Music Publishers Association

We are delighted to announce that Andy Godfrey, Vice President, Copyright at BMG was presented the inaugural Tony Pool award at the 59th annual MPA Christmas Lunch on Thursday 13th December.

The Tony Pool Award was created to recognise and applaud all those individuals that work in the “back office” areas of royalties, copyright, business affairs, finance, HR and IT for music publishers. While not in the spotlight, music publishing depends on this backbone to deliver its £505 million contribution to the UK economy.

Andy has displayed an outstanding work ethic and dedication to the music publishing industry at the various companies he has worked for over the past few decades. He has ensured millions of works are registered, contracts are checked and details entered correctly, he’s an expert in copyright infringements. sample clearances and monitors BMG’s acquisitions & sub-publishing networks.

Andy also contributes to the work of the MPA.  He has been a member of the Pop Publishers’ Committee for 12 years, he’s a Board member of PMLL and he contributed greatly to the MCPS RFP process in 2016.  He is recognised today not only for what he himself has achieved but how he has helped others achieve great things too.

The process of nomination began when MPA Publisher Members were invited to nominate friends or colleagues who they feel have made an outstanding contribution to the music publishing industry. All nominees were of an extremely high calibre making it a tough decision for the judges, who consisted of fifteen notable industry executives who have insight into the operational and admin side of the business.

The award is in memory of the late Tony Pool who died in 2016. Tony spent most of his working life with Boosey & Hawkes, eventually becoming Head of Business Affairs. As Tony was a fierce supporter of the “engine room” teams that keep publishers going, the MPA feels that this award is a fitting way to honour his legacy.

The MPA congratulates Andy Godfrey on becoming the first ever Tony Pool Award recipient and looks forward to seeing what he does next.

Jane Dyball CEO, MPA Group on the award: “We are so delighted to today honour Andy Godfrey, against very strong competition, as the first-ever recipient of the Tony Pool Award. Andy was already well-known to the industry when I first worked with him at Warner/Chappell many years ago. He was a support then, as he has been in my tenure at the MPA Group some 25 years later, and yet I am only one of many people he has helped over his career.

He takes great pride in his attention to detail as his career has progressed, without losing any of his self-deprecation or good humour. More than anything he loves music and music publishing and the music publishing industry is lucky to have him. ”