Ed Sheeran: If the Internet didn’t exist I wouldn’t be here

Ed Sheeran believes that he would not have achieved anywhere near the level of success he has without the advent of digital and the internet.

The singer-songwriter, who managed to get to number one in the iTunes download list in 65 countries with his album ‘x’, said that “If digital in general – the internet and computers – didn’t exist I wouldn’t be here. That’s not to say I wouldn’t be playing music, but from a perspective of me becoming successful it was needed.”

Speaking at an event hosted by Beats by Dre, Ed Sheeran explained that it is very difficult to get anywhere as an artist until there is already a grass-roots following.

“No-one takes notice until you do it yourself. I could record EPs for £1,000 I could go in book two days studio and then sell them. I had producer, engineer and studio for £500 a day which is good.”

Eminem’s manager and Shady Records co-creator Paul Rosenberg agreed stating “The ability to home record broke down all barriers to entry.”

And Spike Stent also supported his view.

The legendary music producer who has worked on countless albums from Madonna and U2 to Arcade Fire and Taylor Swift explained that “in 1981 a top level studio would cost £1,400 a day, and that’s in 1981 and without the producer and engineer costs included.”

Take inflation into account and that amounts to the equivalent of almost £5,000 in today’s money.

Mr Stent also believes that the much lower cost of music production since the advent of digital means that artists have a much better chance of making it big, and that it is easier for young people to get into music in the first place.

“An important factor is that any artist can have a home studio at a very low budget and can create music. My children DJ and making music with computers and what that’s made them get so into music that they start to pick up actual instruments, they start to learn to play and I think that’s a great thing.”    
 
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