Syco Music

Syco Music, also known as Syco Records, is a British record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. It is a subsidiary of Syco Entertainment.

History

Syco Music has offices in London and Los Angeles and is home to several artists. Syco has the exclusive right to sign winners and finalists of The X Factor and Got Talent. Susan Boyle's debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, has sold over 9 million copies, making it one of the best selling releases of the last decade and Syco's most successful release to date.^[1] Between 2004 and 2009, Il Divo achieved four multi-million selling albums^{[citation needed]} and in 2007, Leona Lewis became one of the most successful talent show winners when her debut single, "Bleeding Love", propelled the album Spirit to 9 million global sales.^[2]

Syco's original base is in London and it has enjoyed most success in the UK market. From 2004 to date, the label has had 22 UK number-one singles.^{[citation needed]} From 2004 to the end of 2009, the label achieved 13 number-one albums.^{[citation needed]} Factoring in releases under predecessor label S Records, Syco/S achieved 20 number-one albums in the 2000-2009 period, more than any other imprint in the UK, including far larger operations like Columbia Records (17), Warner Bros. Records (16) and Polydor Records (14).^{[citation needed]} Additionally, the label has achieved 7 top 10 U.S. albums since 2006.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Syco began diversifying by adding producer/singer-songwriter Labrinth,^[3] He also set up his own imprint, Odd Child, in conjunction with Syco.^{[citation needed]} Savan Kotecha, who had been writing for Syco acts for several years, also became an A&R Director and set up a joint venture, Kanani Songs.^[4] Syco also began forming closer partnerships with other Sony Music Entertainment UK labels. For the first time, Syco entered into an agreement with Columbia Records that would see them work together to launch the career of a The X Factor winner - Matt Cardle.^[5] Similar arrangements were made for Olly Murs,^{[citation needed]} Rebecca Ferguson^{[citation needed]} and Ronan Parke,^{[citation needed]} with Epic Records and Alexandra Burke with RCA Records.^{[citation needed]}

For RCA Records marketing Executive serves as the Managing Director for Syco Music and senior project A&R president.^[6] Tim Byrne is Creative Director.^{[citation needed]} David Gray is Senior Vice President, A&R.^{[citation needed]} Simon Jones is SYCO Music's PR Consultant.^{[citation needed]}

Theft and copyright

Syco Music and its artists have been the targets of illegal hacking on several separate occasions. In 2009 ahead of the release of Leona Lewis's second album Echo, a number of unfinished demos and leftover songs from the project leaked online. An investigation was launched by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), working with the record label and police to identify those responsible.^[7][8] Alexandra Burke was also targeted, having two demo-versions of songs from her debut album Overcome leak before the album's release.^[9] At the end of March 2010 it was reported that Syco had suffered once again from computer hackers who managed to obtain 14 of Burke's previously unheard studio recordings as well as 26 from Lewis.^[10]

Following the second incident of leaks Cowell contacted the FBI to track down those responsible. Included in the leaks was newly recorded version of Burke's "All Night Long" featuring American rapper, Pitbull which was tipped to be the singer's third single in March 2010.^[11] According to Burke, the songs were leaked by "Two little boys in Germany on work experience", working for Syco.^[12] It was later revealed in 2011 that songs recorded for Echo were targeted by the German hacker, Deniz A., also known as DJ Stolen. In July 2010, the Rasch law firm logged a criminal complaint against DJ Stolen for "constantly placing hacked songs on the internet". Amongst those songs listed in the complaint was one called "Pulse", described at the time as a new recording by Lewis.^[13] DJ Stolen was jailed for 18 months in June 2011.^[14]

In 2011, Syco found itself being taken to court for plagiarism after it was reported that a new Lewis song "Collide" significantly copied "Fade Into Darkness", a 2010 song by Swedish house music DJ Avicii. The DJ took both artist and label to court ^[15] Avicii took the case to the British High Court just prior to its release, however the case was resolved out of court by releasing the song as a joint single between both artists on 4 September 2011.^[16][17][18] In February 2013, it was announced that One Direction would be releasing a cover version of "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks" as the 2013 Comic Relief single. However, an unfinished version of the song leaked online and on 7 February 2013 Syco launched an investigation. A spokesperson told the press "It is very disappointing that the song has been leaked and we are currently investigating the matter."^[19]

Artists

Current artists

As of December 2013, 26 artists are signed to Syco.

Former artists

Number-one singles

References