When Athletic Gym & Recovery Centre launched in Winnellie earlier this year, the founders were not thinking about grand opening discounts or social media follower counts. Ed Vidal and Ari Tsirbas were thinking about doing every single thing correctly from the beginning, and that included sorting music licensing for their gym before a single member walked through the door.
Three months later, they have nearly 600 members and a reputation strong enough to draw the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory to their grand opening. Deliberate choices compound quickly.
How a Training and Recovery Gym Model Drives Consistent Membership Growth
Most gyms are designed around the workout. Athletic Gym & Recovery Centre was designed around what happens before, during and after it.
“A lot of gyms focus only on training, but we wanted something more,” says co-founder Ari Tsirbas. “We designed a complete space where people can train hard, recover properly, and feel part of a real community. Every detail in the gym is intentional.”
Between them, Tsirbas and co-founder Ed Vidal bring 36 years of combined experience across the fitness and business industries. Vidal is a highly awarded bodybuilder who has coached thousands of people across the NT and beyond. That depth of experience shows in how the facility is structured.
The training zones are built for intensity. The recovery zones are built for genuine physiological reset. Members move through both, and the business model is built around keeping them coming back to do it again.
How to Retain Gym Members When Everyone Else Is Chasing New Ones
Here is the business insight most worth taking from the Athletic Gym story.
“To succeed, we haven’t relied on constant new members,” Vidal says. “We focus on retaining existing ones.”
The team knows their members by name. They know their music preferences. They are building a sense of belonging as deliberately as they built the physical space.
For fitness business owners who spend heavily on lead generation and acquisition campaigns, this is worth sitting with. A member who feels genuinely known and connected to a community is far less likely to cancel. Retention compounds in a way that acquisition never quite does.
The Proven Link Between Music and Exercise Performance
Music is central to how Athletic Gym & Recovery Centre operates, and Vidal makes no apologies for treating it as a performance tool rather than background noise.
“In the gym, music enhances performance. That’s not up for debate. It’s scientifically proven,” he says.
More than 139 global studies support that position. Research consistently shows that music during training reduces perceived effort, improves mood and motivation, lowers anxiety, improves physiological efficiency, and produces measurable increases in speed, strength and stamina.
The application at Athletic Gym reflects that nuance. High-energy tracks set the tone in the training areas. In the recovery zone, the approach shifts entirely. Slower, more ambient music helps members slow down and genuinely decompress.
“The goal in that space is not to hype people up, but to allow members to connect with themselves, unwind, and fully recover,” Vidal explains.
Most gyms do not think this carefully about their audio environment. Most gyms also struggle with retention.
Music Licensing for Gyms in Australia Is the Setup Step Most Owners Skip
This is where the Athletic Gym story becomes directly useful for fitness business owners across the country.
Playing music publicly in a gym requires a licence under the Copyright Act 1968. That applies whether the source is radio, Spotify, YouTube, downloaded files or a television. A paid streaming subscription covers personal listening only and does not extend to public performance in a commercial setting.
Ed and Ari secured a OneMusic Australia licence as one of the very first things they did at startup. OneMusic is the combined licensing body for APRA AMCOS and PPCA, covering the rights of both songwriters and recording artists under a single licence.
The OneMusic Fitness Centre licence covers background music, indoor and outdoor classes, music videos and phone-on-hold music. For most gym and studio owners in Australia, it is the most straightforward way to stay compliant.
“As soon as a gym decides to switch on the tunes, licensing has to be part of the setup,” Vidal says. “If music boosts your business, respecting the people who made that music is just part of doing things right.”
Fitness professionals across Australia can obtain a OneMusic licence at onemusic.com.au. For anyone based in Darwin or the NT, a OneMusic representative will be available in Darwin on 26 May for in-person consultations. Email comms@onemusic.com.au to arrange a meeting.
Fitness Business Tips From One of Darwin's Fastest Growing Gyms
Athletic Gym & Recovery Centre is three months old and already leading by example in a market that does not always reward doing things properly.
The thread running through every decision Ed and Ari have made is consistent. Intentional businesses build compounding advantages. The recovery zone keeps members healthier and more consistent. The curated music keeps members emotionally connected to the space. The OneMusic licence keeps the business compliant and protected from copyright infringement risk. None of these are glamorous decisions. All of them matter.
For fitness business owners building something they want to last, that is the benchmark worth measuring against. If you’re a fitness business owner and keen to explore more about what’s involved in music licensing in Australia, check out our detailed guide here.
Check out these articles:
Fitness Cartel Maroochydore Reopens After $3.6 Million Rebuild
Fitness Cartel officially reopened its Maroochydore club on Saturday 25 July, capping off a $3.6 million refurbishment. Founder and CEO Nathan James spoke to What’s New in Fitness about the reinvestment, the new demographic it’s already drawing in, and what smaller gym operators can take from it. “Phenomenal,” is how James described reopening weekend. “We
Get Ready for the 2026 AusFitness Expo Sydney
This article was updated July 2026. Thinking about heading to AusFitness Expo Sydney in 2026? The countdown is well and truly on, with the festival of health, fitness and bodypower returning to ICC Sydney from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September. Whether you’re all about lifting heavy, chasing a new personal best, or hunting down
Gear Up for AusFitness Industry Sydney 2026
This article was updated July 2026. The AusFitness Industry Trade Show & Summit is back at ICC Sydney on 11-12 September 2026, and for anyone working in the fitness business, it’s probably the most useful two days on the calendar. It’s the only dedicated fitness and wellness trade show in Australia, and it’s where gym
Marketing to Millennials For Gym Owners in Australia
Millennials are one of the largest and most commercially important audiences an Australian gym can reach. But a lot of the marketing advice built around this generation still pictures them as 20-somethings chasing the newest boutique class and posting about it. That’s a narrow slice of who this audience actually is today, and it leaves
Before You Open a Second Gym, Get These Financials Right
The gym is full, classes are booked out, and membership numbers are climbing. For many fitness business owners, this is the moment the idea of a second location starts to feel less like a dream and more like a logical next step. But momentum and readiness are two different things. Some of the most avoidable
Fuelling a New Era of Women in Fitness Industry Career Progression
Women in the fitness business Australia have long been the backbone of an industry they have rarely been invited to lead. Despite representing more than half of gym members and a significant share of the fitness workforce, women remain underrepresented at ownership and senior leadership level across the country. That conversation is getting louder in
Why Australian Boutique Gym Members Leave… And What Owners Can Do About It
Acquiring a new fitness studio member costs significantly more than keeping an existing one. Most estimates put the ratio somewhere between five and seven to one. And yet the average boutique fitness studio in Australia spends far more on marketing and acquisition than it ever does on retention. The result is a leaky bucket. Studios
What Aussie Gym Owners and Fitness Professionals Should Know About Technogym BioStrength
Your members are showing up wanting to do strength training. Most of them have no idea how to do it properly for their goal. They pick a machine, do three sets of ten, scroll their phone during rest, and repeat. The rep range is arbitrary, the rest period is a guess, the tempo is an
Boutique Fitness Trends in 2026 and What They Mean for Australian Studio Owners
New research from boutique fitness management platform bsport surveyed more than 550 studio members globally to find out what drives discovery, loyalty and growth. The findings have significant implications for how Australian fitness businesses operate, market and grow. Running a boutique fitness studio in Australia has never been more competitive. New studios are opening constantly,