Oktava vs music subscriptions for an Australian venue
Three ways to fill an Australian venue with music. A personal streaming account — Spotify's terms forbid business use, and OneMusic licenses the playback anyway. A classic B2B service — legal, but the OneMusic licence stays on top of the service fee. And Oktava — a catalog outside the APRA AMCOS and PPCA repertoires, so one subscription replaces both payments.
The three options, side by side
| Option | Legal for a business? | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Spotify or another personal streaming app | No. Consumer terms forbid business use — and the music is OneMusic repertoire, so the licence is owed anyway. | Personal subscription price — plus the OneMusic licence, plus the risk of retrospective licensing. |
| Classic B2B service (Soundtrack Your Brand and similar) | Yes — licensed for business playback of repertoire music. | Service subscription and the OneMusic licence — two separate bills. |
| Oktava | Yes — the catalog sits outside the APRA AMCOS and PPCA repertoires, so no OneMusic licence is needed for it. | A$290 a year. That's the whole music bill. |
OneMusic's rates are public and depend on venue type and size — a café seating 7–15 pays A$1,000.20 a year for background music (the rate for 1 Sep 2026 – 31 Aug 2027) before any music service. The exact figures are on our rates page, linked below.
Why Spotify doesn't cover an Australian venue
A consumer account covers private listening; playback in a venue is a public performance licensed by OneMusic on behalf of APRA AMCOS and PPCA. Spotify's own terms forbid commercial use of personal accounts. In January 2026 the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia ordered the S1 fitness chain to pay A$235,000 over music played without a licence — ignoring the question is the one bad option.
What classic B2B services actually sell
Licensed services solve the terms-of-use problem: their subscriptions permit business playback. What they don't remove is the OneMusic bill — their catalogs are repertoire music, so the licence still applies. OneMusic itself prices this in: venues that avoid PPCA repertoire get around 48% off, which shows the repertoire is the thing being paid for.
What Oktava changes
The Oktava catalog is created for the service and sits outside both the APRA AMCOS and PPCA repertoires — for our catalog there is nothing for OneMusic to license, and the subscription is the whole bill. The claim is catalogue-scoped: radio, TV or Spotify at the same venue still fall under OneMusic. The named certificate and playback log document what actually plays.
Questions, answered
Is playing Spotify at my café really not allowed?
Not on a personal account. Spotify's terms forbid commercial use, and the music is OneMusic repertoire — the licence is owed regardless of the app.
Are services like Soundtrack Your Brand a bad deal?
They're legitimate: licensed business playback of repertoire music. But the OneMusic licence stays on the bill — with repertoire music you pay the service and the society. Oktava removes the second payment because the catalog isn't in the repertoire.
What's the catch with Oktava?
The promise covers the catalog, not the venue as such. If radio or Spotify also plays, OneMusic's rates apply to that. The playback log shows which case is yours — and for music played before a switch, OneMusic can still license retrospectively.
This information is provided for general reference and is not legal advice.