How do you add music & choreography? You need to add it to your account so it can be accessed by your iOS devices. Click this button:
on Windows / Mac / Linux / Chromebook and sign in with your Press Play and Go account. Then simply select the files you want to add and drag them to the upload area.
Files must be in MP3, AAC, or PDF format.
How long before I see my media appear in the app?
This is one of those frustrating answers of 'it depends'. In general the newer releases will usually appear almost immediately while the olders ones that have been ripped from CDs will take a little while.
When you add media to the system it first needs to be processed. For music this is to remove the periods of silence at the beginning & end of tracks and determine which tracks blend seamlessly into following ones. For booklets it is to map the areas of the PDF to specific tracks so that the associated content displays for choreography and technique.
If this content has been processed before then yours will automatically match and it will be assigned to your account and be immediately available. If it has not yet been processed before then it goes into a queue for me to do. That can take time. Most music can be done reasonably quickly although if a release has not yet been defined then that may take more time. Some are simple and can easily clone the previous release and change the relevant track details. Some are a lot more complex and change format between releases which means they take quite a bit longer. BODYJAM is the main offender here although the early TONE releases gave them a run for their money.
The choreography always takes the greatest amount of time. Sometimes it can be done in five minutes while on other occasions it can take up to an hour. It's quicker with more recent releases which use a consistent template. The very early ones are more problematic, especially when they are photocopies made at random angles.
In most cases for items that need manual processing we try to achieve a minimum of 3 choreographies & 100 audio tracks per person per day. If you need a release to appear urgently then please contact us and we will do our best to prioritise it. Have a look at the office hours as we tend to do the media processing first thing in our day.
What is the asterisk I sometime see next to a release?
It's an indicator that the details for that release are not yet publicly visible to everyone. If you have added some of the music for that release you will see it appear with the asterisk. If you have not added any music you won't see anything for that release at all.
This is done for forthcoming releases where instructors need to learn releases for workshops. The details are kept hidden because I think it's the right of the programme makers to have their spoiler-free launch. The details are made publicly available after the Australian workshops since that's generally 2-3 weeks before the releases are taught in gyms and the details are already over the internet by then.
What is the difference between original, cover, and streaming versions? It indicates where you can play the tracks. If you are in a place which pays the performing rights fee then you can use the original versions. If you are in a place which doesn't pay the performing rights fee then you should use the cover versions. The streaming versions are those used for teaching over Zoom when we were in lockdown.
In your mixes you can add cover and streaming items into playlists of originals. You can also add streaming items into playlists of covers. You cannot go the other way because the fines for doing that are very high.
See the item below if you want more details.
I really want to know more details about music licences Why? Don't you have better things to do with your life?
Most countries have licensing systems in place that require a fee to be paid when music is played in a public space. This includes cafes, bars, nightclubs, and gyms. There are usually two payments - one for the actual playing of the music (the performing rights) and one for the authors of the songs (the publishing rights). They are generally standard rates with the former being higher than the latter.
The entity managing this licensing in Australia is called the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia which is usually abbreviated to PPCA. In the UK it is the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). The USA appears to have American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.), and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC).
In Australia in 2010 the PPCA decided to massively increase their chargeable rate. It meant that for each class using licenced music (such as a Les Mills one) a gym would see its music licence fee rise from about $2.50 for the performing rights to at least $15.00 - a minimum sixfold increase. Multiply that by 30-100 classes a week depending on the size of the gym and understandably there was some consternation over this. The general view was that it would become necessary to cut the majority of group fitness classes using original music in order to stay financially viable.
Recognising that Australia was one of its biggest markets Les Mills quickly started to release cover versions of the music in their programmes there. That meant gyms still had to pay the publishing rights fee (which stayed sensibly acceptable) but they now didn't have to pay the performing rights fee. Gyms in other countries have started to follow.
So if you're teaching in a gym that pays the performing rights fee then you can play the original & cover music. Otherwise you should play only the cover versions. The streaming versions can be used anywhere.
So who benefitted from the original spat all those years ago? Well the PPCA (and the artists they represent) lost some income as a lot of gyms switched over to using cover music. It also showed other industries that was an option so damaged the PPCA's reputation and influence. Les Mills had increased costs because they needed to make more cover versions although they seem to have fallen on their feet with that in recent years as they can now use them as part of their LMOD product. The covers are competent but rarely exceed the original so the participants lost out. Overall, someone originally got greedy and everyone ended up losing. Except the lawyers, of course.
COST
Does the app cost money? Yes, but it has a very simple and fair pricing plan. You can add up to 1GB of your media to your app account and it remains free for you to use until you reach that 1GB limit. No matter how long that takes. Once you have reached the 1GB limit all the media you have in the app will continue to play. You will just not be able to add any new media to your app account.
So if you're a new instructor slowly building up a library of music and choreography you could possibly use the app for over a year for free.
With an active subscription you can add as much music and choreography as you want to the app. If the subscription expires you will still be able to use all the music currently downloaded to the app. So if you are taking a break from teaching then simply stop paying. All your music and choreography remains available for when you start teaching again. Just resubscribe when you want to start adding more media (or if you move to a new phone) and you can continue from where you left off.
How much? It's an in-app purchase and so can vary by country and currency as Apple sets the price from a baseline. In Australian dollars it's $9.99 per quarter or $35.99 per year.
Go into the 'My account' item on the main screen to see the price in your local currency.
Another app with a subscription? Yes. The app has ongoing server costs. Development takes a lot of time, effort, and knowledge. If it costs more than it earns then the app would not be sustainable.
Is that tax-deductible? In most countries, yes. The app is a business expense and so is tax-deductible.
Go into the 'Reports' item on the main screen and tap the 'Purchase Details' button. You can share the generated receipts with your accountant.
INSTALL
Step 1
Tap the above button to get it from the App Store. It is recommended that you create a free account when opening the app.
Requirement: iOS 16.6 or later
Step 2 There is no step 2 required for installation.
But to start adding your music and choreography click this button:
on Windows / Mac / Linux / Chromebook and sign in with your Press Play and Go account. Then simply select the files you want to add and drag them to the upload area.