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Music publishers are fighting Peloton over its use of music, including works by Taylor Swift.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Music publishers are continuing to fight Peloton over how it uses music in its workout classes. On Thursday, the National Music Publishers’ Association filed a request to amend its complaint to now seek $300 million in damages after discovering an additional more than 1,200 songs that Peloton had allegedly used, but not paid artists for, including Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” and the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”.
“Since filing this lawsuit we have now discovered more than double the number of songs for which the plaintiffs’ songwriters were never paid by Peloton. The fact that Peloton has gone this long without proper music licenses is astounding,” NMPA President and CEO David Israelite said in a statement.
The request for increased damages comes right as Peloton prepares to go public. On Tuesday, the company set a share price range of $26 to $29 for its IPO, which would value it at around $8 billion, double its current valuation set by private investors.
In its registration filing, the company noted that music was an “important element” to its content and also a particular business risk: “We depend upon third-party licenses for the use of music in our content. An adverse change to, loss of, or claim that we do not hold necessary licenses may have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.”
The fitness company rose in popularity thanks to its instructors mixing bike and treadmill workouts to pop hits. The cohort of music publishers first filed suit against Peloton in March and the company subsequently removed some classes from its service. Now, the NMPA is asking the courts to consider its amended complaint now that it has uncovered more songs used by Peloton.
The New York-based company plans to fight the lawsuit, calling the NMPA “anti-competitive.”
“This platform could only have been developed with the close collaboration of our trusted music partners, which include all of the major labels, major music publishers and performance rights organizations, among many others,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to defend ourselves against claims made in this matter and look forward to pursuing our counterclaims.”
