Gym Music in Australia: What Gyms Can Play, OneMusic and Cost (2026)

Gym music in Australia is a public-performance licence, not a workout mix. What OneMusic Fitness covers and why staff Spotify fails. VibeBeats is direct-licensed background music for cafés, restaurants, bars, gyms, retail stores, salons, spas, clinics and hotels. No music licensing/PRO fees (*No separate public-performance music licence needed for VibeBeats music.) Other music sources may still require licensing. The AI DJ reshapes each playlist through the trading day.

If members can hear recorded music on the gym floor, in a class, or through the locker-room speakers, you need gym music that is cleared for public performance — not a consumer workout mix. In Australia that usually means a OneMusic Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing licence, or a direct-licensed catalogue whose owners have already cleared both master and publishing rights for commercial playback.

Immediate action steps:

List every source currently audible: gym floor, group-fitness rooms, cycle studio, locker rooms, reception, and anything leaking from a PT phone. Confirm in writing whether each source is collecting-society repertoire (OneMusic / APRA AMCOS / PPCA) or a directly licensed catalogue. Request a Certificate of Compliance from any licensed playlist supplier and file it with your AUSactive paperwork. Pause unverified consumer apps — including a staff Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube account on a Bluetooth speaker — until that file exists.

Playing the same track at home, or queueing a YouTube “gym mix,” is a different legal act. Consumer playlists that rank for this search are not a gym licence.

Key Takeaways

Gym music in Australia is a public-performance obligation. OneMusic prices Fitness on how you use the music; a direct-licensed catalogue can replace that invoice for its own tracks only.

— Point — Details — — --- — --- — — Public performance is the trigger — Copyright Act 1968: music members can hear in a gym — floor, class, or locker rooms — is a commercial public performance. — — Two rights, one typical invoice — Publishing (APRA AMCOS) and master recording (PPCA) are bundled by OneMusic for collecting-society repertoire. — — Fitness is the gym scheme — OneMusic’s Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing licence is the scheme AUSactive points gyms to. Fees are quoted by OneMusic — not guessed here. — — A personal stream is not gym music — Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Personal do not grant public-performance rights. — — Direct licence is catalogue-scoped — VibeBeats covers master + publishing for the VibeBeats catalogue only — not radio, Spotify, DJs or third-party class platforms. —

What gym music actually means

Gym music is not a playlist genre. It is permission to perform recorded music where the public can hear it, in a fitness business, in Australia.

Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), the owner of a musical work and the owner of a sound recording each control the right to perform that music in public. A gym floor is public. A booked class is public. The locker rooms are public if members can hear the speakers. The occupier carries the liability, not the instructor who connected the phone.

OneMusic’s Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing page states the rule: if you play copyright-protected music in a public place for a commercial purpose such as a gym, dojo or Pilates studio, you need permission or a music licence. That use is legally different from playing music at home or in the car. AUSactive says the same: a licence is more important than volume, speakers, streaming service or device.

Landing on a Shape listicle or a Spotify “Beast Mode” mix is the wrong answer for an operator. Those pages tell a member what to listen to. They do not tell a gym what it may legally perform. For Spotify terms, use Can You Play Spotify in Your Gym?. For fee-band detail, use How Much Does Music Licensing Cost for a Gym in Australia?. This post stays on the public-performance definition.

Enforcement is not theoretical. AUSactive notes that music-licence outcomes from OneMusic (APRA AMCOS or PPCA) are determined by a judge. Amounts vary with how long unlicensed music has been playing, interest, damages and legal fees.

Pro Tip: Walk the building at 6am, midday and 6pm. Anything audible to a member — locker-room radio, cycle-room HDMI stick, PT speaker on the turf — belongs on the source list.

A staff Spotify account is not gym music

A personal Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube account is licensed for private listening. It is not gym music. OneMusic’s fitness FAQ is direct: a streaming subscription does not cover music in your business.

That fails twice — copyright (unlicensed public performance) and contract (using a consumer product the way its terms prohibit). A OneMusic Fitness licence gives you the public-performance right for their repertoire. It does not rewrite Spotify’s terms so you can use that app as the player. AUSactive is explicit: a OneMusic licence does not override the Terms of Use of a personal digital music service. Copying OneMusic repertoire into the house system also needs Digital Copy/Delivery.

What counts: a OneMusic Fitness licence plus a source whose terms allow business playback; or a written direct licence for both rights in a defined catalogue, with a certificate you can show. What does not: a family plan on the Bluetooth speaker, a downloaded “gym playlist,” or a USB labelled royalty-free.

The cafe-sector reminder is music for cafes — different vertical, same statute. Gyms sit on a different OneMusic scheme. Do not copy a dining tariff onto a gym.

Pro Tip: If the only music device is a personal phone, you do not have a gym music service. You have a residual risk that walks out at the end of the shift.

Floor vs class vs locker rooms

One building, three uses. Operators who treat “the gym sound system” as one licence often miss a room.

Timetabled classes. Group fitness, HIIT, cycle, Zumba, boxing, martial arts, aquatic fitness and boot camps — indoors or outdoors — sit on the Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing scheme when you use copyright-protected music. Headphones on members do not change the public-performance fact.

Floor / background. If the music is not for a timetabled class and you have purely background play — weights floor, cardio deck, reception — OneMusic says the Retail and Service Providers scheme is the path for that background-only profile. OneMusic asks for floor area in square metres and the music source.

Locker rooms. If members can hear it, it is in scope. A locker-room radio is not a free extra.

Most multi-room gyms run floor music and class music. The Fitness scheme’s own categories, as listed by OneMusic, include All Inclusive, Background Music (including music videos), Music in Classes, Website Use, Digital Copy/Delivery and Telephone on Hold. Ask OneMusic which combination matches the rooms you actually run.

For programming (BPM, zones, headphones-on members) see gym workout music. That page is the programming brief. This page is the licence brief.

Who licenses gym music in Australia

• APRA AMCOS administers the publishing right — the composition and lyrics. • PPCA administers the master right — the specific recorded performance. • OneMusic is the 2019 joint initiative that issues one licence covering both streams.

That is the default path when the tracks you play sit inside those repertoires. A staff Spotify session on the turf is the same public-performance act.

business.gov.au is plain: if you play music in your business, you generally need a licence. Gyms are listed alongside pubs, cafes and salons. Buying an album or paying for a streaming service only covers personal use. AUSactive partners with OneMusic and points operators to Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing.

What a OneMusic Fitness licence covers

OneMusic does not publish a single gym dollar figure on that live page. Licensees range from a small yoga studio to a multi-location gym franchise. Fees depend on industry, size and how the music is used — the same drivers business.gov.au names. Get the number from OneMusic or from the gym licensing cost guide. Do not budget from a blogger’s guess.

What the live Fitness page does confirm: public performance in a gym needs permission; a personal stream does not grant it; playing without permission can lead to the fees that would have applied plus damages and legal fees.

AUSactive adds a supplier nuance: if a background-music supplier streams repertoire OneMusic represents, you still need a OneMusic licence. The fee may be subject to a deduction if all recordings are legitimately licensed by the supplier from another copyright owner. Radio, TV, live sets or any non-supplier source still need their own cover. A OneMusic Fitness licence also does not cover filming a class and posting it online — AUSactive lists sync, master and communication rights as separate clearances.

How a direct-licensed catalogue fits

There is a lawful fork. If every recording members can hear is outside OneMusic repertoire because you have a written direct licence from the owners of both rights, you still need the paperwork — you do not need a second invoice for tracks that licence already covers.

That is the VibeBeats model: one subscription (current pricing) covering master and publishing for the VibeBeats catalogue, with a 14-day trial and no card required. It is not a OneMusic agent. It does not authorise radio, Spotify, Les Mills tracks, or anyone else’s recordings.

VibeBeats: licensed gym music without a separate PRO bill

VibeBeats is direct-licensed venue music. One subscription (current pricing) covers master and publishing for the VibeBeats catalogue. It is not registered with APRA or PPCA, and it does not authorise anyone else’s recordings.

What gyms actually get:

• Licensed gym music for the floor, class rooms and locker rooms — the catalogue is cleared for public performance. • No hardware. Existing speakers, a tablet, phone, laptop, or the optional Vibe Box. • Certificate of Compliance per premises, verifiable at vibebeats.ai/verify. • 14-day trial, no card required, no hardware install, no long contract.

What you still own: keeping non-catalogue sources out of earshot, and not running a consumer app “just for the 5am open.”

Learn more on the gym industry page, or start a 14-day free trial. For fee-band detail, use the gym licensing cost guide. For programming, use gym workout music. For AI-curated gym programming as further reading — not a rewrite of this licence brief — see best AI music for gyms.

Related: Exercise music for studios

Sources

• Fitness, Exercise & Wellbeing Music Licence — OneMusic • Music Licensing FAQ — AUSactive • Playing music in your business — business.gov.au

This article is general information for Australian gym and studio operators, not legal advice. Confirm your own facts with OneMusic, a qualified lawyer, or the Australian Copyright Council before you change licences.

Start your 14-day free trial — no credit card required.