The soundtrack of a fitness business does more than fill silence. It sets pace in a HIIT block, softens the edges of a busy floor, and helps a new member feel like they belong. It is also, in Australia, a legal and operational choice. If you play commercially available music in a business, you are stepping into public performance territory, and you will need permission. OneMusic exists to make that part straightforward by combining the rights in the song and the recording into a single pathway for businesses like gyms and studios. So, are you infringing copyright playing music in your fitness business?
Drawing the line between a good vibe and a public performance with commercial music.
A common misconception is that a personal streaming subscription covers business use. It doesn’t. Your Spotify or Apple Music plan is fine at home, but the moment you press play in a commercial setting, you need public performance permission.
These obligations apply no matter whether that music is played from:
- from a radio or on TV
- a CD or a music download
- a background music supplier
- a music streaming service
OneMusic’s Fitness Centre and Fitness & Wellbeing Instructors licence is designed to cover the everyday in-venue uses that most operators have, from background playlists to class music. It also plugs you into a system that sends royalties back to the creators you are using, based on reporting from multiple sources and optional recognition devices installed in venues, so money flows to the artists who feature in real-world playlists.
That’s the simple bit. We know that the edge cases live online, outdoors and on social media, so we put some questions to OneMusic directly…
Are virtual classes (livestream and on-demand replays) covered under the fitness licence, or do they require separate permissions?
The fitness sector has settled into a hybrid rhythm. Live in-club classes are here to stay, but livestreams and on-demand replays remain part of the mix for many brands. The licence pathways are not identical, and this is where operators can accidentally assume coverage that is not there.
The OneMusic Fitness Centre and Fitness & Wellbeing Instructors licence does not cover the rights necessary to live stream or deliver video-on-demand fitness classes online. APRA AMCOS has a separate licence available to businesses that provide live stream or video-on-demand services to their online customers. More information about APRA AMCOS’ Online mini-licence is available HERE.
Treat livestreams and on-demand as distinct use cases. Budget for the separate online permissions early, bake that into your content planning, and avoid the scramble of re-editing classes or swapping tracks after the fact. If your programming leans heavily on replayable content, speak with OneMusic and APRA AMCOS about the Online mini-licence before you scale your library.
What about the copyright for music in user-generated video and social media?
Gyms and studios market on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube because that’s where the audience lives. Short clips of classes, instructor tips and vibe checks often include commercial music. The rules are different for placing music into a video compared with playing it in a room.
APRA AMCOS does not issue licences that give creators the right to place music into videos. This permission must be obtained from the owners of that particular copyright –(known as a ‘sync’ or ‘synchronisation’ right). For the songs, that right is usually held by the songwriters themselves or by music publishers. In musical recordings, it is usually held by record companies.
If a video creator has obtained the sync right, then the actual playing of those videos on social media platforms, such as such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram etc, is covered by the licences that those platforms have, for instance, with APRA AMCOS.
Where the creator has not obtained the sync right in the music used in a commercial video (including a video made for publicity or promotion), they may have that material taken down (a takedown notice), blocked or de-monetised by the social media platform.
If your team is filming content, set a simple internal rule. Either use cleared music designed for sync, create versions of clips without commercial tracks, or obtain the relevant sync permissions before publishing. It keeps your account clean and saves you from takedowns at awkward moments in a campaign.
Playing music in outdoor fitness sessions held in public spaces
Fitness is not confined to four walls. Bootcamps in parks, sunrise yoga on the beach, even carpark sessions next to a club are part of the landscape.
OneMusic’s Fitness Centre and Fitness & Wellbeing Instructors licence covers the public performance of music in fitness classes whether they are held inside or outside, in a traditional gym or in a park, on the beach, or in a hall, community centre or car parks. However, whether the local council allows classes to occur on their property depends on the rules of that locality, so you should check with your local council.
In short, while your music licence can travel with you to the park, your permission to be in that park still sits with the council.
Common mistakes gyms and fitness studios make when it comes to OneMusic licensing
Most non-compliance is not malicious. It is procrastination, growth and change moving faster than paperwork – or the belief that a streaming subscription somehow covers public performance. OneMusic’s view on the common pitfalls is direct.
“We find the most common mistake is businesses leaving OneMusic licensing on the ‘To Do’ list and not setting up the right music licensing cover for their fitness business.
Putting off getting a music licence could lead to an increase in the costs to your business as copyright infringement can lead to a court awarding significant ‘damages’ to copyright owners for unlicensed use of their music.
Another common, but easily fixed, mistake is forgetting to update OneMusic when the circumstances of the business changes (such as an increase or decrease in member numbers, class numbers or a change to how a gym or studio is using music). We ask licence holders to let us know if any of their music use details change so OneMusic can adjust their licence.
If a business has questions about music licensing for their gym or fitness studio, our advice is to contact OneMusic directly or seek advice from an industry body such as AUSactive.”
If you have grown or changed your programming, add a quick licensing check to your quarterly housekeeping. It’s much easier to update details now than to defend a gap after the fact.
What does a typical music licensing journey look like for a new studio?
Opening a new studio or taking over an existing one comes with a long list, but music should be near the top of it. We asked OneMusic to walk us through the process of music licensing for a gym or studio owner;
“As soon as a new gym or fitness studio decides to switch on the tunes, they will need to think about their public performance music licensing. If the music they want to play is commercial music from around the world, then it is very likely they will need to obtain a OneMusic Fitness Centre and Fitness & Wellbeing Instructors licence.
Studios can choose the level of OneMusic cover they require for different types of music use as relevant to their specific business – whether they just need general background music, music for classes, music videos or add-ons like telephone-on-hold music.
It’s easy to obtain a licence online or OneMusic is available to discuss the details and guide businesses through the process by contacting OneMusic.”
The important thing to note here is that cover is not one-size-fits-all. Think about where music appears in your business and match those uses to the relevant parts of the licence. Do this before you open the doors – not after your first busy week.
Enforcement and lessons learned
No one opens a gym to spend time in court and enforcement does happen. OneMusic has been set up to ensure that businesses across Australia are able to get the benefits of using the vast majority of the world’s repertoire of music in one simple licence. Enforcement of copyright owners’ rights for the unlicensed use of music is always a last resort.
That said, APRA and PPCA (being the music rights organisations behind OneMusic) have an obligation to ensure their music creators are paid when their songs are played in a commercial setting (including in a gym or fitness class) and APRA and PPCA have taken legal action against fitness centres in the past.
In one example, APRA was left with little choice but to commence legal action for copyright infringement against a fitness centre in the ACT. In that case, the Federal Court ordered that the operators must pay over $10,000 in unpaid licence fees, as well as $5,000 in additional damages and legal costs. In awarding these damages, the Court considered the fact that the operators of the fitness centre continued to play music without a licence despite being clearly aware that it constituted copyright infringement.
In another example, PPCA commenced proceedings against a fitness centre in South Australia, and the Court ordered the company, and its director, to pay over $2,500 in unpaid licence fees, $8,200 in legal costs and $50,000 in additional damages.
Those figures speak for themselves! The easier, more affordable path is to get set up correctly and keep your details current.
Sophie Palka, Pilates instructor and co-owner of The Wellness Hub in Rozelle, NSW.
When better reporting pays the right people and how the fitness industry and music industry can work together
Licensing is not only about cover – it’s also about royalty distribution and any fitness professional will know what an important part music plays in their business.
Sophie Palka is a Pilates instructor and co-owner of The Wellness Hub in Rozelle, NSW. “Music creates a fun vibe and sets the rhythm for our business.” says Sophie. “Music creators play a part our business’s success, so let’s play a part in theirs.”
OneMusic can testify that plenty of Australian artists have benefited from their songs being played in licensed gyms around Australia. “We know hip hop, electronic dance music, remixes, pop and even alt-country offer the high beats per minute (BPM) that fitness consumers crave. Home-grown hero Dom Dolla’s ‘Saving Up’ is at number 3 behind two US artists in the top 50 songs played by gyms in Australia. *
Thousands of gyms across the country are not only doing the right thing by carrying a licence but putting local tunes at the forefront. For example, Brickhouse Gym in Coorparoo plays 25% Australian music year on year.”
But how does OneMusic know that?
Hundreds of businesses have an Audoo Audio Meter installed in their venue. It’s free of charge, and OneMusic arranges the install. This Audio Meter is a small plug-in device that ‘fingerprints’ the music being played. That song data is securely sent to APRA AMCOS and PPCA, the member organisations behind OneMusic, so they can better work out which music creators to pay based on real-life playlists around the country. Find out how Audoo works.
If your brand leans into Australian music, devices like the Audoo Audio Meter help ensure the right artists see the benefit. It is also a tidy way to back up your own story about supporting local creators with real data.
The team at Brickhouse Gym are proudly licensed with OneMusic and love playing Australian music in their gym.
What are your options to play music that wouldn’t need a OneMusic licence?
If you want to play music in your business, and would rather not take out a OneMusic
licence, there are a few options. For more information, check out OneMusic’s licensing page for fitness businesses.
Music is part of the experience you are selling. Licensing means you are protecting yourself and your business from copyright infringement, but it also means you’re making sure the artist who made that banger on the gym floor gets paid their dues.
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