Under the Copyright Act (1994), having permission from music creators to use their music outside of a domestic setting is a legal requirement. This permission is required regardless of how you play music – whether you play the radio, CDs, use digital music services, play music live, or host live performances. Your OneMusic licence gives you permission to play essentially all commercially released music from here and around the world.

When hosting ticketed events you will need to hold separate event licences.

If you have live performances only (e.g. live band playing their own instruments without a backing track) you will need the APRA event licence. For events that include both live music and recorded music (e.g. bands and DJs), a licence is required from both APRA for the rights to perform musical works, and Recorded Music NZ for the rights to perform sound recordings. 

Apply for event licences here:

Places of Worship require a OneMusic licence when they use music outside of worship services. This includes functions as well as during activities such as youth groups, study groups, socials and meetings where there is no charge for admission.

Please contact CCLI directly to discuss what your licence with them covers.

In most cases both licenses will be required.

Simply buying music does not provide the rights to use this music in a commercial or public setting. Music is sold for private/domestic use, so any use of this music by an organisation or business requires the permission of music creators to use their music.

Yes it is - the Copyright Act (1994) clearly establishes public performance rights, protecting the rights of music creators. The Copyright Act also outlines the penalties for anyone in breach of the Act. You can access the Copyright Act (1994) here.

When you play music in an organisation you need the permission to do so. Additional permission is also needed when you download, copy, or use a digital music service​.

Learn more about Music Dubbing here.

OneMusic is a joint licensing initiative between APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ. Many music creators around the world earn an income by granting organisations, like ours, the right to collect and pay their royalties.

OneMusic simplifies the licensing process and allows music users to meet their copyright obligations to play our music in their business.

When you hear about music royalties, that’s what we do. Licence fees are distributed to songwriters, composers, publishers, recording artists and record labels, by APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ, who are the companies behind OneMusic. Click here to find out more.

Click here to find out more about why you need a licence and the authenticity of our rights from other industry and government bodies and New Zealand associations.