Organisations that provide syllabus music where the work and/or the sound recording is protected by copyright pay a fee to reproduce the music onto a CD, digital file, or other media as part of their business.

As those organisations are the ones reproducing the music, the onus is on them to make sure the appropriate rights for that reproduction are cleared.

A separate right is the PUBLIC PERFORMANCE right, that is, the right to play that music as part of your business. For any business that plays music that is protected by copyright in a public performance – for example a dance school, a shop, a bar, a venue for hire, or a gym – the onus is on them to make sure the appropriate rights for that public performance are cleared.

According to their Terms of Use, the digital music services that most of us use at home may only be used for personal and domestic purposes. However, whatever the source of the music used at your dance business, if you use OneMusic Australia’s music then you’ll still need a licence from OneMusic to play it in your business.

In addition, if you copy OneMusic Australia’s music, for instance from one CD to another, or you stream it from a personal digital music service, then you’ll also need coverage called “Digital Copy/Delivery".

You should be aware that a OneMusic Australia licence, even when it includes Digital Copy/Delivery only gives you permission to use our music in your dance business (or dance event); it does not override the Terms of Use for the personal digital music service you are using, nor does it give you permission to use that particular digital music service for a commercial purpose – that permission can only come from the owners of that digital music service.

Even with our licence, the use of digital music streaming services by you in your dance business may be in breach of the terms and conditions of your end user agreement with that service. You should check with your service provider.

You may be better to consider a commercially licensed digital music service. We have compiled a list of these music services in the Background Music Guide.

You will require the Audio Recording/Digital Package if you download or access our music for your business from a non commercial digital music service.

You should be aware that a OneMusic Australia licence, even when it includes Audio Recording/Digital Package only gives you permission to use our music in your business; it does not override the Terms of Use for the personal digital music service you are using, nor does it give you permission to use that particular digital music service for a commercial purpose – that permission can only come from the owners of that digital music service.

Even with our licence, the use of digital music (streaming) services by you in your business may be in breach of the terms and conditions of your end user agreement with that service. You should check with your service provider.

You will also need a licence from us that includes Audio Recording/Digital Package if you make any physical or digital copies of our music (such as copying one CD to another, or copying a digital download file).

By choosing Audio Recording/Digital Package, you are entitled to copy up to 2,000 music tracks. You do not need to include Audio Recording/Digital Package in your licence if you are only playing our music from original CDs that you have bought (and not subsequently copied) or you’re playing our music from a commercial background music service (see a list of background music services is available here backgroundmusicguide.com.au).

Depending on your use of our music and the arrangements the background music service has with OneMusic Australia, you may not need to get a licence directly from OneMusic Australia. Your background music service provider may already include a OneMusic Australia licence as part of its service package. Check either with us or your commercial music supplier to confirm.

Under OneMusic Australia’s Dance and Performance Instructors and Dance Schools licence, we calculate fees for “Audio Recording/Digital Package” at per-student rate, using the average number of students you have enrolled in a year.

You do not need to include Audio Recording/Digital Package in your OneMusic Australia licence if you are only playing our music from original CDs that you have bought (and not subsequently copied) or you’re playing our music from a commercial background music service such as “Apple Music for Business” or another background music provider (a list of background music services is available here - backgroundmusicguide.com.au).

Depending on your use of our music and the arrangements your background music service has with OneMusic Australia (or music creators directly), you may not need to get a licence directly from OneMusic Australia. Check with us or your background music supplier to confirm which permissions are included in your service.

If you are recording routines or performances with commercial music and posting those videos on social media, then you’ll need to ensure you have a separate ‘synchronisation’ licence for the use of that music in your video.

A ‘synchronisation’ licence is needed whenever music is used within an audio-visual production, such as a film, TV show, advertisement, video game, social media video etc.

Social media platforms such as YouTube do have licences with rights holders, but those licences DO NOT cover “synchronisations” made for commercial purposes.

So, if you use commercial music (you know, the music you hear on the radio) in your video and that video is placed on social media, then it may be ‘taken down’ (that is removed) by the platform if it’s seen as being a video for commercial purposes, like promoting your dance school.

Getting a “synchronisation” licence for your video using commercial music is often expensive and difficult. However, you can “synchronise” music into your business videos with what’s known as “Production Music” or “Royalty Free” music. Production Music is a low-cost way to get music on your videos and when you play those videos on the vast majority of social media platforms the use is already covered by that platform’s licence, so you don’t need any additional licences (other than the initial “synchronisation” licence).

If you play music protected by copyright out loud in a public place for a commercial purpose such as a shop, a gym or a bar you need permission or you need to purchase a music licence. Legally this music use is different to playing music at home or in your car. This is called public performance of music.

Music licence costs depend on your business type, music devices and whether the music is protected by copyright. If you use the radio and you are a small shop the cost will be much, much smaller than if you are running a multi-purpose theatre. 

Your business can legally play music protected by Copyright by getting permission first. Permission can be from OneMusic Australia in the form of a licence for millions of songs in its catalogue, from the artists themselves for every song, through a background music supplier or other means. You need permission or a licence when your stream music in your business.

If you want to play and enjoy the use of virtually any commercially released music from anywhere around the world, you should immediately enter into a OneMusic Australia licence, because using OneMusic Australia’s music without a OneMusic Australia licence can constitute an infringement of our copyright which, if not rectified, may ultimately lead to legal action.

Of course, we will happily talk with you about your music licensing and certainly provide a reasonable time frame for you to take out a licence before escalating the matter any further.

But, if our music continues to be used without permission, then we will be left with no option but to enforce our rights on behalf of our members and affiliates, which could involve court proceedings. Such action may result in the business having to pay the licence fees as well as other damages and legal costs.

Over 95% of businesses and organisations that we deal with are readily compliant.

To purchase a music licence you select only the cover you need for your music devices. Music licence fees start $100 a year. Fees differ by industry, a shop pays a licence fee on its floor space, a nightclub on attendance and a café on seating capacity.

OneMusic does not generally licence individual or group live performers such as bands and DJ's. It is the venue or the event organiser who needs to obtain a licence for public performance.

Performers may still need permission for copying

A performer may require licensing for any reproductions they are considering such as photocopying sheet music, videoing their performance, copying CDs onto a laptop. 

DJ Alliance have signed an agreement with ARIA and AMCOS to cover their physical and digital copies of music. This agreement covers their members starting from 1 July 2019.

Outside this arrangement:

• Reproduction, Domestic Video Licence & Online queries
• ARIA Reproduction Licence queries
• PPCA Webcast licensing queries 
  
  

OneMusic licenses performers who are part of a Community Music Group.