There are easier ways to react to losing your job than deciding you’re going to become a full-time songwriter.
But Sam Scherdel has never really done things the easy way.
The Sheffield singer-songwriter has signed a global recording deal with Create Music Group, alongside UK label Ostereo and US-based Broke Records – another massive step in a journey that started with a pretty brutal sliding-doors moment back in 2022.
Four years ago, Sam lost his job. Rather than playing it safe, he decided to throw himself properly into music.
Turns out that wasn’t a bad decision.
Since then, it’s been writing, recording, gigging and generally putting the miles in. The breakthrough arrived with Somewhere in the Middle, which went properly crackers online, pulling in a million TikTok views in just four days.
Then came an ITV Love Island sync, millions of streams and gigs that started taking Scherdel considerably further than the Yorkshire venues where this whole thing began.
His catalogue has now passed three million streams, with appearances at SXSW, The Great Escape, BST Hyde Park and Tramlines adding to an increasingly impressive CV.
And now there’s a global record deal to stick on there too.
The partnership brings Sam into the Create Music Group family, with Manchester-based Ostereo and US label Broke Records working across artist development, marketing and distribution.
For RGM, this one’s particularly lovely to see. Sam’s a mate of the magazine and someone we’ve watched putting the work in for years. There are plenty of overnight-success stories knocking around the music industry – this isn’t one of them. This is what happens when someone keeps writing, keeps turning up and keeps backing themselves when there are considerably easier options available.
And the next chapter starts pretty quickly.
New single Kyoto Snow arrives on 16 October, becoming the first release of this new era.
Speaking about the signing, Sam said:
“After my songwriting career properly began in 2022, looking back and seeing how far this has come is pretty unbelievable. Losing my job was one of those moments where I had to make a decision about what I actually wanted to do with my life, and from there I went all-in on songwriting.
“My goal has always been to write honest music and make that the focus of my life.
“I’m delighted that journey has led us to Broke and Ostereo. They believed in the music from the very beginning, and I genuinely feel we’ve found the right home for these songs.”
That honesty is probably the key to why Scherdel’s music has travelled.
His songs aren’t interested in pretending everything’s rosy. Love, loss, upheaval and the assorted mess that comes with being a human being all find their way in.
His management describes it as part of an emerging strand of “Redemption Music” in America – emotionally direct songwriting built around experiences that sound lived rather than manufactured.
Earlier this year, Scherdel teamed up with the Hull NHS Choir for a new version of Somewhere in the Middle, recorded at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios with Mercury Prize-nominated producer Colin Elliot.
There’s been an official SXSW showcase in Austin too, alongside UK touring with Live Nation and new representation from X-ray Touring.
David Cameron-Pryde of LAMA Music Group says the journey has already taken Sam across the Atlantic for meetings with US labels before eventually bringing things back to Manchester and Ostereo.
Ostereo A&R Andy Griffin described Scherdel as “one of the most exciting and authentic artists to emerge from the UK in recent years,” praising his songwriting, voice and the purpose behind the songs.
Plenty of big words get thrown around whenever somebody signs a record deal. Ultimately, what matters is what happens next.
For Sam Scherdel, that’s Kyoto Snow.
For a Sheffield songwriter who found himself without a job four years ago and decided to gamble on his songs instead, three million streams and a global record deal isn’t a bad place to have ended up.
Go on, Sam. Bloody well deserved. ❤️
Sam Scherdel releases “Kyoto Snow” on 16 October via Broke Records/Ostereo/Create Music Group.
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