Last week the former Smiths frontman said that the music industry was "force-feeding" the public artists like Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith instead of promoting independent, alternative artists.

In response to these comments, Sheeran took to Twitter over the weekend, citing Morrissey's remarks as 'absolute bollocks".

Speaking with magazine Boulder Weekly, Morrissey said "So, we are now in the era of marketed pop stars, which means that the labels fully control the charts, and consequently the public has lost interest. It’s very rare that a record label does something for the good of music."

These comments come in the middle of Morrissey's North American tour and ahead of his UK tour dates later this year.