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Music Licensing for Fitness Professionals

As a fitness professional myself I know how complicated it can be to understand what license you should be paying for when playing music in venues for classes.Well I hope I can help you to understand what the current regulations state about PPL and Pro dub licenses. (OK here goes!)

So first of all if you teach classes and use music (even if it is in the background) a PPL (phonographic performance limited) is required. This license collects royalties for performers and record companies. This cost varies depending on the amount of classes you teach and can be anything from 18p per day or 99p upwards per class.

Some of you that have been teaching for quite a few years like me, may remember having to pay for the license yearly, then in 2013 it all changed. This is where it get's a little confusing!

Working in a gym or fitness centre:

Right.. If you teach in a gym or fitness centre of any kind they now have to pay this instead and it is their responsibility to pay per Instructors class. However most gyms are realising this is costing them a fortune, this means some are requesting that you have to use PPL free music and sign a contract of agreement too.

Ok, this is license that pays the songwriters, composers etc.. when would you need to buy a license? If you decided to play any music you have obtained on a CD, itunes or other format and you want to transfer it and play it either on an iPod/mp3, mobile phone, laptop or tablet for professional use, then you must obtain a Pro Dub license.

This is a cost of about £85 per year to transfer 1000 songs, this is about 19-20 songs per week so more than enough for most fitness professionals.

Complicated stuff right?? What is PPL FREE Music?

This is music that has been remixed, is recorded by a different artist, speeded up or put into blocks of 32count sections. If you are a part-time instructor and teaching is an extra income, you may prefer this option instead. I also think that providing you find a large, reputable company this music can be just as good as the original. If you buy this music usually you receive it as a download and it can be burned onto a disc or any other device to be used. Some times this means you would not need a Pro dub license either, which saves you a lot of money long term. Companies such as clickmix charge about 79-99p per track and they will mix all the songs for you seamlessly and at the speed you require too.

Here is an example for you;

Jenny is a Personal Trainer who works in a gym and teaches boot camp classes, she also teaches Zumba at her local village hall.

What would she need?

Because Jenny is employed by a club she does not need to have a PPL license as this is the responsibility of the gym, however if the music she is using is not PPL free and she has transferred it from a disc or other source onto an ipod/ mp3 or other device she would need to buy a pro dub license.

For the village hall classes if Jenny only uses the ZIN music provided by Zumba, she would not need a PPL license, but if she used any mainstream or pop music she would need to purchase one as it not the responsibility of the village hall.

For more information on purchasing a PPL license or Pro dub license go to www.ppluk.com

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