Ed Sheeran says Spotify has boosted his career

Ed Sheeran has praised the effect Spotify has had on his career.

The streaming service has come under fire recently from the likes of Taylor Swift, who withdrew her back catalogue from the platform.

She claimed it wasn't fairly rewarding musicians and songwriters.

Speaking to the BBC, Sheeran said that he feels his popularity on Spotify has helped him reached new audiences and allowed him to tour the world.

He said: "My music has been streamed 860 million times, which means that it's getting out to people. I'm playing sold-out gigs in South America, I've sold out arenas in Korea and south-east Asia.

"I don't think I'd be able to do that without Spotify. For me, Spotify is not even a necessary evil. It helps me do what I want to do."

The Brit added that he feels Swift comes from a different career background when it comes to the discussion about physical sales and streaming:

"Taylor has been around for eight or nine years. She comes from an era where you do sell records - it's only been in the past five years where it's really deteriorated - so people buy her records and it doesn't feel too foreign.

"Whereas I came through in the streaming generation. All my fans started off being students at university file-sharing my music, so it's a different generation. She can sell records and I can get streamed, because that's the generation I come from."

Watch Ed Sheeran perform live below: