In New Zealand the right to play popular music in a business is split across two layers — the musical works and the sound recordings — administered by two separate organisations. Since 2013 they are licensed together through OneMusic New Zealand. This guide explains what APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ each cover, why most venues need both, what the combined bill typically looks like, and how a proprietary catalogue produced in-house works as an alternative for background music.
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APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ administer two distinct layers of rights in New Zealand. APRA AMCOS represents the rights of songwriters, composers and music publishers — the musical works themselves. Recorded Music NZ, formerly known as PPNZ Music Licensing, represents the rights of recording artists and record labels — the sound recordings. The two layers do not overlap: a licence over the works grants nothing over the recordings, and vice versa. A business that plays music from their repertoires generally needs both.
Since 2013 the two organisations operate OneMusic New Zealand, a joint initiative created precisely to remove the double paperwork. Before OneMusic, a venue needed one licence from each; today it obtains its licence in a single transaction, with one point of contact and one payment. Under the Copyright Act 1994, permission to play music in a commercial setting is a legal requirement.
The key point: in New Zealand the music licence question always has two layers — the works and the recordings. OneMusic combines them into one licence, but the cost remains the sum of both, plus the music source itself, which is a separate cost layer.
The figures below are orders of magnitude for a small, single-location business playing background music. Real fees scale with occupancy, floor area and music usage, and the published licence types are revised periodically.
APRA AMCOS administers the works of songwriters, composers and publishers. For a small business playing background music, the annual component typically starts in the low hundreds of New Zealand dollars and scales with capacity, audible floor area and how the music is used. Venues with live music, dancing or events pay materially more. Details: apraamcos.co.nz
Recorded Music NZ administers the second layer: the sound recordings and the artists on them. Its component sits in a comparable order of magnitude and likewise depends on premises type, size and usage, with separate licence types for fitness, dance, functions and events. Details: recordedmusic.co.nz
OneMusic is not a third fee: it is the single licence, operated jointly by APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ, through which both layers are covered. One registration, one point of contact, one invoice covering both the works and the recordings, with licence types published by industry — hospitality, retail, fitness, hotels, workplaces and more. How it works: onemusicnz.com
Under the published licence types, the annual bill for even a small single-location venue commonly lands in the hundreds of dollars, and easily above a thousand for venues with meaningful capacity — and that is the floor, not the average. Restaurants with larger dining rooms, shops with bigger audible floor areas, hotels with multiple public spaces, and any venue with live music or dancing sit well above it. On top of the licence, the venue still needs a music source designed for commercial use, which is a further recurring cost.
And Spotify does not replace any of this. Consumer accounts on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music are licensed for personal use only; their terms of service explicitly exclude playback in commercial premises. A personal streaming subscription is not a music licence for a business — full details in our guide Can I use Spotify in my business?
The legal framework recognises that catalogues of works outside the repertoires administered by collecting societies are a legitimate alternative for commercial venues. When a service provider produces music in-house or works with a catalogue that has never been registered with the collecting societies, the works are not part of the repertoires they administer.
This is the framework under which My Corporate Radio operates. MCR is a music streaming service provider for commercial venues. The catalogue streamed to subscribers consists of works for which the rights have been settled directly between MCR and the producers and authors involved. Those works are not part of the repertoires administered by APRA AMCOS, Recorded Music NZ or equivalent collective management organisations in other jurisdictions.
Emanuele Carocci, a radio broadcaster with over 20 years of professional on-air experience, works as a host on national commercial radio and leads the music curation team at My Corporate Radio.
The MCR catalogue is programmed under his direction with the discipline of professional radio: five editorial stations plus a seasonal extra, each built for a context — the morning service in a cafe is not the late-afternoon shift in a hotel lobby, and the curation reflects that.
For a single-location business on the Background Music plan, the all-inclusive cost is €14.99 per month, billed in EUR$16.99 per month, billed in USD£12.99 per month, billed in GBP: the curated stations, the streaming infrastructure, announcements, and documentation of the catalogue's standing outside the collecting society repertoires. The 7-day free trial requires no credit card. For multi-location operators, custom pricing is available at sales@mycorporateradio.com.
OneMusic New Zealand is the joint licensing initiative established in 2013 by APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ to simplify licensing for Kiwi businesses: one registration, one point of contact and one invoice covering both layers. Details at onemusicnz.com.
Fees are published by licence type — hospitality, retail, fitness, hotels, workplaces and more — and depend on premises type, size or capacity and how the music is used. For a small business playing background music the annual amount typically lands in the hundreds of New Zealand dollars and scales from there. Verify the current figure for a specific venue directly with OneMusic New Zealand.
APRA AMCOS covers the musical works of songwriters, composers and publishers; Recorded Music NZ (formerly PPNZ Music Licensing) covers the sound recordings and the artists on them. The two layers do not overlap, and a varied popular playlist engages both — which is precisely why OneMusic licenses the two together.
Generally yes, if the music played includes works and recordings from their repertoires. Since 2013 both are handled through a single OneMusic NZ licence, so in practice a venue deals with one organisation for both layers.
For background music specifically, a business can use a streaming service whose catalogue consists of works outside the repertoires administered by the collecting societies, with rights settled directly between the service and the producers and authors involved. My Corporate Radio operates under this model. A venue that also performs works from those repertoires will still need the relevant licences for that repertoire.
The Background Music plan costs €14.99$16.99£12.99 per month, billed in the matching currency. The 7-day free trial requires no credit card. Multi-location pricing via sales@mycorporateradio.com.
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Official sources for current licensing fees:
OneMusic New Zealand: onemusicnz.com
APRA AMCOS NZ: apraamcos.co.nz
Recorded Music NZ: recordedmusic.co.nz
Copyright Tribunal of New Zealand: justice.govt.nz
Licence types are published by industry, revised periodically and vary by venue profile. For the figure that applies to a specific business, always consult the official organisation directly.