From the 1st of July 2020, you are able to livestream Les Mills workouts to your club members through a platform of your choice. Several of our larger programs now include cover music that you can use for livestreaming. As we’re looking ahead, livestreaming can be a great way to connect with your club members alongside your live and virtual timetable.
The livestreaming of Les Mills releases needs to be done via a licensed club with a certified instructor.
Just as with live classes, you can only livestream programmes that your club is licensed in, and your instructor needs to be certified in that programme.
Livestream classes can be done remotely, or you can simultaneously livestream live classes in your facility.
An additional livestream music license is required. You may also need to use cover music in these livestreams, so please check with your local music society before starting.
To help you livestream successfully, we have created a livestream guide that covers music licensing requirements, key business rules and set-up recommendations.
If you are interested in livestreaming Les Mills classes, please contact your Customer Experience Manager or email nordic@lesmills.com to talk through any questions you may have and get your club set up. Please visit here to read the additional terms to livestream Les Mills classes.
We made the Les Mills Original options available so that there was some Les Mills content to teach during lockdown while we worked through a solution to enable clubs to livestream our regular LES MILLS Programs. We now have a solution to our music licensing requirements that will allow this.
You can livestream a live class when your club is open if you follow a few clear guidelines. If you are using cover music for livestreaming, you will need to use cover music for the workouts you livestream. If your class participants are going to be filmed, you will need to gain their permission and show them where in the room they can stand if they don’t want to be on a livestream.
The rules around a livestream class is the same as for a live class. It needs to be taught by an active, certified Instructor in that specific Les Mills program on behalf of a club licensed for that Les Mills program. Unlike the live class, the Instructor does not need to be inside the club, but you do need to livestream through a club account.
Les Mills workouts should only be available to your club’s registered members (or select groups of people) and should not be broadcast to the general public. This means that most of your livestream workouts should be current members, or participants paying on a casual basis. You can livestream to non-paying participants for member acquisition activities in the same way you would do a club open day, but this needs to be with registered participants or small groups.
We recommend Zoom as many clubs, Instructors, and participants will be familiar with Zoom, and it has some great features. You can use the livestream platform that works best for your club. You just need to make sure you are adhering to the terms of use for that specific platform.
No, livestream classes cannot be saved for any length of time.
We’ve done a small number of livestream tests on LES MILLS+, using cover music and our Program Directors based in Auckland, New Zealand. It was done to test out how to best approach livestreaming. Many of the recommendations we make in the livestream guide have come from these learnings.
Each club is responsible for obtaining the necessary licenses to live stream classes in their country. Clubs should get in touch with the relevant Performing Rights Organization (PRO) that represents the songwriters/publishers in their country to find out about the licenses required. Clubs will already have a licence from their PRO for the use of music in live/virtual classes in their clubs.
Clubs will have a licence from their Performing Rights Organization (PRO) to play the music in a live/virtual classes in their clubs. However, a licence is required from the PRO for the online activity of livestreaming, unless the club uses a social media platform that is already licensed in their country.
Cover Music is available to all instructors/clubs for live streaming. Les Mills cannot authorise the use of Original Artist Recordings in livestreaming. Local Performing Rights Organisation (PRO) for sound recording rights may be able to provide licenses to clubs to use Original Artist Recordings. Clubs will need to make your own enquiries with the relevant PRO.
If an instructor has purchased an original release, they will be able to download the related cover music file from the Instructor Portal at no extra charge for Q1 and Q2 of 2020. This will be available from the 1st of July and is to help instructors and clubs to get set up with livestreaming. Going forward, when an Instructor purchases the original release, they will also be able to download the cover music file at no extra cost.
If you are using cover music for livestreaming, you unfortunately will not be able to teach a program that does not have cover music available.
To begin with, we will have cover music available for BODYBALANCE™/BODYFLOW®, BODYPUMP™, BODYCOMBAT™, BODYATTACK™, LES MILLS CORE™, RPM™, SH’BAM™ and BODYSTEP™. After that, we will look at having cover music available for LES MILLS BARRE™, LES MILLS SPRINT™ and LES MILLS GRIT. At this time, we will not be providing cover music for BODYJAM™ or LES MILLS TONE™.
We understand that some Instructors have needed to purchase both original release kits and cover kits up until now due to the different facilities they teach in. However, in order to support both clubs and instructors get set up to livestream the cover music file will be available to download free of charge. It is important to note that this is not a full kit – it is only the cover music file for those who have already purchased the original release and does not include the Masterclass or choreography notes.
Yes, the current club agreement does not cover the livestream of Les Mills workouts. If you would like to livestream Les Mills classes, you will need to read the additional terms provided by your local Les Mills team.
The rules around a livestream are the same as for a live workout. You can only livestream programs that you have a license for, and you need to use an active Les Mills instructor certified in that program.
To help clubs get set up for livestreaming during this time, we will not be charging any additional fees for the first three months. We will be then be looking to include this in your ongoing partnership.
Yes you can stream whilst teaching a class however you will need to make sure your paticipants sign a waiver or are off camera.
If you are just teaching your usual Live classes (no livestreaming) outdoors at their facility then you can treat it exactly the same as indoor classes. If you are teaching the class outdoors AND livestreaming that class, then they are restricted to the livestreaming releases but can do this.
Yes, as with live classes, you are only able to teach programs that you are certified in. As livestreaming is a new addition for Les Mills, you will need to read the additional terms provided by your local Les Mills team.
Livestreaming needs to be through a licensed facility. This is due to how the music rights have been purchased; it is the facility that has the license to stream the music.
Unfortunately not at this stage. As with live classes, any livestreamed Les Mills workouts need to be done with a licensed club and should only be done for the specific programs the club has licenses for.
Cover music files will be available to download for releases purchased from Q1 2020.
Yes, this is something we are working on making available for Instructors and will let you know when this is available.
You can continue to livestream the Les Mills Original content we made available through YouTube, but you are not able to livestream with standard Les Mills programs. As with a live workout, these need to be delivered in conjunction with a licensed club.
Yes, we understand that not all instructors are able to teach for a club at the moment, so you are still able to livestream the Les Mills Originals content that is available through YouTube.
These will be available for you to use while clubs are still closed, but we will not be creating any new content for this playlist and once clubs are fully open this will no longer be available.
The Les Mills Originals/royalty free music was a short-term solution to keep clubs and instructors connected to their members during lockdown. Although these releases were good, they were put together quickly and are not the same premium quality as our standard release. Instructors can use this content while clubs are still closed, but our goal with providing a long-term livestreaming solution is bringing Instructors back to clubs to teach in some capacity.
Similar to teaching a live workout, you can livestream on behalf of a licensed club for programs you are actively certified as an Instructor. There is no additional education requirement.
Yes, we believe livestreaming will help support member engagement going forward and will be discussing this with all club partners.