The British Copyright Council without Andrew is hard to picture, and luckily we don’t have to. His experience and commitment to the UK’s creators and rights holders will continue to shape the organisation well beyond his formal transition to resident wise oracle. Not quite Delphi, of course, but certainly respected across the creative industries and amongst the policymakers who matter. And his thinking is never ambiguous — a relief for everyone involved.
I’ve worked with Andrew for more than 25 years: first in the music industry, when he headed up the BPI representing the recording sector and I was working with Frances Lowe at British Music Rights representing composers and publishers. We were always united in our love for Collective Management Organisations — back when they were still called collecting societies. A term, as many others, no longer appropriate for today’s complexities. Later, we worked even more closely within the British Copyright Council. Together we navigated the Information Society Directive and its implementation in 2003, enforcement, orphan works, DSM Directives at EU level, and the various UK copyright reviews — some more successful than others. I know better than to mention the Hargreaves review; Andrew would never have dismissed it publicly, and probably not even privately. I still do. More recently, our discussions have revolved around AI and the more obscure corners of the CDPA, and international trade negotiations, where Andrew represented the Council with his usual calm, very British approach.
His contributions to our submissions have been substantial: invaluable for clarifying our own thinking, and equally valuable for policymakers who have long relied on his objective approach to the subject.
Although he has a clear personal commitment to creators and rights holders, his interventions have always been grounded in legal reasoning and practical application rather than the hard‑edged, performative outrage that dominates so much debate today. That approach is central to the Council’s ethos, and Andrew has embodied it naturally — out of respect for the argument and out of a genuine commitment to the people who create and perform.
I’m very glad he will remain available for advice — legal, political, and strategic — and that he will continue working with me on the Copyright Technology Working Group with the familiar competence he has always brought to the table, and the patience I still need to learn.
Florian Koempel, International Consultant, BCC