Before taking to the stage to accept the Sir George Martin Award at MBW's Music Business UK Awards in London on Tuesday night (November 5), outgoing Warner Music Group CEO of Recorded Music Max Lusanda introduced by someone who really needs no introduction: longtime Atlantic Records superstar Ed Sheeran, who described Lousada as part of a rare and dying breed.
“When I was asked to present this award tonight, Max had just been let go by Warner and I wanted to make sure I was here to say they don't make people like him anymore. Music people,” said Sheeran, who noted it had always been his “dream” to sign to Atlantic: “All my heroes and all the people I aspired to be were all housed there.”
Sheeran went on to list some of the artists whose careers Lousada has personally helped launch – “from The Darkness to Stormzy, James Blunt, Coldplay, Dua Lipa and beyond” – before appealing to the industry to support more new executives who can continue his legacy. “The industry is in danger of becoming reactive, instead of just following the heart and gut feelings about things that are simply good,” he continued. “I really hope young people like Max are nurtured in the future, because for real art to thrive, we need real people like him in the music industry fighting for it.”
In accepting the award, Lousada said he was inspired in his own career by the example of the legendary George Martin and his work at Parlophone Records: “What he built was this kind of welcoming haven for unconventional minds, and that was something that has impressed and been my North Star, the people who don't fit in at all.”
“It's not just that [Martin] he himself was quite a one-off, a madman,” continued Lusanda. “It's that when he saw the originality, he leaned hard on it. When others saw incongruities, he saw pioneers. He never tried to mold his artists into a mold. Try to tear it to pieces with them. And I've always been inspired by that kind of creative bravery. And if I'm honest, that kind of creative bravery is what we need more and more of.”
You can watch the full clip above.
