not always. He usually shows up in the videos but he is only the main
focus in his acoustic videos that are not official music videos.
In two of his videos he has had a narrative and he appears in them as a cameo
and the narrative usually plays over the song with a loose illustration of the lyrics.
Eg, „lego house‟ is about a stalker who thinks Ed is singing to him and he is
obsessed down to having dolls of him and stalking him, even chewing on his
discarded gum.
In a‟-team „we have an illustration of the girl he is singing about. In „you need me I
don't need you‟ the lyrics are signed out in sign language intercut with objects to
illustrate the lyrics further. Other videos are acoustic covers to other songs or
original songs he hasn't released in the charts, he either sits or stands in front of a
camera with a guitar or a loop pedal and a mic and performs his song in studio or
on location, emphasis on the music in these videos are the main point rather than
a narrative.
For our groups song, a garage/dance/chill out track would have more emphasis on
instrumental, vocals and atmosphere of the song so the video will need to reflect
that or put a spin on it.

14. I am researching one third of the trio that makes up this version of the song
„could just be the basseline‟ Feedback on the chosen track by Ed Sheeran, Kal
Lavelle
and Artful Mark is as followed.
Mainly
positive with
one bad
comment.