As the founder of the Grammy-winning publisher BDi Music, Sarah Liversedge Platz is always on the lookout for music creators 'who have a strong work ethic and know who they are’. Take, for example, Ed Sheeran.
‘Ed knew who he was right from the off,’ she tells M. ‘He had that confidence even though he was so young, and musically he knew where he wanted to go. I took that as a learning curve in terms of who else I look after going forward. Identity is incredibly important.’
While an artist’s individual identity has long been a key selling point, the recent rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked a passionate debate across the music industry about the future of creativity, songwriting and ownership. BDi, along with the rest of the publishing community, has been lobbying the government about pressing issues like AI and copyright.
‘We need the government and global organisations to understand the importance of copyright protection across the music community, especially considering the expansion of AI,’ Sarah says. ‘We need to stand together.’
'Identity is incredibly important.’
But let’s rewind to the beginning. When you ask young children to picture their future, they might imagine themselves as an astronaut, a firefighter or any exciting role that is effectively an extension of their playtime. When Sarah dreamed about her future as a child, she was both prescient and business-minded in her predictions.
‘I actually found an old school document from when I was about 11 years old that featured one of those questions like, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”’ Sarah tells us from her home in Cornwall. ‘I wrote: “I want to be a music publisher”. I actually put that!’
How she even knew what a music publisher was at such a young age still baffles her to this day. But the rediscovery of this precocious streak now serves as a strong source of personal motivation: ‘I keep [the document] on my piano to remind me of where I’m at now, because I find it quite inspiring.’
Founded in 2004, BDi represents songwriters, composers and TV production companies. Their roster includes the Emmy-winning film and TV composer Sheridan Tongue, Welsh artist Novo Amor and his regular co-writer Ed Tullett, and London-based songwriter and producer Ben Lythe (Netflix, ITV and BBC).
BDi also represents SISTER Pictures, whose composer Arthur Sharpe recently won Best Television Soundtrack at this year’s Ivors for his work on The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies. As an independent publisher, BDi has no delusions of operating at the same level as its major competitors. But there is power, Sarah stresses, in being a small fish in a big pond.
‘We find our talent very early because we have to,’ she explains. ‘We can’t compete with the majors in terms of how much they can spend on signing [someone]. But we are at those shows that the majors probably wouldn’t go to if they were looking for new artists to sign.’
‘We find our talent at BDi Music very early because we have to.'
BDi’s big break arrived when they signed songwriters Jake Gosling and Amy Wadge, leading Sarah to introduce the pair to a young Ed Sheeran. The trio instantly gelled: Jake and Amy have co-written several hugely successful songs with Ed, with Amy co-writing and Jake producing Ed’s 2014 single Thinking Out Loud which topped the charts internationally, picked up two Grammys and has, at the time of writing, nearly 2.5 billion Spotify streams.
‘The more creative opportunities our songwriters are given, the greater the chance their songs will garner a commercial cut with an artist on a label,’ Sarah explains. ‘This then has a knock-on effect to their songs generating royalty income streams and sales.’
Sarah adds that it is up to publishers to ensure they are ‘paying out properly’ to songwriters. As part of the wider music publishing ecosystem, BDi will ‘continue to work hard in their field of expertise’.
‘That’s all we can do: we just need to keep being us,’ Sarah says. ‘Something’s working. We’re here 20 years on, we’re still thriving and still successful.’
This article features in a special edition of M Magazine celebrating 110 years of PRS. You can read the magazine here.
