Peloton CEO John Foley has revealed that the fitness startup is removing classes featuring music cited in a recent lawsuit filed by publishers in the US.
“Peloton respects the rights of all creators, including performing artists and songwriters. The filing of the lawsuit is unfortunate and disappointing, as it occurred after what appeared to be fruitful discussions with most of the publishers named. Regardless, out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to remove classes that feature songs that were identified by these publishers,” he wrote in a letter to Peloton members.
The publishers involved in the lawsuit include Downtown Music Publishing, Pulse Music Publishing, ole, peermusic, Ultra Music, Big Deal Music, Reservoir, Round Hill, TRO Essex Music Group and The Royalty Network, with songs recorded by artists including Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Drake among those cited as being infringed by Peloton.
Foley continued. “Peloton has agreements in place with all of what are known as the ‘major’ publishers, record labels and performing rights organizations, as well as many independent publishers and labels.” But publishing being what it is, with rights to a work often divided between multiple companies, having licensing deals with just the majors and some independents isn’t necessarily a guarantee against copyright-infringement allegations.
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