KT Tunstall: 'I hate X Factor's influence'

KT Tunstall has spoken out about Simon Cowell's influence on the music industry with The X Factor.

During an interview with the Daily Mail, Tunstall admitted that she had spent much of her twenties claiming unemployment benefits so that she could pursue her chosen career as a singer.

"It took nine years but I never stopped believing," she said about her eventual success with debut album Eye To The Telescope in 2004.

However, Tunstall then claimed that Cowell's dominance over the pop charts with singers from shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent was a bad thing for the music industry.

"I hate what Simon Cowell has done to the music industry because he's clogged it up with all these people and it's stopping real artists getting deals," she explained. "The X Factor isn't about music, it's about entertainment."

The 'Suddenly I See' star did however admit that she would perform on The X Factor if given the opportunity, but only because of the huge amount of exposure that it would give to her music.

Tunstall's third album Tiger Suit was released last week.