Ed Sheeran announces new record label

UK chart topper Ed Sheeran is launching his own label imprint and has announced its first signing.

Revealed exclusively in Sydney last night on Nova during ‘Smallzy’s Surgery’, Sheeran said the label, Gingerbread, will be distributed internationally via Warner Music subsidiary Atlantic UK.

The first signing is Manchester artist Jamie Lawson, who is currently supporting Sheeran on his sold-out, 14-date Australian and New Zealand tour.

“This is a world exclusive, no one else in the world knows this yet,” Sheeran told Nova’s Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small. “I’ve set up my first record label, it’s called Gingerbread and Jamie is my first signing. I wanted Australia to be the launch pad because Australia is a country that I feel would really really dig Jamie.”

Lawson performed his track Wasn’t Expecting That on the show.

Sheeran said his focus on building the label and its roster will kick into gear next year while he’s on tour.

"I have a tour and Twitter, so I can put them in front of my fans instantly,” said Sheeran. “I can sit down with heads of radio stations and ask whether they'll play it on the radio. I'm in a really fortunate position to be able to break acts."

Sheeran was recently announced as the mentor for Nova, Warner Music and Caplice Management’s national search for unsigned talent, Nova’s Fresh Discovery.