SYCO, MODEST!
IN A LITTLE MIX-UP

Simon Cowell, Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee during happier times.

What has been a harmonious and successful relationship between Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee at Modest! Management and Simon Cowell’s Syco has been disrupted, with Modest’s Syco acts Little Mix and Rak-Su, the boy band that won Cowell's X Factor last year, moving to fellow Sony label RCA.

A report in British tabloid The Sun suggested a row ensued over the upcoming Little Mix album LM5 and the lack of songwriting credit for the band members on their latest single, “Woman Like Me,” which is currently sitting at #3 on the U.K’s Official Singles Chart; it’s credited to Ed Sheeran, Jess Glynne, Onika Maraj and Steve Mac. LM5 is now due on RCA on Friday.

According to our sources, the decision to move the acts was Syco's, which makes this drama even more dramatic.

“The irony was the record they were arguing about, which is ‘Woman Like Me,’ they didn’t want to record,” Cowell told The Sun. “This was one of those ironic times that we were having a hit and nobody was happy."

“It wasn’t down to money. Basically, they said we’d done a terrible job. I had agreed not to talk about this publicly because I thought it was a private matter. I said, ‘We can’t work with the management, it’s as simple as that’."

Little Mix appeared on the 2011 edition of the X Factor and have emerged as one of the show’s biggest success stories, alongside One Direction, who are also managed by Modest. Which begs the question — what does that mean for a 1D reunion?

“It was just embarrassing, but, funnily enough, I was more annoyed, again, not about me, but about the fact people who had worked so hard in my company were being misrepresented,” Cowell says. “Why do artists think they’re more important than staff members? They’re not. They’re the same.”