Syco

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Syco is a company founded by record executive and television personality, Simon Cowell. It has three departments, Syco TV, Syco Music and Syco Film. Syco Film will release its first films in 2008, entitled “Star Struck”^[1] and "One Chance" [1] Syco TV and Syco Music have had a number of hugely successful projects, documented below.

Cowell claims Syco accounted for approximately 40% of Sony BMG profit in 2006, despite only employing 14 people.^[2]

1 Staff
2 Syco Music
- 2.1 Popera
- 2.2 The X Factor
3 Syco TV
4 References

[edit] Staff

President - Simon Cowell
SVP Operations and International - Simon Jones
Managing Director: Sonny Takhar
Creative Director: Tim Byrne
Marketing Manager: Daniel Parker
Project Co-Ordinator: Laurence Boakes
Head of Media: Anne Marie Thomson
Marketing: Nikki Watkins
General Assistant: Anya Jones
Director of Television (Syco TV): Nigel Hall
Executive Producer: Siobhan Greene
Executive Producer: Georgie Hurford Jones

[edit] Syco Music

Although Simon Cowell owns the Idol licenses, Syco Music does not work with the winners of American Idol. It does, however work with winners of The X Factor in the UK in 2005 and 2006. Syco Music has such artists under it's wing as Shayne Ward, G4, Leona Lewis, Mariella Clark and Leon Jackson. All of them contestants on ITV talent show X-Factor except Mariella clark, she was spotted by Randy Jackson in late 2005.[2].

Highlights for the label include the UK album chart in the first week of December 2007, when 3 of its acts occupied the top 3 positions. It has also had success in America, with Il Divo topping the album charts in February 2006 and Leona Lewis topping the Hot 100 in March 2008. Much of its work is based on the use of TV as a key tool both in finding a new act and then promoting them.

[edit] Popera

Its biggest success has been Il Divo, who opened the floodgates to many more "popera" acts and whose fourth album sold 3.7m copies [3]. They also spawned a child version in the UK. Angelis released their debut album in 2006, which went platinum. In 2007, Syco signed another popera star, Paul Potts, winner of Britain’s Got Talent. After spending 3 weeks at number one in the UK, he set off abroad. He scored further number ones in Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden and also went to number 2 in Canada. His album made it into the top 40 sellers of 2007 and has sold over 1.5m copies to date. [4]

[edit] The X Factor

Syco Music automatically signs the winner of X Factor and Sony BMG has first option on all finalists. The winner of series one, Steve Brookstein released an album in May 2005, Heart and Soul which entered the UK album chart at number one. However, it was a covers album and sold few copies. After selling only 100,000 copies, he was dropped. Meanwhile, runners up G4 signed to the main division of Sony BMG and sold 600,000 copies of their debut album.

The second series of X Factor produced a winner in Shayne Ward. Touted as the UK answer to Justin Timberlake, he combined a great voice with good looks. Unfortunately, his first album was critically panned, filled with covers and generally poor pop songs. It still managed to sell close to 500,000 [5] copies. His second album was released in November and with his latest single, he has defied cynics in charting at number two, narrowly missing out on the top spot. Journey South were also signed and released one album with Syco, selling over 400,000 copies.

The X Factor 3 winner, Leona Lewis released the fastest selling number one of the year, "Bleeding Love"^[3], trouncing Take That, McFly and Britney Spears in the chart battle. Her album became the fastest selling debut in UK chart history when it sold 375,000 copies in its first week, outselling the Spice Girls by 5 to 1. She will release in the US in 2008, under Syco/J Records. Simon Cowell executive produced the album alongside industry legend, Clive Davis.

Leon Jackson is the latest winner of The X Factor, and after the success of the time taken to produce Leona Lewis' album, Cowell is hoping to do the same with Jackson. Rhydian Roberts has also joined Syco's stable of popera artists with an album due in the autumn. Same Difference have signed a deal for an album too.

[edit] Syco TV

Syco’s first project was The X Factor for ITV. The show has been hugely successful for ITV, bringing huge numbers of young viewers to the channel and thus becoming its third biggest show behind Coronation Street and Emmerdale. It is now in its fourth series, drawing the highest ratings ever for its auditions shows and is contracted for at least one more year. In 2007, Carphone Warehouse signed a £7 million a year deal to sponsor the show.^[4]

In 2006, Syco produced 3 brand new shows in the US. American Inventor started in March on ABC. Although it drew high ratings in its first week, they dipped over the season. However, it performed well enough to be commissioned for its second series in 2007. The show is co-produced by Fremantle and Peter Jones TV. In summer 2006, NBC broadcast America's Got Talent. This new breed of talent show has been the number one summer show in 2006 and 2007. In June 2007, Syco inked a £100 million deal^[5] to sell format rights around the world. In fall 2006, Celebrity Duets hit air on FOX. Despite a decent start and building its ratings early on, it stumbled against Greys Anatomy and CSI and did not return in 2007.

2007 saw Syco return to the UK. It produced Grease is The Word for ITV. However, its ratings were disappointing and even Cowell himself slated the show. The next week, Syco made up for this flop when Britain's Got Talent hit ITV. It became a phenomenon drawing ratings in excess of 11 million viewers in June, when viewing is usually lower [6]. In the UK, Syco also produced one off specials, She's the One with Westlife and Take That: For the Record. Syco is also developing a new major entertainment project for ITV1. [7]

In November 2007, it was announced that Australian Network, Nine, have acquired the rights to the show.^[6] In January 2008, only weeks before transmission, Simon Cowell announced that his company would not be involved due to sensationalist plots.

In the top 10 most viewed shows on UK TV in 2007, only 3 shows were produced by independent production companies. 2 of these were Syco shows in association with Talkback Thames. The X Factor was the most watched entertainment show of the year.

2008 has seen Syco continue to build on its established brands. It's success was underlined in the last week of May when Britain's Got Talent hit the semi-final stages. The live shows, broadcast over 6 consecutive nights, filled the top 5 slots in the weekly ratings and with an average of 13.1m and a peak of over 14m for the finale, Britain's Got Talent became the most successful talent show of the 21st Century. America's Got Talent will shortly begin its third series as the flagship summer show on NBC. Then in August, The X Factor returns for series 5.