Music licence for gyms and fitness studios: how the cost really works

Gyms and fitness studios almost always need TheMusicLicence, and they’re a special case: music isn’t just background: in classes it’s central to the activity, so PPL and PRS for Music apply specific fitness tariffs alongside any general background music on the gym floor. That makes gym bills more complex, and complexity is where over-charges hide.

What drives the cost for a gym?#

• Background music in the gym floor and reception (a general audible-area element).
• Exercise-to-music classes, billed on dedicated fitness tariffs (PRS for Music charges a fixed amount for every class).
• The mix of the two, plus opening hours and number of sites.
• Whether previously unlicensed use has triggered a first-year higher rate.

What does it typically cost?#

Here’s what most gym operators don’t realise: the exercise-to-music classes are charged as a per-class bolt-on, on top of the background-music charge for the floor. For a site running a full weekly timetable, that class element can end up several times larger than the core charge, which makes it, by a distance, the biggest and most volatile number on a fitness invoice. And it’s usually set from an estimate when the account opened, then almost never trued up when the timetable changes. There’s no single headline figure, so we don’t guess: the accurate number comes from your current class schedule and invoice.

One more thing worth knowing: an industry discount (such as ukactive’s) typically only trims the PPL portion of your bill by around 10%, a small slice of the total. If the class count or tariff class underneath is wrong, that discount is simply being applied to the wrong number. That’s where the real money usually is.

The 2026 PRS for Music figures for gyms#

PRS for Music’s Fitness & Dance tariff (‘FD’) runs from 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2027. It has two parts. Core music is background music across the audible area of the premises, and the fee includes music in staff-only areas and staff training films. Bolt-on music is the per-class charge for fitness classes and dance lessons. All figures below are the published standard rates, before VAT.

• Bolt-on music: £2.38 per fitness class and £1.52 per dance lesson, on top of the core music fee.
• Where a premises only has bolt-on music (classes but no background music), a minimum annual royalty of £73.71 applies.
• If music was played before the licence was taken out, the first licence year is charged at the standard rate plus 50%.
• The rates are adjusted for inflation every 1 February.
• Cafés, bars, shops or crèches inside the building that are run by a third party are licensed separately, by that operator, not under your FD licence. Not-for-profit amateur sports clubs are licensed under a different tariff.

That’s only the PRS for Music half. PPL licenses the recordings separately under its own fitness tariffs (for example PPLPP054 and PPLPP222), so a gym’s total is the two added together. Class numbers drive the bolt-on line directly: 20 classes a week is 1,040 a year, which is £2,475.20 before VAT on the PRS for Music side alone at the standard 2026 rate. That’s why an out-of-date timetable is expensive. Source: PRS for Music Fitness & Dance tariff 2026 (PDF).

Where gyms commonly overpay#

• Class numbers or attendance figures overstated, or old timetables never updated.
• Being billed for classes that stopped running, or studios that closed.
• Background-music floor area over-measured.
• A first-year higher rate left on beyond year one.

Send us your invoice and class schedule and we’ll check the fitness and background elements against the official tariffs, and tell you honestly if it’s already correct. One site? The free Invoice Check gives you a written verdict in five working days. Four or more sites? The estate review is free and we only charge if we recover money. See pricing.

• How TheMusicLicence is calculated →
• The 50% higher royalty rate explained →
• How to check your music licence invoice →

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and MLC is an independent consultancy, not affiliated with PPL PRS Ltd, PRS for Music or PPL.