Gym music that isn't OneMusic's to license
Australian gyms know the stakes: 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. OneMusic licenses the APRA AMCOS and PPCA repertoires — the Oktava catalog is in neither, so background music from it needs no OneMusic licence, and A$290 a year is the whole bill.
Tempo for the floor, a player that doesn't flinch
Gym channels are built on consistency: driving BPM for the weights floor, a higher-energy rotation for the 6 p.m. peak, something steadier for the early shift — scheduled once, switched automatically. No ads between tracks, no dead air between songs; a silent gym floor is a stopped gym floor, so transitions are seamless by design.
The player is offline-first: channels cache locally and keep playing through an internet outage, then sync the log when the connection returns. On the paperwork side, OneMusic prices background music for fitness at A$1.65 per member a year, with a A$268.89 minimum. With Oktava the question doesn't arise for the catalog: the named certificate and playback log document that what plays is outside both repertoires.
How it works
Sign up, install the player on whatever feeds the floor speakers — a mini-PC, tablet or phone — pick channels, set the daypart schedule. The certificate and playback log are in the dashboard from day one.
What it costs
A$29 a month or A$290 a year per location. OneMusic's fitness background-music rate is A$1.65 per member a year with a A$268.89 minimum — A$825 for a 500-member gym, before any music service — while the Oktava figure is flat. Trial: 7 days, no card.
Questions, answered
The internet died mid-class once. What does Oktava do?
Keeps playing. Channels are cached on the device, so an outage never silences the floor; the playback log syncs when the connection is back.
After the S1 case, are we exposed if we switch?
From the day Oktava is the only source, the playback log documents it — and the catalog is outside the APRA AMCOS and PPCA repertoires, so there's nothing for OneMusic to license in it. Music played before the switch can still be licensed retrospectively; we won't pretend otherwise.
Does it cover our spin classes?
The subscription covers background playback on the floor and in common areas. Classes where music is the main content sit outside the background-music scope — OneMusic tariffs fitness classes separately, and our licence doesn't replace that.
This information is provided for general reference and is not legal advice.