1Do you need a music licence?
If customers can hear commercially released music, that is a public performance under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and you need permission. In practice that means the single joint licence PPL and PRS for Music sell together through PPL PRS, because a normal playlist crosses both of their repertoires.
There is no small premises exemption in the UK. The two provisions that came closest, sections 67 and 72(1B)(a) of the Act, were both repealed, the latter by regulation 4(1) of SI 2010/2694. So floor area, seat count and the number of loudspeakers make no difference, and it makes no difference whether the sound comes from a radio, a CD or a streaming account. If it can be heard by customers, it is licensable. Our UK music licensing guide works through the whole question in detail.
There are also no statutory damages here, as there are in the United States. A rights holder claims damages or an account of profits, with costs and an injunction on top, and PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one.
RadioB2B removes the question. Every right that exists in the catalogue is represented exclusively, in the United Kingdom and worldwide, by RadioPRO Ltd, a UK collective management organisation, and none of it is in the PRS for Music or PPL repertoire, so no public performance royalty arises on what you play through the service, as long as it is the only music you play.
2Programming the floor by session
Gym traffic is unusually predictable, which makes scheduling easy. Match tempo to who is actually in the building.
| Period | What works |
|---|---|
| Early morning | Steady 120 to 128 BPM for the pre-work crowd, who want momentum without aggression. |
| Mid morning | Around 105 to 115 BPM. Quieter hours, often an older membership, longer sessions. |
| Afternoon | Back to 115 to 125 BPM as the after-school and shift-work traffic builds. |
| Evening peak | The busiest block. 125 to 135 BPM, held there, because this is the session people judge the gym on. |
| Late | Ease down to 110 BPM for the last hour, which encourages the room to empty on time. |
You can try the scheduler free for 14 days, no card required, on the sign up page or the feature list on our home page.
3Zones: floor, studio, reception, changing rooms
Four areas with genuinely different jobs, and each is its own zone.
- The weights and cardio floor on the tempo schedule above.
- The studio muted by default, so it never fights an instructor running their own class audio.
- Reception markedly quieter. Staff sell memberships here and need to be heard.
- Changing rooms on low ambient programming, which also masks conversation.
4Hardware you already own
There is nothing to buy, nothing to install and no app required: the player is a web page, so staff can run it from any laptop, tablet or phone, and it casts directly to Sonos, Chromecast and AirPlay. If the venue is already wired to a Sonos amp, that is the whole installation. The stations are plain audio streams, so they also open in tools such as VLC, and when the internet drops the player keeps going from a cached queue rather than leaving you in silence.
5Class timetables and member messages
Record your own audio and schedule it. A reminder that the spin class starts in ten minutes, a personal training offer during quiet hours, or a notice about opening times over a holiday.
6What it costs
£179 a year, per year, flat, music included. That covers the full catalogue, background music video channels for any screens, the scheduler, your own announcements, staff accounts and the Music Licence Certificate. It does not scale with your floor area or your opening hours, which is the mechanism that makes a PPL PRS bill climb.
For comparison, a PPL PRS licence costs £345.00 a year plus VAT for an instructor running three classes a week, and PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one. Licence free playlist libraries in the UK sit at about £15 a month plus VAT, and licensed services that still leave you owing PPL PRS run from about £22 to £40 a zone a month. See how the routes compare.
Try it free or subscribe today
Start fourteen days free with no card, build a day's schedule and cast it through the Sonos or speakers you already have. Or subscribe now at £179 a year by card, bank transfer or PayPal, and print your certificate today.
7Instructor-led classes are a separate question
RadioB2B covers the music you play through the service. An instructor streaming their own playlist from a phone into the studio system is outside it, and that music may carry its own PPL PRS liability. If your classes run on instructor-supplied audio, deal with that separately, whatever background music service you use.
8Questions
Do gyms need a music licence?
Yes, if members can hear commercially released music. That is a public performance under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. PPL PRS treats fitness premises as a higher tier than ordinary background music, because music is considered part of the service.
Why are gym music licence fees higher than for a shop?
Rate schedules weight premises where music is a feature of the experience rather than incidental. Class programming, floor area and membership numbers all push a fitness venue up the schedule.
Does this cover music played by class instructors?
No. RadioB2B covers music played through the service. An instructor connecting a personal device to the studio system is outside that, and should be handled separately.
Can reception play something different to the gym floor?
Yes. Each independently controlled output is a zone with its own station, schedule and volume, so reception can stay conversational while the floor holds tempo.
Cost figures are PPL PRS published examples and typical UK market pricing, not quotations. General information, not legal advice. See our Terms of Use and Service Agreement.