Peloton users are complaining about music options after company faced copyright lawsuit
The company faced a £116m ($150m) copyright lawsuit last month
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Your support makes all the difference.Peloton users are complaining about the expensive exercise bike’s poor music selection a month after the company was sued for playing unlicensed music.
In March, Peloton faced a £116m ($150m) lawsuit by members of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) for failing to obtain synch licences for some of the songs played in its exercise videos and in its playlists.
As a result, users, who pay a £362 ($468) annual workout membership in addition to the cost of the £1,738 ($2,245) bike, have noticed a decline in the quality and availability of music for their workouts.
According to one Peloton user, who spoke to The Verge, “random songs are plopped in the middle of an otherwise consistently themed playlist” - meaning her workouts don’t “flow like they used to”.
The limited songs available reportedly include tracks from the Now That’s What I Call Music catalogue.
Other users are airing their grievances with Peloton’s music quality on Reddit and Twitter.
As reported by Engadget, one person wrote: “I’m enjoying rides much less than before. Peloton needs to get serious about upping their music game.
“I get they may not have been prepared, but we are a month in (I think) and still having poor quality playlists.”
Another person said: “It’s not the change in music that annoys me the most, but rather the loss of the classes that had the music at issue in them.”
As part of the lawsuit, Peloton was forced to remove full exercise classes because they contained songs that violated copyright.
The issue has also led people to criticise Peloton for failing to pay artists for the rights to their songs, considering the success of the company.
“Musical artists are trying to survive too,” one person tweeted. “Please pay them for their efforts. So sick of big companies using others’ art for their gain for free.”
“ALWAYS Pay for your music people!” someone else wrote.
The Independent has contacted Peloton for comment.
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