Rick Gleave, Founder, Music Foundry
As someone deeply immersed in the music technology industry and leading the entry of FitnessPlayer’s music playlisting tool into the UK market, I’ve had to take a long hard look at the challenges faced by group fitness instructors when preparing music for their classes. Trust me when I say it’s not as simple as you may think.
It’s not as easy as just pulling together a collection of songs on your personal Spotify or Apple Music account. That approach is neither legal nor for fit purpose and ultimately leads to a pretty suboptimal experience for all.
When people come to fitness classes, they expect to work out to music they know and love – music that resonates with them on an emotional level. Music is the heartbeat of every workout, so fitness instructors are under high pressure to curate that killer playlist.
But the process of selecting the right tracks, mixing them, and ensuring legal compliance is pretty overwhelming. It demands significant time and effort, something that instructors can scarcely afford when their focus should be on delivering vitalising workouts.
Simplifying instructor processes with music technology
To meet these instructors’ needs, technology must be used to provide not just a music playlisting service, but a seamless user experience.
Access to a comprehensive, legally compliant music library is all well and good. An intuitive interface for instructors to edit and mix their tracks goes a step further to solving their problem.
Harnessing tech to provide user-friendly customisation tools allows instructors to create an immersive experience with well-loved tracks tailored to motivate their class.
The future: innovating with consumer expectations in mind
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, group fitness instructors, like all consumers, will have ever-increasing expectations. To maintain innovation in the fitness industry, music tech needs to remain dedicated to ongoing product development.
I also believe that the future of music in health and fitness must be led by educating the sector to ensure compliance with music licensing laws in every market.
We must respect the music industry food chain and the rightsholders that operate in each part of it. By ensuring that all parties are properly compensated, we uphold the integrity of the music industry and ensure a sustainable future for everyone involved.
As FitnessPlayer’s UK lead, I am actively working with gym operators to foster awareness, education, and growth for our music playlisting and background music services.
Yes, I am driven by tech and elegant, intuitive products, but let’s remember that music and fitness are the intrinsically linked power couple in this story. Together, they transform workouts from routines into emotionally resonant experiences and in turn ensure that attending the gym is not a chore but a joy!