“Here’s the proof that I wrote it”: Ed Sheeran films every studio session for evidence in potential future lawsuit claimsBack in 2015, Ed Sheeran found himself the subject of a copyright claim for his 2014 single Thinking Out Loud. Now, he says he records every studio session he does, for evidence in case something similar happens again.
The claim, which was brought by the heirs of Ed Townsend, co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, sued Sheeran on the basis that they believed he had copied the chord progression and rhythm from Gaye’s 1973 hit. 

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Following a two-week trial in New York, a jury found that Sheeran was not liable, and that he had independently created Thinking Out Loud. Again in 2022, Sheeran won another similar case which alleged that his Shape of You single had copied the chorus of Sami Switch’s Oh Why. The UK High Court declared that Shape of You did not infringe copyright.
Now, in an interview with ITV, Sheeran says that he records all of his studio sessions for evidence in potential future cases.
“I filmed everything since the first lawsuit claim, which was 2015,” he says. “Ever since then I’ve filmed every single studio session just so, if ever that happens again, I’m like ‘Well here’s the proof that I wrote it.’ It’s actually great because I’ve got this hard drive of every single song that’s become successful – the writing process of it.”
Elsewhere, Sheeran believes the barrier to entry for musicians is higher than it has ever been. “I think there’s a higher level of entry now,” he says. “Because there are so many songs put out every single day, the songs you put out have to matter and they have to be good … I think it’s always been quite a high level of entry, but it’s more now. To be heard above the noise, I think it has to be something special.”
Sheeran recently wrote an open letter pleading with the government to invest funds into music. “Music education in the United Kingdom is in a pretty dire place, so being able to speak up about it … A lot of people feel how I feel, basically, and it’s good to keep pressure on the government.”
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