Fees
The Music Wars Hit the Gym
- Australian Flag (Via Marragem.)
Is the music at your gym legal or pirated? This is something to ponder while killing yourself on the treadmill. Especially if you're in Australia, where the battle over music licensing flared up today. Seems the Aussie equivalent of the RIAA has slapped Australian gyms with a 1500% price increase on the licensing fees for original music. It's all sort of complex and arcane, but suffice to say the gyms aren't pleased and are now threatening to move their group exercise classes to "covers" and "muzak." So sad! There does not seem to be a similar battle brewing in the U.S.,but my sense is that the big U.S. gym chains (and yoga studios...?) have long since shifted to scientifically programmed, legally defensible soundtracks for their public spaces. That said, who knows about group fitness classes. If teachers are keeping track of their playlists, I've never seen them submitting the forms....
- Oliver's blog
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That seems like a ridiculous price increase, but my guess is that most of the gyms have quite literally been stealing from the artists by playing without paying. Music is very easy to steal. People don't want to be without it, but they don't want to pay for it either. Too bad, everyone suffers in the end.
Submitted by 100Pounds on 05.17.10 at 11:10.