OneMusic Just Won a Court Case Against Small Bars. Here Is What It Means for You

In January 2026, OneMusic concluded Federal Circuit and Family Court proceedings against the owners of several small bars over unlicensed music. The message for every Australian venue is simple: “small” does not mean exempt.

What happened

OneMusic, the joint licensing initiative of APRA AMCOS and the PPCA, took the owners of several small bars to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia after music was being publicly performed at the venues without a licence. The matter was resolved on the basis that the owners paid the full amount of licence fees owed for their past use of music, plus OneMusic’s legal costs.

The critical detail: those combined costs were a substantial increase on what the bars would have paid had they simply been licensed for public performance from the day they opened.

Ignoring the letters is the expensive mistake

OneMusic was clear about the lesson: businesses need to properly license the public performance of music and not ignore OneMusic correspondence. Court is always a last resort, but once compliance letters are ignored, the amount at stake climbs from a modest annual licence fee to back fees, interest, damages and legal costs.

The pattern is consistent. A Melbourne cafe and bar was ordered to pay nearly A$200,000. A South Australian karaoke venue was ordered to pay A$136,000. In each case a business chose to gamble on not getting caught, and lost far more than a licence would ever have cost.

”Small” is not a loophole

A small bar, a laneway wine room, a 30-seat cafe: if customers or staff can hear recorded music, that is a public performance under the Copyright Act. The size of the room does not change the legal position, and this case shows OneMusic is willing to litigate against small operators, not just chains.

The simple way to never be that headline

Melodial is fully licensed background music with the commercial licence built into a single subscription from A$9.99/month. The music is Melodial’s own, licensed directly, so there are no separate OneMusic fees and every venue gets a Certificate of Compliance to display. Your bar plays great music, legally, for less than one court letter’s worth of stress.