Gym music with no PPL PRS line on the bill
UK gyms playing repertoire music need TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS — the joint venture of PPL and PRS for Music — and gyms are a venue type it prices specifically. The Oktava catalog is registered with neither society: background music from it needs no TheMusicLicence, and £150 a year is the whole music bill.
Drive for the floor, a player that keeps going
Energy management is programming, not luck: Oktava's gym channels hold a consistent driving tempo for the weights floor, step up for the evening peak and ease off for the early shift — on a schedule you set once. Transitions are gapless and ad-free, because in a gym a moment of dead air is the loudest thing that can happen.
The player treats connectivity as optional: channels cache on the device, playback continues through an outage, the log syncs after. And the licensing question is answered before it's asked — the named certificate verifies live by QR, and the playback log shows that what played sits in neither the PPL nor the PRS for Music repertoire.
How it works
Sign up, install the player on whatever feeds the floor speakers, pick the tempo channels and daypart schedule. The certificate and playback log are issued in the dashboard the same day; cached audio covers drops.
What it costs
£15 a month or £150 a year per location — flat, while TheMusicLicence is priced per gym on top of any music service. Trial: 7 days, no card.
Questions, answered
What if the broadband goes down mid-session?
Playback continues from the local cache — the floor never goes silent. The playback log syncs automatically when the connection is back.
Do gyms really get chased for music licences?
Yes — gyms are a priced venue type for TheMusicLicence, and enforcement is routine. The Oktava catalog is outside both repertoires, so for it there is nothing to license; radio or streaming at the same gym would still need the licence.
Does the subscription cover instructor-led classes?
It covers background playback — the floor and common areas. Classes where the music is the content are licensed differently, and we say so plainly rather than in a footnote.
This information is provided for general reference and is not legal advice.