Ed Sheeran came out for Music Business WorldwideIt is UK Music Industry Awards in London on Tuesday evening, delivering a speech to a crowd of industry powerhouses to honor outgoing WMG record executive Max Lousada while imploring record labels to champion artistry and artist development at the place to track analytics and data.

“They don’t make people like it anymore,” Sheeran said. “And if they do, they come back once in a generation. It’s not about having a big marketing brain, or being good at algorithms or getting started with new things. It’s about recognizing what the great songs are and who the great artists are and allowing them to grow and not just abandoning them after two lousy singles. All the artists we know and love today developed over time and were able to explore and fail, build and experiment.

Sheeran warned that the music industry “risks becoming reactionary, rather than simply following one’s heart and intuition on things that are simply good.”

“I really hope that young people who are like Max are nurtured in the future, because for real art to thrive, we need real people like him in the music industry fighting for it,” Sheeran said . “I am so proud of what we have accomplished together, and even more proud to be able to call him a friend and someone for whom I have immense respect, both personally and professionally.”

Lousada received the George Martin Award, of course named after the legendary record producer. Among those in attendance Tuesday were Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, as well as other high-profile executives, including Jon Platt, CEO of Sony Music Publishing, and Ron Perry, CEO of Columbia Records.

Also present were Julie Greenwald and Kevin Lyles, Lousada’s other departing executives at Warner Music, all of whom are leaving the company amid a a broader overhaul Elliot Grainge, son of UMG CEO Lucian Grainge, has taken the CEO reins at Atlantic Music Group.

“Because in a world flooded with content, it’s too easy to drift in this algorithmic echo chamber,” Lousada said in his acceptance speech, echoing Sheeran’s sentiments. “I looked around tonight and I saw people getting on stage and I saw the resistance. I saw the A&Rs, the managers, the labels, trying to look beyond that data, trying to find the artists who changed the energy in the room, to find the artists who are moving the world.

Read Sheeran and Lousada’s speeches below:

Sheeran

My dream was always to be there Atlantic Recordsbecause Atlantic Records has the best singer-songwriters.

All my heroes and everyone I aspired to be were all housed there.

When I first met Max, I told him that. I was a little intimidated, because he was the big dog and he had shaped all of my heroes’ careers.

But I was over the moon when it became my home with him at the helm of the great ship. I went through Asylum with Ed (Howard) and Ben (Cook), but Max worked from afar on my first album, then very closely on my second and (from) onwards.

We both reached our career highs together, which I will never forget. It’s crazy to go through all these years and all the artists I’ve met along the way who are all like, “Oh yeah, Max did this for me, and Max was instrumental in all of this.” Everyone from The Darkness to Stormzy, James Blunt, Coldplay, Dua Lipa and beyond. When I was asked to present this award tonight, Max had just been fired by Warner, and I wanted to make sure I was there to say that they no longer make people like. Music people.

And if they do, they come back once in a generation. It’s not about having a big marketing brain, or being good at algorithms or getting started with new things.

It’s about recognizing what the great songs are and who the great artists are and allowing them to grow and not just abandoning them after two lousy singles. All of the historical artists we know and love today developed over time and were allowed to explore and fail, build and experiment.

The industry risks becoming reactionary, rather than just following its heart and intuition on things that are simply good.

I really hope that young people who are like Max are nurtured in the future, because for real art to thrive, we need real people like him in the music industry fighting for it.

I am so proud of what we accomplished together, and even more proud to be able to call him a friend and someone I have immense respect for, both personally and professionally.

Congratulations on this incredible honor, man, and let’s celebrate it tonight. I can’t wait to see what you do next. Make sure to interrupt me, bruv.

Everyone is making noise, for tonight’s Sir George Martin Award winner: Max Lousada.

Lousada

Thank you, Ed. Our journey has been somewhat remarkable, and you have simply been an incredible artist, an incredible partner, and most importantly, an incredible friend.

Thanks so much to Tim (Ingham) and everyone Music Business Worldwide. You know, like Jon Platt I said, I don’t really try to win these awards, but this one seemed really, really special.

I just wanted to thank the George Martin family for this honor. Today I was trying to think through a short speech and figure out what I really wanted to say.

It occurred to me that there was an important through-line between Sir George Martin and Ed Sheeran that went far beyond this stage tonight.

When I first joined Warner Music, 21 or 22 years ago, I started reading about George Martin and what Parlophone Records was. What he built was this kind of ever-welcoming haven for unconventional minds, and that was something that struck me and was my North Star, people who don’t really seem to care. integrate.

And that’s something I looked at when I signed artists or when I ran record labels. And it’s not just that (Martin) himself was a unique case, a maverick.

This is because when he saw the originality, he leaned heavily into it. When some saw outsiders, he saw pioneers. He never tried to mold his artists to fit the mold. He tried to break it into pieces with them. And I’ve always been inspired by that kind of creative courage. And if I’m honest, this kind of creative courage is what we need more and more.

Because in a world flooded with content, it’s all too easy to drift into this algorithmic echo chamber. I looked around tonight and I saw people getting on stage and I saw the resistance. I saw the A&Rs, the managers, the labels, trying to look beyond that data, trying to find the artists who changed the energy in the room, to find the artists who are moving the world.

So I really wanted to dedicate it as a music director, but more importantly as a music fan, to everyone who supports new artists who have something to say. All those who defend them with equal amounts of patience and passion, and all those who have given them the support necessary to succeed and the freedom to explore.

I want to especially thank an incredible list of artists that I’ve had the privilege (to work with) and who trusted me with their stories, with their dreams, with their careers.

I want to thank the wise and generous mentors, some of them are here tonight, Korda (Marshall), who brought me out of the cold, Lyor (Cohen), who toughened me and my entire team at Warner .

You have just been on an incredible journey for me and my life. And to my American Crew, to Julie (Greenwald), to Tom (Corson), to Aaron (Bay-Schuck) and to Kevin (Liles).

For my UK team, Tony (Harlow), Joe (Kentish), Briony (Turner), Ed (Howard), Jen (Ivory) and everyone at Warners, this has truly been an incredibly special journey.

Obviously, to Ali, my wife, and my children, who made this trip. Commuting from New York for six years certainly required someone to be really patient in the household.

But finally, to all the unconventional minds here tonight, some I’ve had the privilege of working with and others I’ve admired from afar, I just wanted to say: I see you. I salute you and I am proud to follow in the footsteps of George Martin, at your side. THANKS.

(Disclosure: In 2020, Penske Media Corporation, rolling stone(the parent company of, has made a substantial investment in Music Business Worldwide.)