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MPA Online Newsletter Features Amy Wadge Grammy’s Win 26 February 2016




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(Taken from UK Music Publisher’s Association On-line Newsletter COMPACT – Awards, MPA Socials and the Richard Toeman Scholarship)

 

Last week's Grammys  saw a number of brilliant writers and artists take home awards. With Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud scooping up Song of the Year, we look at co-writer Amy Wadge, signed to BDi Music by Managing Director/Director A&R, Sarah Liversedge. 

 

Sarah Liversedge on Amy Wadge

 

Songwriter Amy Wadge (pictured left) was signed by Sarah Liversedge to BDi Music at the beginning of 2008. Amy’s admin catalogue deal had expired and she was looking for a creative publisher to work with exclusively to help her develop her songwriting.

In Sarah’s words: “Amy came to see me and her energy was bubbly and enthusiastic. When I signed her, she was about to have her first baby. Then six weeks after giving birth she was back on the road gigging around the UK as a country artist ."

“I was very impressed by her determination to succeed. She had written for others but, at this stage, there hadn’t been any chart activity - so getting her locked in with ‘named’ artists was a mountain to climb."

“My strategy at this point was to get her writing weekly with up and coming UK development artists via our A&R relationships with managers & labels. We agreed to block two days a week for BDi songwriting sessions – and alongside her own songwriting and artistic ambitions, Amy was also working as a radio presenter for BBC Radio Wales and in a prison supporting and introducing prisoners to the world of music.”

Following these weekly writing sessions Amy began being approached by artists – the most notable being a 17-year old from Suffolk called Ed Sheeran.
 
“Ed had been on my radar for a while,” said Sarah. “He had been in to see me with his then management and had played songs to me. He had hung out with us in the pub next door to BDi HQ and we had chatted a lot about who he wanted to work with, his aspirations and goals. 

“He already had around 200 gigs under his belt, which was obviously hugely impressive, and was clearly very talented, but his ambitions fell into two clearly defined genres: singer-songwriter and urban. His management wanted him to focus solely on the singer-songwriter side of things but he really wanted to work with rappers so I introduced him to my BDi producer/writer Jake Gosling who had just finished working on an album by Wiley.” 

Through this connection, Sarah introduced Ed to Amy and they began working together. “Both introductions clicked and continue to blossom to this day,” said Sarah. “Ed and Amy got on like a house on fire. They wrote very naturally together and Ed decided to self-release an EP ‘Songs I Wrote With Amy’ – which went on to be released by Warners, after ‘+’ went to No.1. Amy also co-wrote a song with Ed for the deluxe version of ‘+’ , ‘Goldrush’. 

“With Ed’s music spreading like wild fire artists and managers were now starting to come to us. Then in February 2014 the big day came where Ed invited Amy to stay with him for the weekend to write some new songs together. He had been in USA for most of 2013 writing his second album and touring ‘+’. I was told he was still looking for songs. Amy and Ed wrote ‘Thinking Out Loud’. 

“To follow up the success of such an amazing song is huge pressure but, I have no doubt Amy will continue to succeed – she is very ambitious and she has the talent and quality in her song writing. As publisher, it is a true honour to own the copyright in such a ground breaking song. I will continue to do what I do best: invest in songwriter’s careers, nurture and develop songwriting talent and protect my songwriter’s songs.”