Syco

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Simco Limited
Parent company	Sony Music Entertainment
Founded	2002
Founder	Simon Cowell
Distributing label	Sony Music Entertainment UK
Genre	Pop Music Opera Music R&B Pop Rock Vocal
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Location	United Kingdom

Syco (or Simco Limited^[1]) is a London based entertainment company established in 2002 by A&R executive, television producer and talent show judge Simon Cowell. The company was founded after the demise of S Records. Syco is divided into three sections: Syco Music, Syco TV and Syco Film.

Cowell claims Syco accounted for 40% of all Sony Music UK profit in 2006 despite only employing 15 people.^[2] By 2008, it was reported that Syco accounted for 70% of profit at Sony Music UK.^[3]

[edit] Syco Music

Simon Cowell, founder of Syco.

Syco Music operates under the Sony Music banner, continuing Simon Cowell’s near 20 year association with BMG (later, Sony BMG, now Sony). The company rarely scouts for new artists, as they are usually developed through the TV talent formats. Generally, the company has a strong focus on promoting its artists through television. The record label is run by Managing Director, Simon Cowell. Also, Sonny Takhar is head of marketing. Tim Byrne is Creative Director and David Gray is Head of A&R. It works with a number of US record labels to release albums in the states.

Highlights for the label include the #1 albums from Il Divo, Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle. In the first week of December 2007, Syco occupied the top 3 album positions as well as the #1 single and #1 DVD.^[4] Syco Music has released a cover of "Everybody Hurts" featuring various artists, to raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song reached number one in the uk on February 14th 2010.^[5]

[edit] Current Artists

• Westlife (2002-present)
• Il Divo (2004-present)
• Shayne Ward (2005-present)
• Leona Lewis (2006-present)
• Escala (2008-present)
• Rhydian Roberts (2007-present)
• Paul Potts (2007-present)
• Alexandra Burke (2008-present)
• Andrew Johnston (2008-present)
• Susan Boyle (2009-present)
• Joe McElderry (2009-present)
• Olly Murs (2010-present)

[edit] Previous Artists

• Gareth Gates (2002-2006)
• Steve Brookstein (2004-2005)
• Bianca Ryan (2006-2008)
• Angelis (2006-2007)
• Leon Jackson (2007-2009)
• Same Difference (2007-2009)
• George Sampson (2008-2009)

[edit] Syco Music on TV

[edit] The X Factor

Syco TV produces The X Factor and the record label signs the winners and occasionally some other contestants. Series 3 winner Leona Lewis has become one of the top female artists in the world. Her 2007 debut album, Spirit, has sold nearly 7 million copies and spawned the massive hit, "Bleeding Love".

While Lewis is undoubtedly the most successful, second series winner Shayne Ward has also established a steady career. With his first two albums charting at #1 and #2 respectively, selling more than 1 million combined. His third album is due in the first quarter of 2010. Alexandra Burke went straight to #1 with her second single, “Bad Boys” and topped the album charts with Overcome. Syco, working with Epic Records, hope to launch her as an international artist. Rhydian Roberts was the runner up of series 4, but sold almost 3 times as many copies of his debut album as the winner, Leon Jackson, who was later dropped ^[6]. The least successful so far has been Steve Brookstein whose debut album sold only 100,000 copies.

Through an agreement with Syco, other labels affiliated with Sony Music have second options on finalists. RCA have sold 1 million records with series 1 runners-up, G4 and Epic have enjoyed success with series 5 runners-up, JLS.

The Company has recently been involved in producing emerging Brit-rock outift A Band Called Bert, notably the track It's Over Now^[7]

[edit] Britain's Got Talent

While there are no contractual guarantees, Syco often signs acts from its TV series, Britain’s Got Talent. Susan Boyle has become the biggest star from the show, her debut album broke pre-order records in the US ahead of its November release. ^[8] Paul Potts also enjoyed significant success, his debut album selling in excess of 3 million copies around the world. ^[9] Other acts like Andrew Johnston, Escala and George Sampson have also worked with the label.

[edit] Syco TV

logo of SYCO TV.

Syco Television is mainly focussed on talent formats and reality and entertainment programming. It has produced shows for all 4 US networks and works exclusively with ITV in the UK. Its production partners are Talkback Thames, Fremantle Media and Fox Entertainment Studios. Simon Jones, who previously worked on Pop Idol, is Senior Vice President, Operations & International. ^[10] Nigel Hall is Director of Television and Siobhan Greene heads up development. ^[11]

[edit] The X Factor

The first big commission for Syco was The X Factor, a successor to Pop Idol. The show gave Simon Cowell a huge leverage in his negotiations with Fox in 2005 when it became a hit in the UK and caused the cancellation of Pop Idol. Just as Pop Idol made Simon Cowell a star in 2002, The X Factor has turned new judge Cheryl Cole into a major star of TV and music. Her appointment coincided with the highest rated series in the shows history, averaging more than 10 million viewers and improving its audience among advertiser friendly young viewers. The sixth series currently airing is already hitting record ratings, beating Strictly Come Dancing, a show which once regularly beat it.^[12]

Rumours have persisted through 2009 that a US edition of The X Factor will be launched, ^[13] it is expected that Cowell will be a judge and Executive Producer, and the series will launch in the Fall 2011 television season on Fox. The format was slow to sell internationally but now airs in Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Belgium, Columbia, Greece, Morocco and The Netherlands among others. It has been particularly valuable to Fremantle Media breaking some of the territories where the Idol franchise has failed or not been picked up.

[edit] Britain's Got Talent

In 2005, an original pilot show (called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent) was cancelled, this was because Paul O'Grady, who had hosted the pilot, quit ITV. Meanwhile, a new director of television at ITV, Simon Shaps, had other concerns about the format and despite Controller of Entertainment, Claudia Rosencrantz ordering the series, he scrapped it. Cowell then took the format to international broadcasters, selling it to NBC as a summer series in America and Seven Network in Australia. ^[14] It became an immediate hit and the 4th season finale scored all time high ratings of around 16 million and is one of the top shows on NBC despite its summer slot.^[15]

In 2007, it went to the UK and immediately became a huge hit. Each of the 3 series have improved on the previous series ratings. In 2009, it became the most talked about talent show ever when Susan Boyle became an international overnight sensation. The final attracted a peak audience of 19.2m viewers and almost 70% of the viewing audience. ^[16] The format has also become an international hit with both broadcasts of the US version and local productions in dozens of countries around the world. ^[17]

[edit] Other

The company has produced some specials for broadcast in the UK usually focussed on music. They include Take That: For The Record, Westlife: She’s The One and Paul Potts: By Royal Command. They also produced a Susan Boyle special for ITV in December 2009.^[18]

In the US, Syco produced two series of American Inventor for ABC and also made the unsuccessful Celebrity Duets series for Fox, which found itself crushed opposite CSI and Grey’s Anatomy at 9pm on Thursdays. It is rumoured to be planning to make a US version of the Pride of Britain Awards, of which Cowell has been a notable backer. ^[19]

Plans for a revival of Blind Date and a Gladiators style show (that format is owned by MGM Television, which ran a short-lived US revival in 2008 as Writers Guild of America strike replacement programming) appear to have fallen through ^[20] though Cowell does have plans for one big show in early 2010.^[21]

[edit] 2010 and the future

In January 2010 it was announced that Cowell had extended his long-term deal with Sony. The venture which will still operate under the name of Syco,^[22] will expand its production of television, film, music and digital content. It will be co-owned by Sony and Cowell although British retail consortium giant Sir Philip Green (of Arcadia Group) will be a shareholder and act as Cowell's advisor.^[22] The company will retain its UK offices in London but also open an office in Los Angeles to handle its American affairs, which at the moment focus on America's Got Talent and lauching a US version of The X Factor in September 2011.^[22]

[edit] See also

• Britain's Got Talent
• America's Got Talent
• The X Factor (TV series)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Syco Tv at IMDb