Sheeran backs Spotify payments
His views contrast with some other acts, including his friend Taylor Swift, who have been critical of royalty figures which gives a fee for each play.
Swift famously withdrew her entire back catalogue from Spotify ahead of the release of her latest album 1989, which had the effect of driving sales rather than diluting them through plays on the subscription service.
Sheeran has found a global audience through the service and was Spotify’s most played artist of the year, accessed 860m times. In addition, his second album x was the firm’s most played album globally in 2014.
He said: “I think Spotify are paying the right amount.
“We’re just not seeing it, because the labels aren’t making as much as they used to, so they want to keep a lot of the money that Spotify give them, and not pay it out to us. Which is the truth. It is the truth.”
Sheeran said streaming had helped him to establish his career and allowing him to sell out tours.
Swift has criticised Spotify payments which are said to amount to around £0.0056 per play.
Speaking after the BBC Music Awards, he said: “Fair play to her. She has something she believes in. She’s saying she can sell a million in week one if she doesn’t put her music on Spotify, and I’m saying I can play Wembley if I do.
“It’s just different strokes for different folks,” he added.
“U2 can put their whole album on iTunes and that works for them. Taylor can sell records regardless of Spotify.
“She 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. She has made her name 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.”
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