British singer Ed Sheeran is set to launch his own record label.

The Lego House hitmaker is looking for performers similar to himself and already has his "first signing in mind".

Sheeran was determined to set up his own company after record label bosses ignored him when he urged them to sign folk singer Passenger, who later had a huge hit single with Let Her Go.

The label will be part of music giant Warner, but after 10 years the singer will own the rights to the firm.

Sheeran tells Britain's The Sun newspaper, "The door has now been opened I've set up the label and I'm going to start signing people. It'll be an imprint that goes through Warner. But I'll get the rights back in about 10 years. I've got my first signing in mind. I'm looking at people like me, who came through the singer-songwriter scene. I'm going to focus on this when I'm on tour next year. Hopefully the acts will be up and running by the time I take time off... The first time I properly thought about it was when I took Passenger on tour for two years. I took him into my record company and played them the record but they didn't get it. Then I was too busy on my own stuff and I let it slide. Then he had a worldwide number one. After that, everyone was like, 'Maybe Ed does know what he's talking about'... I have a tour and Twitter so I can put them (artists) in front of my fans instantly. I can sit down with heads of radio stations and ask whether they will play it on the radio. I'm in a really fortunate position to be able to break acts."