A group of music publishers is suing the exercise bike company Peloton for allegedly using music from Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Drake and others without permission.
The music publishers are specifically suing Peloton for copyright infringement and are requesting more than $150,000,000 in damages, according to a report published Tuesday by The Blast.
The companies allege that their hit music is necessary for Peloton to create its popular workout videos, in court documents obtained by The Blast.
They claim Peloton “publishes the music playlists for some of its archived videos and offers consumers the ability to select workout classes based on the type of music they want to hear, allowing them to choose a class focusing on, for example, classic rock, contemporary pop, electronic, hip hop or country, among other genres.” (RELATED: Kelly Ripa’s Workout Routine Sounds Intense)
Peloton currently has more than 600,000 subscribers and the company is worth roughly $4 billion, according to TMZ. The companies think this success is directly linked to Peloton using hit music to craft playlists that consumers want to hear.
Peloton obtained licenses for other copyright holders, but did not make any effort to obtain licenses for these specific companies.
Songs included in the lawsuit are “Diamonds” by Rihanna, “Don’t Wake Me Up” by Chris Brown, and even older tracks like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar.