APRA AMCOS CEO Brett Cottle to step down from the role

The APRA and AMCOS Boards have announced that long-standing CEO Brett Cottle will step down from the role in June 2018.

APRA Chair, Jenny Morris, said of the move: “After 27 years leading the organisation we quite understand why Brett has reached the point where he is keen to pursue other priorities in life. He will nevertheless be missed enormously by the Boards, Management, staff and membership of APRA AMCOS.

“During Brett’s tenure, royalty collections and distributions have increased seven-fold and the organisation is now recognised as one of the world’s leading copyright collecting societies.

“In a career that began as the organisation’s first in-house counsel in the late 1970s, Brett has championed the cause of songwriters’ and composers’ rights for more than 40 years and instilled and sustained a culture of dedicated service within APRA and AMCOS, of which we on the Board are immensely proud.”

AMCOS Chair, Ian James, said of Cottle’s legacy: “The operational merger of APRA and AMCOS is today taken for granted, but when it was effected in 1997 Brett’s vision and leadership were critical to its success. The positive and productive spirit in which the two Boards have co-operated seamlessly ever since is testament to the culture created and fostered by Brett.

“Internationally the organisation commands enormous respect, reflected in the fact that Brett is the only Australian to have been elected Chair of the International Confederation of Authors’ Societies (CISAC), a role in which he served for two consecutive terms.

Brett will continue in the CEO role for the next 12 months, with international recruiting firm Odgers Berndtson undertaking the search for a new CEO.

Jenny Morris explains that Cottle’s replacement will have large boots to fit. “We are determined to undertake the best and most thorough search to find the right candidate to fill this incredibly important job in the Australasian music industry, to ensure that the interests of Australia’s and New Zealand’s songwriters, composers and publishers continue to be represented in the ablest and most effective manner.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.