Ed Sheeran is taking music back to where it starts. The pop hitmaker has teamed with Orange Amps to launch Play It Home, a global initiative celebrating grassroots music, community, and the stories behind the songs, arriving alongside Outlowd by Ed Sheeran, a new series of guitar amps and Bluetooth speakers available worldwide.
The campaign centers on local musicians, emerging talent, and giving something real back to the towns and cities it visits. At its heart sits the new Outlowd ES Series, a range of portable, approachable amps built to make playing feel social and joyful.
It kicked off June 5 in Ipswich, Suffolk, Sheeran’s hometown, where an estimated 2,000 fans got a surprise busking set from Ed himself, six songs alongside local musician and songwriter Lianne Kaye. At the end, he handed his amp to a delighted nine-year-old local schoolboy named Felix, and the campaign is funding Felix’s next 12 months of music lessons, making him its first beneficiary.
From there, Play It Home travels the globe through local sessions hosted with Orange Amps and their retail partners in Guildford, Toronto, Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Bamberg. Each stop supports local music through equipment donations, youth programmes, rehearsal space, or direct funding for community projects.
Sheeran speaks about it from experience. “Music doesn’t start in arenas or on streaming platforms. It starts in bedrooms, youth clubs, pubs, schools, parks, living rooms and street corners. That’s where I found my voice,” he says. “I wanted this project with Orange to feel honest to that, celebrating local musicians, local communities, and the idea that anyone can start somewhere.”
The whole thing is built to feel human, a nod to the era before algorithms ran music culture. Fans are encouraged to share their own musical memories online through a companion “Play It Back” movement.
Orange Amps managing director Sarah Yule sees it as bigger than a product launch. “Music has this incredible ability to connect us to memories, friendships, confidence and identity,” she says, framing the goal as leaving every city with more opportunity and visibility for local talent.
The ES range itself runs from the ES3 premium Bluetooth speaker to the ES60 busking amp and the flagship ES100 performance amp, pairing Orange’s analogue expertise with portable design. It’s a genuinely appealing lineup built to make music happen anywhere.