The singer, 23, is branching out in the music business

Zayn Malik may have left One Direction for a solo career but his former bandmate Louis Tomlinson is branching out in the music business in the different way.

The 23-year-old is starting his own record label. Tomlinson’s venture is being backed by Sony and is an imprint of One Direction mentor Simon Cowell‘s Syco label, The Sun reports.

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“This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time,” Tomlinson told The Sun. “To be given the opportunity to potentially give new artists a platform is an incredible feeling. I hope to sign some really exciting new artists down the line.”

The singer has already signed UK X Factor finalist Jack Walton as his first artist, and he plans to hold auditions for a new girl band during his downtime from One Direction.

Tomlinson has been described as the most business-minded member of the group and admitted in a 2012 interview that he is “a bit of a perfectionist.”

“I have to be kind of be on board with every minor detail and [I’m] quite opinionated,” he told Billboard. “It’s quite important for me personally to be involved with the whole project.”

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