Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
A US district judge has squashed Peloton’s counter lawsuit today, against music publishers who claimed the fitness company violated rights to use select artists’ music in its workout videos. Peloton hosts live cycling and running classes that are performed to a curated playlist, but the National Music Publishers’ Association claimed that because Peloton classes can be streamed on bikes, treadmills, or mobile apps, it did not have sufficient licensing to broadcast the music over the air.
In a lawsuit filed last March, the NMPA’s complaint alleged Peloton needed the more expansive (and expensive) “sync license,” which allows music to be played to match its visual media output. Peloton classes are often conducted to the progression of each…