Music licensing, plainlyDo I need a licence to play music in my bar?

The short answer

Yes. If music plays in your venue and the public can walk in, you need a music licence. It does not matter whether the music is a live band, a DJ, the radio, or a playlist off your phone. The moment a song plays in a commercial room for customers, the law calls it a public performance, and public performance needs permission.

Playing a song at home is free. Playing the same song through your bar's speakers is a different legal act, protected by copyright separately from owning or streaming the track. That distinction is the thing that catches most operators out, and it is worth getting straight.

Why your Spotify Premium does not cover you

This is the one to read twice. A personal Spotify, Apple Music, or any other consumer subscription does not license commercial use. You are paying for a personal-use product, and its terms stop at your own ears. Push that same account through the speakers in a paying room and, subscription or not, you are unlicensed.

It is one of the most common gaps in hospitality, precisely because it feels like you have already paid.

You have paid to listen. You have not paid to play music to a room full of customers.

Those are two different purchases, and only one of them is covered by the app on your phone.

What one licence actually covers

Now the good news, because there is plenty. It is one licence and one conversation. In Australia, OneMusic Australia issues a single public-performance licence that covers the vast majority of commercial music in the world. OneMusic is a joint venture of APRA AMCOS, who represent the songwriters and publishers, and PPCA, who represent the labels and recording artists. One agreement settles both sides of the copyright in a song, so you are not chasing separate permissions.

For a pub, bar, tavern or small venue, the Hotels, Pubs, Taverns, Bars & Casinos scheme is the one that fits. Once you declare how you use music, it covers:

• background music, including the playlists in your dining area and the sound on your bar TVs
• featured music and live music
• recorded music for dancing, and DJs

One licence, one counterparty, most of what a venue will ever play. This is a national scheme, so a room in Perth sits under the same rules as one in Sydney.

What it costs, honestly

It depends, and OneMusic says as much: the price moves with the devices you use, how you use music, and where it comes from. Two concrete anchors are public. Featured recorded music is charged at $0.264 per person admitted, per day. Background music is priced across six tiers, from Bronze at the bottom (a single television and a single radio) up to Sapphire at the top (ten or more screens and any number of music systems), set by how much gear you are running.

The exact dollar figure for each background tier lives in OneMusic's own fee guide rather than out in the open. So the honest move is to get a quote for your specific setup, rather than trust a number you read on a blog. Including this one.

What happens if you skip it

Going without is not a grey area. Operating without a licence may be copyright infringement, and the exposure is not just the fee you avoided. It is back-dated licence fees plus damages plus legal costs, which is a far worse Tuesday than the phone call would have been. The unlicensed playlist is not the saving it looks like. It is an unpriced risk sitting on your P&L, waiting.

The honest way to think about it

A licence fee, read on its own, looks like one more line item. Read next to what music does for a room, it is the entry price to your busiest nights, and a small one. Every venue that hosts music is already inside this system, whether the operator has noticed or not. Sorting the licence just means you are inside it on purpose, and covered.

Get the licence right first. Then the fun part is making the nights worth licensing, which is the whole idea behind how we run venue music.

This is a plain-English explainer, not legal advice. Rates and rules change, and every venue's setup is different, so confirm the current terms for your room directly with OneMusic Australia before you rely on any figure here.