NMPA Publishers File Lawsuit Against Digitally-Connected Workout Company Peloton

National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) members Downtown Music Publishing, Pulse Music Publishing, ole, peermusic, Ultra Music, Big Deal Music, Reservoir, Round Hill, TRO Essex Music Group, and The Royalty Network have filed a lawsuit against the digitally-connected workout company, Peloton, for infringement of more than a thousand musical works. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of over $150 million.

While the fitness technology company has licensed with some of the music publishing industry, it has failed to do so with a significant number of publishers, leaving a great deal of income lost to songwriters.

NMPA President & CEO David Israelite said:

“Music is a core part of the Peloton business model and is responsible for much of the brand’s swift success. Thousands of exclusive videos and playlists are a major reason hundreds of thousands of people have purchased Peloton products.

“Unfortunately, instead of recognizing the integral role of songwriters to its company, Peloton has built its business by using their work without their permission or fair compensation for years.

“It is frankly unimaginable that a company of this size and sophistication would think it could exploit music in this way without the proper licenses for this long, and we look forward to getting music creators what they deserve.”

Peloton has released thousands of music-driven videos that include unlicensed music recorded by artists such as Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Thomas Rhett, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Florida Georgia Line, Drake, Gwen Stefani and many more.

The company has been alleged to be willfully infringing since it launched at-home streaming capabilities in 2014. The brand offers a subscription service with over 13,000 workouts and the company was recently valued at $4 billion.