“Welcome to the Family”; that’s what fans have been greeted with in a delightful email containing three free songs and a notice that they are on the mailing list of a popular artist. This artist, the famous Ed Sheeran, recorded these three songs to comprise a short album, titled “One Take”, with the purpose of giving away copies without charge.  

Edward Christopher Sheeran, more commonly recognized as Ed Sheeran, is a British artist well-known for his singing and songwriting. His songs are characterized by comforting guitar acoustics and common rapping. He accumulated majority of his fans after the release of his albums, “+”, released in 2011 and “X” in 2014. However, one would look upon Sheeran’s album and wonder why a successful artist such as himself would take three years to develop a second album.  

In this time, mp3 and mp4 conversion websites make iTunes and other medias seem foolish. Even the most dedicated fans would rather acquire songs for free than pay for them. Artists tend to lose money because they can’t possibly benefit from fans using illegal websites to get songs. However, luckily for his fans, Ed Sheeran embraced his fan population that may not be so willing to pay money, but still show their support for owning his songs.

It’s recently been announced that an E.P., named “One Take”, will be available to the public for free. Fans would be ecstatic for the good quality songs, and people looking for new music won’t have anything to lose. By attracting people interested in free music, Sheeran is increasing his fanbase. The short album consists of three songs: “Wayfaring Stranger”, a newly written piece; “UNI”; and an extended version of one of his oldest songs, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”. All three songs are uniquely tied to a single E.P., as they are each recorded in one take, as the album title suggests.

How to gain access to such a deal? One only has to go to Ed Sheeran’s website and typing his or her email in the black space on the left margin, where it says “Join the List”. By providing one’s email, a fan or music lover will be automatically added to Sheeran’s mailing list, in which he or she will be notified of any news updates regarding his activities. Many fans were already willing to give their emails so, in a sense, receiving three free songs is a tremendous perk.