Simon Cowell says 'No'

There could be no better illustration of the merry-go-round way Simon Cowell seemingly conducts his business: as his hugely popular programme Britain's Got Talent hits the airwaves again, hunting for new acts to sign, two of his reality show winners have quietly been dropped from his record label.

Joe McElderry and Shayne Ward — who won The X Factor in 2009 and 2005, respectively — have recently had their contracts terminated with the record label arm of his company, Syco.

McElderry, 19, had been signed with the company for less than 18 months. Ward lasted five years — although he had spent a great deal of that time waiting for the company to put out his third album.

Meanwhile, this year's judges on Britain's Got Talent, which is produced by Syco, are already hoping to find the company's next signing.

"It's a production line," says DJ Neil Fox, who worked as a judge on Pop Idol with Simon.

"It almost doesn't matter if one act fails to sell records, because there is going to be another television show with a raft of new acts to sign. Simon Cowell and his record label are harsh. But that's showbiz."

One veteran record industry insider was even more scathing. "The way they run the business is immoral," said the insider, who asked not to be named because of the power Cowell wields.

For Syco, Ward and McElderry are already old news. The company is currently concentrating on its latest crop of X Factor stars. As well as handsome winner Matt Cardle, whose single When We Collide was the Christmas number one, it has signed up rapper Cher Lloyd and teenage boyband One Direction.

Thanks to shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, Syco is already one of the most profitable record companies in the world. Susan Boyle, who became an international icon when she appeared on Britain's Got Talent singing I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Miserables, had the biggest-selling album of 2009 and made Cowell millions.

New figures show that the music mogul made £32 million (Dh194 million) in just nine months during 2009 — an incredible £128,000 a day.

A lot of the record sales Syco boasts are generated by the reality stars it finds through its television wing.

As well as 50-year-old Boyle there is Leona Lewis, a 26-year-old singer from London who became a global star after winning The X Factor in 2006, selling 6.5 million copies of her first album. She is now recording her third album in Los Angeles.

‘Their' Successes

And Alexandra Burke did not do too badly, with album sales of more than 500,000 — she is currently recording a second album. Boyle, Lewis and Burke are often used as examples of artists who have had ongoing success with the label when people criticise Syco for failing to deliver on the promises of its shows.

They also cite boyband JLS — who came second to Burke on The X Factor in 2008 — and Essex singer Olly Murs as "their" successes, even though they are looked after by another Sony label, Epic; Syco retains only shared rights over the acts.

But for every success there is at least one failure. And things don't bode well for 2010's X Factor winner Matt Cardle — so far, the only male act to make it past one album on Syco is 26-year-old Ward.

Perhaps aware of his own failings when it comes to his male winners, Cowell has moved Cardle to be under the management of another Sony label, Columbia.

Steve Brookstein was the first of the male winners. For a long time he was regarded as the miserable one at the X Factor party — the one who liked to put a dampener on the razzmatazz of Britain's biggest television show.

But now, he regards himself as something of a soothsayer.

"I don't like to say I told you so, but..." he says. "All those millions of votes and Simon is still struggling to find an artist with true longevity.

"He — well, Syco — chooses the songs for and the theme of the album, but, as far as I can see, it is the artist who is blamed if it doesn't work. They don't know how to nurture or properly look after their artists."

However, the company insists that Syco has a "long-lasting relationship" with its artists. "X Factor is a vehicle for artist development and in many cases those who get taken on by Syco have been rejected by other record labels," a spokesman said. "Syco has probably the best track record in Britain for artists having hits from their first releases."

Ward, like Brookstein, enjoyed instant success after The X Factor — his first two albums sold three million copies, he had two sell-out UK arena tours and was a hit around the world.

But then came Lewis and Britain's Got Talent, and he was left on the sidelines.

When I interviewed Ward last year for the release of his third album, although he was still signed to Syco he admitted his frustration with the company.

"I was frustrated and the label could see that," he told me. "I felt like I was pushed aside. They are such a busy company and there is so much going on; every year there is a new X Factor winner and I felt like I wasn't a priority."

After three long years of making the record, his fans were left disappointed that Ward's first single was a cover — something Syco has become infamous for.

After Ward came Lewis and then Scottish singer Leon Jackson, who won The X Factor in 2007.

He was dropped shortly after his swing-inspired first album "only" got to number three in the charts.

And then there was Joe. On the show he was the ballad king, but after he came out as gay he had an image revamp and released an album more aimed at clubbers than mid-market X Factor fans.

As for Britain's Got Talent, opera tenor Paul Potts — who won the first series of the show — did amazingly well for the company, but was dropped when his sales showed the first sign of tailing off.

And George Sampson — the talented street dancer who won Britain's Got Talent in 2008, aged just 14 — lasted little over a year. That was the last time Cowell picked one of the dance acts, who have been so successful on the show.

Bye-Bye Westlife

Ward is certainly not the only one who felt that Cowell had too many other things on the go to concentrate on his music acts. Last month Westlife — the only act Simon has managed any real longevity with — left Syco. The Irish band had worked with him for 13 years. But despite their latest album selling 700,000 copies, Syco did not put out a second single.

Last week, band member Nicky Byrne said the group felt "unloved" by the man who had always been their mentor.

"Simon became famous himself and his interests went that way rather than on Westlife," added Byrne, though bandmember Kian Egan has made comments supporting Cowell.

It's not just his music acts that face competition when it comes to the music mogul's time. British TV bosses are rumoured to be fuming that he has decided not to be a judge on this year's UK X Factor, as he is too busy working on the American version.

Cowell's spokesperson denies that he is too over-stretched to nurture his stars, insisting: "Simon Cowell maintains regular meetings with his artists and is kept updated and participates in the key decisions involved in every campaign."

So, are the difficulties faced by these reality stars all Syco's fault? No, not all of it. A lot of the problem is down to the voting public, too.

Indeed, Cowell's company denies that it has dropped McElderry and Ward to make way for new acts, saying it was purely because they had failed to sell enough records.

"Both Shayne and Joe enjoyed big success with Syco, which even gave them the chance to appear on X Factor as a promotional opportunity. No other company has the ability to do this," said a spokesperson.

"However, ultimately — even with these opportunities — it is the record-buying public that decide if an artist remains popular.

"Syco, as a business, has to make a commercial decision, like any other record label."

For the many male winners of The X Factor, they seem to come with a disadvantage down to nothing more than their gender.

It is certainly harder for the boys when it comes to promotion.

The only male star who managed to carve a credible career, despite being discovered on one of Simon's reality shows, is gay pop singer Will Young.

And this has been credited to the fact that as a middle-class university graduate, he had the confidence to demand that Cowell had no control over his record.

Eventually, the public will realise that it doesn't matter who they vote for. The only real winner is Cowell.

'Yes'  for Paula and Cheryl

Simon Cowell wants his former American Idol sparring partner Paula Abdul and British singer Cheryl Cole join him on the US version of his TV contest The X Factor.

But he told entertainment industry website Deadline Hollywood that no deals had yet been signed to complete the line-up for the show, which is due to start airing in September.

So far only the acid-tongued Briton himself and record executive Antonio "L.A." Reid have been confirmed as judges on X Factor, which is offering a $5 million (Dh18.36 million) prize for the winner and a recording contract.

"I've always wanted Paula," Cowell said.

"I've never found anyone better than her. I think there's a good chance it will be her. We've agreed we would meet with as many people as possible, and now [that] we're reaching the deadline we've got to make the decision soon. But I think she's got a really good shot," he said.

"If people take to her [Cole] like the British public did, I think she's going to do really well in America. And Fox was desperate to hire her."