Hair salons bristle over background music licence fees

Owners of hair salons, gyms and coffee carts are complaining of the relentless tactics used by “music mafia” chasing them for licensing fees to play music to their customers.

The small businesses say they are receiving legal threats and pestering phone calls from OneMusic Australia demanding licensing fees for music they are already paying streaming services to access.

Jan Gawel says many salons are shocked to hear they need to pay to play music for their clients and staff. Credit: Edwina Pickles

But OneMusic Australia said the law was on its side, and public performance licensing had been a requirement for 99 years. Business payments to play music to clients and staff kept struggling artists afloat, it said.

“We’re actually the good guys,” said OneMusic Australia director Catherine Giuliano.

Jan Gawel, chief executive of Hair & Beauty Australia, said the first response was typically, is this a scam? The second was, do I have to pay?

Gawel said salons wanted to support musicians, but he said most did not know they needed to pay to play music and resented the “relentless” push to force them. Some salons had vowed to stop playing background music to avoid paying, he said.

“Most businesses already pay for music via streaming services, and when music is not your core business, it begins to feel like double-dipping,” Gawel said. “They say customers are buying a haircut or a massage, not music.”

So far about 70,000 businesses – such as salons, shops and gyms – have paid up, and the numbers are growing each year. There are also dozens of music licences covering groups such as schools, funeral parlours, car parks, karaoke bars and businesses that use on-hold music.

Giuliano is familiar with complaints from business. She has seen references to her organisation as the “music mafia” online.

“We’re trying to educate, because when we go to a business that has never heard of us, you know, it can be scary,” she said. “[But] our job is to defend our members, our music creators’ rights. And when their rights are being utilised, it’s our job to put a licence in place.”

Who needs to buy music licences

• Adult entertainment
• Caravans and tourist parks
• Childcare and early learning services
• Cinemas
• Clubs
• Community halls
• Community music groups
• Dance schools and performance instructors
• Cafes and restaurants
• Music in dramatic context productions
• Eisteddfods and competitions
• Events
• Film screenings
• Fitness, yoga and Zumba classes
• Functions
• Funeral directors
• Government and councils
• Hotels
• Bars
• Casinos
• Pubs
• Accommodation and motels
• Karaoke
• Zoos
• Theme parks
• Bowling alleys
• Galleries
• Nightclubs
• Retailers
• Services businesses
• Schools
• Sports
• Party boats and buses
• Factories and offices
• Telephone on hold

SOURCE: ONEMUSIC AUSTRALIA

She said OneMusic Australia collected $132 million from businesses last year on behalf of copyright holders, typically the composer of a piece of music, the artist, a music label, the songwriter or the publisher.

“Most businesses are really great, they get it. They know they’re part of the story of the song, we called it,” she said.

She said OneMusic Australia had employees checking on businesses and had taken some to court for non-payment, winning not only the licensing fees but damages totalling tens of thousands of dollars.

“It’s not something we do often, but it has happened,” she said. “And we’ve never lost a case, because the public performance of music is easily identifiable.”

Cafes are required to pay to play music for customers and staff.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

OneMusic Australia is a joint initiative of the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia, a non-profit organisation that represents record companies and Australian recording artists.

Gawel said OneMusic was too aggressive when approaching business for payments.

“Most have no idea who they are or what the requirements are. But rather than clarify, they double down on the confusion with over-the-top demands, constant phone calls, and a tone that borders on harassment,” he said.

Credit: Matt Golding

“Hair & Beauty Australia has, on numerous occasions, been contacted by salons genuinely asking if OneMusic is a scam – such is the level of confusion and distrust their approach generates.”

One complaint among businesses is they don’t know how much they will have to pay, so they don’t want to engage.

Giuliano said businesses should use the OneMusic Australia website to get a quote on the licensing fees, which varied according to the industry and employee numbers. Background music is cheaper than music that is central to the experience – for example at nightclubs, gyms or pubs.

She said retail fees could be as low as $100 a year for someone using a radio in a 50-square-metre shop, up to thousands of dollars for department stores or large supermarkets.

Giuliano said a coffee cart with one employee, for example, would be charged a “negligible” amount. “And it’s tax-deductible, it’s a business expense.”

Jane Matthews, co-owner of Swensk clothing store in Melbourne, which pays a licensing fee to play background music in the shop.Credit: Simon Schluter

Most restaurants and cafes pay hundreds of dollars a year for music licensing, said Wes Lambert, chief executive of the Australian Restaurant & Cafe Association. “We want to make sure the industry is not in fear of the requirement to pay for music licensing,” he said.

Lambert said his association supported paying to play music because it was integral to customer experience and small businesses need to support other small businesses.

Mats Ekstrom, who co-owns Melbourne-based designer clothing store Swensk with wife Jane Matthews, said he and his wife didn’t hesitate to pay.

“I’m Swedish, right, and it’s the law,” he said. “You create an ambience, how you want the store to feel, so paying royalties to the people who created it is something we take for granted.

“We play music from 10 in the morning to six in the afternoon, more or less seven days a week. If you divide that with every song or minute that you play, I don’t find it to be very expensive. I find it to be very reasonable.”

Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.