What You Can Learn From Ed Sheeran's Latest Single Release

Ed Sheeran doesn't email me often. In fact, he emails almost never. But recently, I (and probably several hundred thousand others) received an email announcement of his latest new single, Eyes Closed. The email presented two options: Watch or Listen. Then it continued with him sharing how personal this new single was for him:

"This song means the absolute world to me, it's the start of an album I'd been overthinking for years and feel like I've finally made the perfect representation of where I am right now."

The email also has a link to pre-order signed copies of the CD. Visiting his channel on Spotify shows a countdown timer to the full album launch in May. All of this gives him more than a month before launch to take this new song, perform it in TV appearances, have it go viral online and promote the entire album in general. None of this is new for music marketing, but it's a masterclass in how to give your audience a taste of something and leave them hungry for more. And then go big when you do launch. It's easy to predict what's going to happen, the album will be huge. If you're at all interested in the marketing of how something like this unfolds, this launch will be worth watching.