SIMON Cowell reckons the pop industry is in crisis because so many people are trying to make it big through social media.
The music mogul said: “The reality is that every day something like 200,000 songs are uploaded [to social media] so weirdly less people are getting signed, and less people are breaking worldwide.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever known it since I’ve been in the music business.
“Without Eurovision Sam Ryder wouldn’t have got signed – there has to be a platform.”
He is now hoping to put together a new boyband, but is still hoping his greatest success story, One Direction, makes a return.
Speaking to Jackie Brambles on Greatest Hits Radio, Simon said: “Those records have really stood the test of time they still really, really sound great.
“Imagine if they did reform and their tickets went on sale?
“They would have the biggest ticket sale in history I genuinely believe that.
“I don’t know whether that’s going to happen or not so I’m going to find the next generation.”
Earlier this month he launched his new search for a boyband in Liverpool.
He is hunting for the next big thing for a new TV show called Midas Touch, which is expected to air on Netflix.
Simon was left initially disappointed after just a handful of wannabes turned up to audition.
One observer said: “They started arriving slowly from about 9am on Saturday but the biggest number in the queue never amounted to more than about 40.
“By early afternoon, the number arriving had virtually dried up and it was the same story on the Sunday audition.
“The amount of railings they put up suggested they were expecting hundreds or thousands of people to arrive and pack out the queues but they had a fraction of those kinds of numbers.”
Simon, 64, had announced the search would start last Thursday in Newcastle.
But The Sun revealed last week that the two dates there had been cancelled, with organisers saying it was due to the “travel schedule”.
Two more audition days are scheduled in Dublin later this month and three in London at the start of August.
