Music licence for a hair salon in New Zealand: what OneMusic costs
Music does half the atmosphere work in a hair salon: it relaxes clients at the basin, covers the dryers and tells people what kind of salon they have walked into. Legally, though, the playlist in your salon is not the playlist in your lounge. Playing music where clients and staff can hear it is a public performance of copyright-protected work under the Copyright Act 1994, and in New Zealand the permission for almost all commercial music is sold through a single door: OneMusic, the joint licensing initiative of APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ.
This guide is published on the blog of ViteUneCoupe, a booking tool that gives hair salons free online bookings with no commission, and it treats music licensing the way we treat software pricing: figures from the official rate card, dated, with the alternatives assessed honestly rather than sold as loopholes. Every figure below was checked on 22 October 2026.
Why is music in your salon a "public performance"?
Under New Zealand copyright law, playing protected music in a business requires permission from the people who own the rights in it. OneMusic's own explainer puts it plainly: permission is needed "regardless of how you play music, whether you play the radio, TV, CDs, or use digital music services", and "simply buying music or paying for a subscription service does not give you the permission you need to play music in a business setting" (OneMusic hair and beauty page, checked in October 2026). Hairdressers are named explicitly in the list of businesses that need a licence.
The source does not matter: a radio by the till, a Bluetooth speaker, a playlist on a tablet. Nor does it matter that you charge nothing for the music; it accompanies a commercial activity, and that is enough. One genuine simplification compared with wages or leave: copyright is national law, so the rules are the same in Auckland, Christchurch and Gore.
Who are APRA AMCOS, Recorded Music NZ and OneMusic?
Two families of rightsholders are paid when recorded music is played in public:
- APRA AMCOS represents songwriters, composers and music publishers (the written songs);
- Recorded Music NZ represents recording artists and record labels (the recordings themselves).
A salon once needed to deal with both. OneMusic New Zealand bundles both sets of rights into one licence with one invoice. It is a different organisation from OneMusic Australia, with its own schemes and its own prices, so ignore any Australian dollar figures you find online. For a hair salon the relevant scheme is the Retail & General Music Licence: OneMusic's hair and beauty page tells salons to pick "Retail" as the industry and "Hair Salon" as the business type when applying, and notes that OneMusic is an official partner of Hair & Barber New Zealand.
How much does a OneMusic licence cost a hair salon?
The rates are published in OneMusic's official Retail & General Music Licence agreement (checked on 22 October 2026). All figures below are annual, in New Zealand dollars, include 15 % GST, and apply to the licence period 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027; OneMusic may adjust the GST-exclusive rates by CPI each year. Two things drive the price: the floor area of your premises, and whether your music involves downloading, copying or streaming from an online service.
The base Background Music rate depends only on floor area:
| Premises area | Annual background music fee (GST incl.) |
|---|---|
| 0 to 49 m² | NZ$375.95 |
| 50 to 99 m² | NZ$451.14 |
| 100 to 149 m² | NZ$541.37 |
| 150 to 499 m² | NZ$691.75 |
Two modifiers matter enormously for a salon:
- Radio only, half price. If the only device playing music in your business is a terrestrial radio, the background music rate is 50 % of the published rate: about NZ$188 a year for a salon under 50 m².
- Streaming costs extra. If you download, copy or access an online streaming service to play music, a Digital Delivery fee of NZ$360.93 per premises per year is added on top of the background music rate.
So for a deliberately hypothetical 40 m² salon, the annual licence is roughly NZ$188 if the music is a radio and nothing else, NZ$375.95 for CDs or other non-streamed sources, and NZ$736.88 (NZ$375.95 + NZ$360.93) if the music comes from a streaming service: about NZ$14 a week. OneMusic invoices annually or by automated monthly payments, and the fee is a deductible business expense. Phone systems that play music to callers on hold are a separate rate card, which a typical salon with a mobile number never touches.
If you like seeing the whole fixed-cost column at once, our breakdown of the real cost of salon software in New Zealand applies the same method to the booking side, and one line there can honestly read $0.
Can you play Spotify or Apple Music in your salon?
No, not on a personal account, and this is the platforms' own position rather than a licensing technicality. Spotify's support page states that "Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use" and names salons among the businesses where it cannot be broadcast or played publicly (checked in October 2026). A Premium subscription changes nothing: it removes the ads, not the restriction.
The OneMusic side is just as clear. The Digital Delivery fee exists precisely because many businesses stream anyway, but OneMusic's hair and beauty FAQ says in plain words that its licence, even with Digital Delivery, "does not override the Terms of Use for the personal digital music service, nor does it give you permission to use that particular digital music service for a commercial purpose". So a salon playing a personal Spotify account is exposed twice: to the rightsholders if it holds no OneMusic licence, and to the platform for breaching its terms even if it does.
The practical answer, if you want recognisable songs, is a business streaming service: a product sold for commercial premises, with salon-ready playlists and terms that allow public playing. Before subscribing, ask the provider one question in writing: does its catalogue still require a OneMusic licence (in which case budget the Digital Delivery fee on top), or is it licensed outside the collecting societies entirely?
The legal alternatives, honestly assessed
Radio: the cheapest licensed option, not a free one
"The station already pays, so I owe nothing" is the most persistent myth, and the rate card itself disproves it: there is a specific half-price rate for businesses whose only device is a terrestrial radio. The station's licences cover its broadcast, not the separate public playing that happens when you switch it on in front of clients. At about NZ$188 a year for a salon under 50 m², radio is the cheapest way to fill a salon with commercial music; it is not a free one.
Direct-licensed background music: real, with paperwork
Music that sits entirely outside the APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ repertoires, cleared for business use, can be played without a OneMusic licence, because there is nothing for OneMusic to license. Services built on this model exist: Melodial, for example, states that it owns its entire catalogue outright, that none of it is registered with any collecting society, and that a business playing Melodial exclusively needs no other licence, at NZ$9.99 a month (claims checked on the vendor's own site in October 2026; we have not audited its catalogue). The caveat is the word "exclusively": the moment one staff member switches to the radio or a chart playlist, you are back in OneMusic territory. Get the provider's confirmation in writing, keep it with your receipts, and accept the trade-off: no recognisable songs.
Silence
The only genuinely free option. A few high-end salons make calm part of their positioning; most owners decide the dryers need covering.
What happens when OneMusic contacts you?
Expect the contact, because it is routine rather than targeted. RNZ reported in June 2025 that OneMusic was speaking to hundreds of businesses a week through its compliance programme, hairdressers among them, including sending people to visit premises and check whether music is playing. The stated approach is education first: most contacts end with the business taking out the appropriate licence. For those who simply refuse, court is the backstop; the same report notes earlier court cases that ended in damages in the NZ$15,000 to NZ$18,000 range.
No need for scare stories, because the arithmetic settles it on its own: the licence for a typical small salon costs a few hundred dollars a year, while ignoring it leaves you carrying a legal risk out of all proportion to the saving. If OneMusic calls or emails, answer honestly: declare your floor area and music source and pay the matching rate, switch to a genuinely direct-licensed service and say so, or confirm that you play no music at all. What does not work is ignoring the letters: the file does not close itself. This article is general information, not legal advice; for a dispute, talk to your lawyer.
If you are buying an existing hair salon, add the music licence to your due diligence list: licences are tied to the business, so check whether the seller holds one and whether it needs to be taken out fresh in your name.
The 10-minute decision path
- Measure your premises. Under 50 m² puts you in the cheapest band of the rate card.
- Pick your source. Radio and nothing else: about NZ$188 a year under 50 m². CDs or other non-streamed music: NZ$375.95. Streaming anything: add NZ$360.93 Digital Delivery, and never stream from a personal Spotify or Apple Music account, because the platform's own terms forbid it whatever you pay OneMusic.
- Going direct-licensed only? Collect the provider's written confirmation that its catalogue is outside the APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ repertoires, and make sure nothing else ever plays.
- Apply. OneMusic signs businesses up online at onemusicnz.com or on 0800 800 663, with annual or automated monthly payment. Keep your declared floor area and sources accurate, and update them when the salon changes.
- Opening a new salon? Put the music licence on the same formalities list as your insurance and EFTPOS terminal; our guide to opening a hair salon in New Zealand has the full checklist in order.
Having paid for the right to play music, make it earn its fee: volume low enough that a colour consultation does not need raised voices, a style matched to your positioning rather than to whoever reached the speaker first, and a playlist long enough that your team is not hearing the same twenty songs every day. The sound of the salon is part of the same client experience as the greeting at the door and the ease of booking an appointment at 10 pm.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a music licence just to play the radio in my hair salon?
Yes. The station's licences cover its own broadcast, not the public playing in your salon. OneMusic's Retail & General rate card prices this exact case at 50 % of the background music rate when a terrestrial radio is the only device: about NZ$188 a year including GST for a salon under 50 m², for the period 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027 (checked in October 2026).
Can I play my personal Spotify account in the salon if I buy a OneMusic licence?
No. Spotify's own terms restrict the service to personal, non-commercial use and name salons among the businesses where it cannot be played, and OneMusic states that its licence does not override a streaming service's terms of use. Use a business streaming service sold for commercial premises instead, and check in writing whether it still requires a OneMusic licence on top.
How much is a OneMusic licence for a small hair salon in New Zealand?
For a salon under 50 m², the GST-inclusive annual rates for 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027 are NZ$375.95 for background music, about NZ$188 if the only device is a terrestrial radio, and NZ$736.88 if the music comes from an online streaming service (the NZ$360.93 Digital Delivery fee added to the base rate), figures checked in October 2026 on OneMusic's official rate card. Rates rise with floor area and may move with CPI each October, so confirm against the current card when you apply.
Does music in the staff-only back room need a licence?
OneMusic's position is that permission is needed wherever its members' music is played in a business, and it operates a separate Music at Work scheme for workplaces where only staff hear the music. RNZ's June 2025 report describes a shop owner being told she needed a licence for a radio playing in her back room. If your salon's only music is in a staff area, ask OneMusic which scheme and rate apply before assuming you are exempt.
Does a mobile hairdresser need a OneMusic licence?
The Retail & General scheme is written around fixed business premises and their floor area, so it does not map neatly onto working in clients' homes. If you are mobile and music matters to you, confirm your exact situation with OneMusic on 0800 800 663 before paying for anything, and see our guide to working as a mobile hairdresser in New Zealand for the rest of the setup.
