Use Sonosfera for eligible catalogue background playback in United Kingdom, then keep DJs, live music, radio, uploaded tracks, venue terms, and local permissions in their own checks.
Sonosfera was started by a salon operator who got caught out by PPL/PRS licensing letters and built the music platform they wished existed. The team behind this blog has spent years inside hair and beauty businesses, clinics, and hospitality venues — booking the bills, dealing with the licensing letters, and learning the hard way that most Spotify playlists don't work for a professional environment.
The Reality of the Gym Music Licence UK: PRS PPL Requirements for Fitness Studios 2026
By Sonosfera Team
Music does a lot of work in a gym. It sets the tempo on the floor, lifts a flagging spin class, and covers the clank of plates so the room doesn't feel clinical. The part that catches owners out isn't the playlist — it's the paperwork behind it. The short version: playing music in a UK fitness business almost always means paying for two separate things — a music source (your app or subscription) and the legal right to play it in public (TheMusicLicence) — and most consumer apps cover neither for commercial use. Get the source or the licence wrong and you can end up with fees, or a letter, you didn't budget for.
Direct answer: A UK gym or fitness studio should separate the soundtrack source from the public-performance licence. For mainstream music, check TheMusicLicence with PPL PRS. For a direct-licensed catalogue, review the provider's scope and start with music for gyms so the product route matches the venue.
This guide is for owners and managers of UK gyms, fitness studios, PT spaces and class-based venues (spin, yoga, HIIT, Pilates) who want music that is legal, affordable and low-hassle. It explains what you're actually paying for, how the main background-music services compare on real public pricing, and the questions to ask before you sign anything. It does not cover live PT events with a hired DJ, ticketed fitness events, or music you broadcast beyond your own premises — those are separate licensing conversations.
The two things you're actually paying for
Most gym-music decisions come down to two distinct costs that are easy to confuse:
The music source — the app, platform or catalogue that supplies the tracks and the player. This is your monthly subscription.
The public-performance right — legal permission to play that music in a space the public can enter. A gym floor or a class studio counts as a public space, so this almost always applies, even at low volume between sets.
These are separate. Paying for a consumer Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube account covers the first and not the second. A standard consumer account is licensed for personal listening only, which is why it isn't the right tool for a studio floor — playing it for members falls outside its terms regardless of the licence question.
Public performance simply means playing recorded music where people other than your household can hear it — a gym, studio, café or shop. In the UK, the right to do that is administered collectively rather than negotiated track by track.
How public-performance licensing works in the UK
In the UK, most businesses that play music need TheMusicLicence, administered jointly by PPL and PRS for Music through PPL PRS Ltd. One licence, one payment, and it settles both layers of rights that live inside a single song:
PRS for Music licenses the composition — the underlying songwriting, melody and lyrics, on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers.
PPL licenses the sound recording — the specific recorded version you actually play, on behalf of record companies and performers.
A bit of history explains the setup. For years a UK business had to deal with PPL and PRS as two separate societies — two licences, two invoices, for what felt like one decision. PPL PRS Ltd was formed as a joint venture to fold those overlapping public-performance licences into one product, TheMusicLicence, from 2018. So when older guides talk about "the PPL licence and the PRS licence" as two errands, that's the pre-2018 picture — today, for most premises, both are handled in a single licence.
Fees are set by how you use music and the size and type of premises, so a small studio and a large multi-room gym sit at very different points on the scale, and there are specific considerations for fitness classes. Because tariffs are reviewed periodically and your exact category depends on your setup, check the current rate and the right licence category for your business directly on the PPL PRS site rather than relying on a figure quoted second-hand. The key point: if you play mainstream commercial tracks anywhere members can hear them, TheMusicLicence is generally what makes that legal — separate from whatever app you use to play them.
How the main background-music services compare
The services below all target UK businesses, but they handle the licence very differently. Some supply their own cleared catalogue so a separate licence isn't needed for that music; others are clear that public-performance rights are on you. Treat the prices as a starting point and confirm them at checkout, since plans change. Where a provider explicitly takes a position on PPL/PRS, that's noted — but a provider's marketing claim is not the same as a tariff ruling, so verify anything that affects your legal position.
Its UK guidance says public-performance rights are not included and you should get TheMusicLicence
Budget for TheMusicLicence on top of the subscription
A few patterns are worth noticing. Where pricing is published, the service alone tends to land between roughly GBP 10 and GBP 32 a month. The bigger variable is licensing. A royalty-free or fully-cleared catalogue can look similar on the sticker but avoids a separate licence for the music in its library, whereas a chart-music service that leaves PPL/PRS to you means TheMusicLicence is an added cost on top. The cheapest subscription is not automatically the cheapest total.
Where a direct-licensed catalogue fits
There's a third route that can reduce separate licence admin for the music you play: a service that supplies its own catalogue cleared for commercial use. Because the provider controls or clears the tracks in that library, the public-playback position can be handled through the service for eligible catalogue, but the exact scope still needs to be checked before you rely on it.
This is the model Sonosfera uses. The trade-off is honest and worth stating plainly: you're playing a curated, commercially-cleared catalogue, not the latest chart hits. If your gym's identity depends on playing specific mainstream songs in a class, you'll want a mainstream service plus TheMusicLicence. If what you actually need is reliable, on-brand sound — calm for a yoga room, driving for the weights floor — a direct-licensed catalogue can remove a whole category of admin for the tracks it supplies.
To be clear about the boundary: a direct-licensed catalogue covers the music you play through that service. It does not cover music from other sources — a personal Spotify account, the radio, a guest instructor's phone, or a hired DJ at an event. Those still fall under the normal rules, and TheMusicLicence can still apply to them.
How to choose
A quick decision framework:
You need specific chart tracks for classes → use a mainstream service and take out TheMusicLicence.
You want low-admin, catalogue-led background music → use a direct-licensed catalogue and confirm the separate-licence position for that music.
You're not sure what you're already covered for → check your current source's licence terms first, then look up your category on the PPL PRS site.
Before you commit to any provider, run these four checks:
Confirm whether the price includes public-performance rights or just the music source.
Match the licence to how you actually use music — background only, or classes, live and events too.
Keep your subscription invoices and any licence or certificate documents on file.
Don't rely on a consumer streaming account on the gym floor.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need a licence to play music in a small studio?
In most cases, yes. A gym or studio is a space the public can enter, so playing recorded commercial music there is a public performance. In the UK that's usually covered by TheMusicLicence (PPL + PRS), separate from any app subscription. A direct-licensed catalogue can change the route for the tracks supplied by that service, but outside music still needs its own check.
Is it one licence or two — PPL and PRS?
For most premises it's now a single product. TheMusicLicence, administered by PPL PRS Ltd, settles both the sound-recording side (PPL) and the songwriting side (PRS for Music) in one licence and one payment. The "two licences" picture describes how it worked before the joint venture combined them.
Can I just use my personal Spotify or Apple Music account for classes?
No. Consumer streaming accounts are licensed for personal listening only, not for playing to members in a business open to the public. Using one on the floor or in a class falls outside its terms, separate from the TheMusicLicence question.
If I use a direct-licensed catalogue, do I still need TheMusicLicence?
For the music you play through that catalogue, the provider's own licence may handle the relevant rights for those tracks. But TheMusicLicence can still apply to any other music you bring in from outside that service, such as the radio, a personal streaming account, or a live performer at an event. Check the provider scope and PPL PRS guidance for your exact setup.
Sources
Licensing fees and plan prices change — verify the current figure with PPL PRS and each provider before you act on it.
