Ed Sheeran didn't ask Hometown to pay for new track – as he trusts them to be a HUGE success

Louis Walsh has revealed that he paid nothing to get Hometown’s newest song off Ed Sheeran.

The X Factor judge managed to get a track off Ed for his new boyband’s second single – but didn’t pay a cent for it.

And Louis, 62, expects it to be as big as the track he wrote for One Direction, Little Things.

Asked if he paid a fortune, Louis said: “We have to pay nothing. You don’t pay a song, he’s given us a song. It doesn’t cost half a million to get a song.

Didn’t shell out a fortune: Ed didn’t want a single cent | ITV

“He’ll only give the song to the person he thinks is going to sell records. He heard about Hometown through the publisher and the A&R guy we have in London. He gave Little Things to One Direction as well.”

Hometown’s current single, Where I Belong, was written by Kodaline – and Louis insists that in the world of 1D, Take That, and 5 Seconds of Summer, there is room for them.

“There’s always space – as long as there’s girls there’s space for a boyband. And the new girls want to find their boyband,” he told 2FM.

“It really is true. And I think these guys are amazing. Vocally they are brilliant, because we auditioned over a 1,000. The standard was really high. Everybody had a guitar.”

But Louis admits it’s “tough… having to start at the bottom” – but has his sights on a No1 before taking them to the UK next year.

He added: “I’ll take them to the UK next year. It’s a slow burner, I want them to learn the craft, get a number one here and tour Ireland – because they’re from all over Ireland.”