Music Licensing for Cafés, Retail & Gyms in Australia

Do you need a music licence to play background music in your café, shop or gym? A plain-English 2026 guide to OneMusic, APRA, PPCA, costs — and the legal way to stream. 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.

Music Licensing for Cafés, Retail Stores & Gyms in Australia: The 2026 Guide

If you play background music in your café, retail store or gym, there's a good chance you're legally required to hold a music licence — and an even better chance the Spotify or Apple Music account you're using doesn't make you compliant.

This guide explains, in plain English, what's actually required to play music in an everyday Australian business in 2026 — the kind without a live band or DJ, just recorded music in the background. We'll cover who APRA, PPCA and OneMusic are, when you need a licence, what it costs, and the common mistakes that quietly leave thousands of businesses exposed.

The short answer

Almost all commercial music is protected by copyright. Playing it where customers, members or staff can hear it counts as a "public performance" under the Copyright Act 1968 — and that's true even if there's no live performer in the room. Background music streaming through your café speakers or your gym floor is a public performance in the legal sense. To do it legally you generally need a public-performance licence, and in Australia that comes from OneMusic.

That licence covers your right to play the music. It's a separate question from what you stream it through — and that's where most businesses get caught out.

"Public performance" doesn't mean a live band

This trips a lot of owners up, so it's worth being clear. In copyright law, "public performance" simply means music played in a public or commercial space — your shop floor, your dining room, your gym. It has nothing to do with whether there's a live musician.

So the distinction that matters for cafés, retail and gyms isn't "performance vs no performance" — it's live music vs recorded background music. You're almost certainly not running live gigs. But your recorded background playlist is still a public performance, and still needs to be licensed. The good news: background-music licences are the simplest and lowest-cost category there is.

The bit nobody explains: every song has two copyrights

This is the single most useful thing to understand, because it explains why Australian music licensing looks more complicated than it should.

Every recorded song contains two separate copyrights:

• The musical work — the composition itself: melody, lyrics, arrangement. Managed in Australia by APRA AMCOS on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers. • The sound recording — the specific recorded version you're playing. Managed by PPCA on behalf of record labels and recording artists.

Businesses used to have to deal with both organisations separately. Since 2019, that's been simplified.

What is OneMusic?

OneMusic is a joint licensing initiative of APRA AMCOS and PPCA. Instead of chasing two separate licences, your business gets one OneMusic licence covering both copyrights in a single agreement. OneMusic then distributes the fees back to APRA AMCOS and PPCA.

OneMusic offers around 30 licence types matched to how music is actually used. For most café, retail and gym owners the relevant one is a straightforward background-music licence — and gyms have one extra wrinkle worth knowing about (below).

Do you actually need a licence?

For a café, shop or gym, you generally need one if all of these are true:

• You play music that's protected by copyright (virtually all chart / commercial / streaming music), and • Customers, members or staff can hear it, and • You don't already have an arrangement that covers public performance.

You generally don't need a OneMusic licence if you only play music that's genuinely licensed for commercial use, or that's out of copyright. That distinction is the basis of the legal way to stream — covered below.

Quick gut check: if your "shop playlist" is a personal Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube account, assume you're not compliant. Here's why.

The Spotify trap

This is the most common — and most expensive — misunderstanding in the category.

A personal Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Premium subscription is licensed for personal, non-commercial use only. Every one of those services says so explicitly in its terms. The moment you play that account in your business, you're breaching the service's own terms — regardless of whether you also hold a OneMusic licence.

So there are really two separate things to get right:

The performance rights — usually a OneMusic licence, and A music source that's actually licensed for commercial use — a personal streaming account is not.

A OneMusic licence does not make a personal Spotify account legal, and using a business music service does not automatically remove your OneMusic obligation. Both pieces have to be in place.

A note for gyms and fitness studios

Gyms are a special case worth flagging. Background music on the gym floor is one thing — but if you run fitness classes (spin, HIIT, group training), that use of music often falls under a separate, higher OneMusic category, because music is more central to the activity. If you run classes, check the fitness-specific guidance rather than assuming a standard background-music licence covers you.

How much does a music licence cost?

There's no single price. For cafés, retail and gyms, OneMusic fees are typically based on:

• Your business type (dining, retail, fitness), • The size of your space or capacity — seats in a café, floor area in a shop, members in a gym, • How the music is used (background music is the cheapest tier; fitness classes cost more), and • The source — radio is usually cheaper than curated streaming.

As a rule of thumb, a small café or shop playing background music sits at the low end. The reliable way to get a real figure is to choose your industry on the OneMusic site and use its fee guide.

The simplest compliant setup

For a café, retail store or gym, being fully compliant means two things working together:

Sort your public-performance position — hold the right OneMusic background-music (or fitness) licence for your venue. Use a music service licensed for commercial use — not a personal streaming account.

This is exactly the gap VibeBeats is built for. VibeBeats is a commercial music streaming service made for everyday Australian businesses — cafés, shops and gyms — with a catalogue cleared for commercial use and curated for venues, so you're never relying on a personal Spotify account that breaches its own terms. Think of VibeBeats as the compliant music source that sits alongside your OneMusic licence.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a music licence to play background music in my café if there's no band? Yes. "Public performance" covers recorded background music in a commercial space — it doesn't require a live performer. Background music is simply the lowest-cost licence category.

Is APRA the same as OneMusic? Not quite. APRA AMCOS manages the rights in the musical work; PPCA manages the rights in the sound recording. OneMusic is the joint initiative that licenses both through one agreement.

Can I just use my personal Spotify account in my shop or gym? No. Personal Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube subscriptions are for personal use only and prohibit commercial use — using one in your business breaches those terms, separate from any OneMusic obligation.

Do gyms need a different licence? Often, yes — fitness classes typically sit in a higher OneMusic category than background music. Background music on the floor is the standard, lower tier.

Does a business music service mean I don't need OneMusic? Not automatically. Treat the performance licence and the music source as two separate requirements unless your provider's agreement explicitly covers public performance.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For advice specific to your business, check OneMusic's category guides or speak to a qualified adviser.

Want music built for your café, shop or gym — not a personal account you're not allowed to use? See how VibeBeats keeps Australian venues sounding great and on the right side of the rules. Start your free trial →

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