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New appointments at Syco as Sonny Takhar departs

By | Published on Friday 16 December 2016

Syco

As Sony Music UK made a bunch of new senior appointments at its Columbia and RCA divisions recently, Simon Cowell obviously looked on with jealousy. “Why can’t I make a bunch of new senior appointments”, he murmured, with a glimmer of despair in his eyes. But then that despair slowly turned to something more confident. More determined. More arrogant. “Hang on”, he declared, loudly. “I’m fucking Simon Cowell, I can appoint whoever the fuck I like!”

And so it came to pass that yesterday Simon Cowell announced a bunch of new senior appointments at his Sony Music joint venture Syco. There’s this other crazy story going around that this executive rejig is entirely the result of Cowell’s long-time ally and collaborator Sonny Takhar deciding to leave Syco to go and set up his own new LA-based entertainment venture, but I mean, that’s an entirely suspicious version of events.

So, to the announcements. Tyler Brown has been named as the new MD of Syco Music, he having originally joined the business as A&R Assistant in 2008. His new gig as MD follows his most recent promotion to Head Of A&R in 2015. Those with a keen eye for detail will notice that promotion means Syco now needs a new Head Of A&R, and it’s Anya Jones who will fill that role. While Cowell’s final bit of news this week is that Guy Langley has been promoted to the job of Senior A&R Manager.

Running with the ‘this is all because Sonny is leaving’ conspiracy theory, Cowell said yesterday: “When I first decided to build Syco, it was my wish to create a place where young, talented executives could learn and grow their talent. Sonny has been there every step of the way with me – and in this business loyalty is rare – but I’m lucky that Sonny and I have had an incredible two decades of friendship and success together. He’s one of the most talented, loyal and hardworking music executives I have ever met and I wish him every success for the future in his new venture. And we will continue to work together!”

Meanwhile Takhar – also sticking to the story that he’s somehow leaving Syco – paid tribute to his boss of the last two decades, who he worked with at S Records before helping to create the Syco music and TV business in 2004. “Over the last 20 years, Simon has been an incredible mentor and friend to me”, said he. “I owe him so much. I am extremely proud of the company that we have built and the unprecedented success that we have achieved together. More importantly, I have made lifelong friends at Syco and across the Sony family. I leave the business in the safest possible hands with a team that has a huge appetite for winning. This isn’t goodbye”.

Yeah, whatever, what about the newly appointed guys? That’s who I’m here to talk about today. “Tyler has shown his ability to deliver global hits and I’m delighted he will be leading Syco Music along with such a talented team”, said Cowell, smiling big time now that he’d got to make a bunch of senior appointments. “His dedication, talent and passion along with that of the rest of this ambitious team is exciting for the company. I’m incredibly happy to have so many talented people now at the top of Syco, all of whom started their careers with us, including Tyler, Anya and Guy. This team’s talent, passion and ability to launch worldwide artists is unmatched – and I’m really excited about the company’s future together”.



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