If you need a good soundtrack to inspire your workout, you may need to bring your headphones as a growing number of gym and health clubs are turning off chart hits to cut costs.
Operators across the sector are turning to third-party providers to supply customised, royalty-free generic tracks or cover versions of hits — a move they say can cut annual music fees by more than half.
The Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro), which posted record financial results in 2024 with licence revenue reaching €53 million, charges gyms €240.68 a year for background music in premises up to 100 sq m, with fitness classes billed separately at €2.71 per session.
Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI), which collects royalties on behalf of performers and record labels, charges up to €4.61 per class, alongside an annual background music fee of €111.31.
All four charges rose by 3 per cent last year in line with consumer prices index increases.
Karl Dunne, chief executive of Ireland Active, which represents more than 450 privately owned leisure and fitness facilities, said a growing number of operators had switched to royalty-free music providers over the past 12 months as wider costs in the sector continued to increase.
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In the UK, licensing fees have also climbed under PPL PRS’s TheMusicLicence system, which combines songwriter and recording royalties into a single charge.
Dunne said rising costs there had already pushed big operators towards alternative music solutions — a trend now beginning to emerge in Ireland.
“We have a very close working relationship with ukactive and what’s happening there is a lot of the big operators … are moving to alternative music solutions, which are licence-free,” he said.
“We’re now starting to see that in Ireland as well where a number of leisure centres and facilities are procuring these services where companies produce and own their own music, which can then be played across gyms, lobbies and classes without additional licensing fees.”
Dunne said some third-party providers were charging roughly half the cost of IMRO and PPI fees, making the switch an increasingly commercial decision.
He said: “What you’re going to see is not just our industry, but all industries that are paying Imro and the PPI — they’ll start moving to these other providers because it becomes a business decision.
“A lot of our members travel to different trade shows and events across Europe and these music providers are at these events. Some of those music providers who are based abroad will set up an Irish office very soon I would think.
“Our members are very shrewd business people. It’s part of a wider squeeze as energy, insurance and staffing have all increased in cost over the years, and the music rights are rising too. You can only pass so much of that on to the customer.”
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YMCA Fitness, a not-for-profit organisation operating three Dublin gyms in Aungier Street, Sandymount and Donaghmede, has cut its annual music expenses by 64 per cent after switching to a third-party provider for class tunes.
Eoghan Khan, a sports centre manager for YMCA, said the decision was taken about a year ago to reduce overall costs.
“Over recent years, the cost of these licences have increased significantly and we had to reassess our approach due to the considerable financial pressure this would have put on our organisation,” he said.
“The majority of the costs were tied to fitness classes. We run 19 a week and it got to a point where we were considering reducing or cancelling them entirely because the licence fees alone made them too expensive — never mind paying for an instructor or anything else.”
Khan said the provider supplied royalty-free music through an installed device, while the gym continued to pay licensing fees for chart music played on the main floor.
He said: “It’s been a significant saving because the cost was coming mostly from the classes. The music is generic, it depends on what classes. We run Pilates so that would maybe be relaxing music playing and then we might play cover songs or non-lyrical music for our older adult classes. It’s allowed us the opportunity to redirect that funding into community projects and programmes for young children.”
David Lloyd Clubs, the largest chain in the UK by revenue, which operates a gym in Clonskeagh, south Dublin, has co-created gym soundtracks with a music company using external musicians to avoid rising music royalty costs.
FLYEfit, Ireland’s largest gym chain with 22 locations, declined to comment last week on its music policy.
A spokesman for Imro said that when a business was found to be using music without a licence, it engaged “directly and constructively” with the premises to explain the “benefits” of licensing.
“Our experience is the vast majority of these organisations opt for a licence,” he said. “We only take enforcement action as a last resort after exhausting all other avenues.”