There have been recent changes in the licensing fees for music played in fitness centres by the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA).

The current PPCA license fee is 96.8 cents per fitness class with a capped annual maximum of $2,654. In a lengthy Copyright Tribunal hearing, it was determined to increase the fees substantially, to either $15 per class or to $1 per participant, which equates to an increase of 1,500% for the cost of a PPCA license in a typical fitness centre.

With over 90 classes a week on our timetable, the fee payable by Aqualink Box Hill to use copyrighted music would be somewhere in the vicinity of $70,000 per annum. This fee would impact our business and services to our members significantly.

To ensure that membership rates and group fitness fees are kept to an affordable rate, many fitness centres have chosen to use music that is free of copyright. You will have noticed from 1 June the introduction of copyright free music tracks being used in all of our group fitness classes with even Les Mills already developing a product that is PPCA copyright free for all their classes.

At this stage, we believe this PPCA copyright fee does not affect music played in the gym and only affects music used for group fitness classes.