Photo Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
About 10 months after settling an ugly copyright infringement lawsuit involving 14 music publishers, Peloton is officially producing exclusive music – beginning with three Elvis remixes.
The New York City-headquartered exercise-equipment company recently unveiled the trio of Elvis remixes, which became available exclusively via the Peloton platform today. (Peloton Digital memberships, available as standalone purchases, cost $12.99 per month.) Chromeo (“Clean Up Your Own Backyard”), Big Boi (“Catchin’ on Fast”), and Dillon Francis (“Do the Vega”) crafted the updated takes on Elvis classics, and the works are currently featured in four exercise classes.
Dillon Francis “is a Peloton Member himself,” the formal release notes before disclosing a brief quote from the 33-year-old DJ. “Music is super important when I exercise. I’m always finding music on Peloton, which is one of my favorite things because music is what makes me work out harder,” said Francis, who appeared in Fortnite with Steve Aoki and Deadmau5 earlier this year.
For Peloton, which has seen its stock price explode from approximately $30 per share at 2020’s start to nearly $155 per share when the market closed today, the high-profile move is just the latest byproduct of a long-running emphasis on direct music integration and song-centered exercise experiences.
Last November, in the midst of its aforementioned $300 million courtroom confrontation with 14 NMPA-corralled publishers, the almost nine-year-old company introduced “Artist Series” exercise classes with Paul McCartney, Jennifer Lopez, Lizzo, and others. (Over the summer, Peloton revealed in its FY Q3 earnings report that it had spent north of $60 million on litigation and settlements.)
And in November of 2020, after enjoying months of record-breaking sales and revenue growth amid COVID-related restrictions and lockdown measures, Peloton announced a “broad, multi-year partnership” with Beyoncé. Under the comprehensive deal, Beyoncé – who received the most nominations for the upcoming Grammy Awards – will “work closely with Peloton on various forms of class curation…touching on areas of importance to her, including music, movement, fitness and wellness.”
With many fitness-minded customers presumably poised to purchase Peloton products and memberships in the new year, evidence suggests that the company will continue to make moves in music (affording artists additional earning opportunities) while further growing its market reach.
As part of the latter, Peloton revealed nine days back that it is set to acquire exercise-equipment maker Precor for $420 million, in part “to establish U.S. manufacturing capacity.” Precor is a subsidiary of Helsinki-headquartered Amer Sports, which itself is partially held by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. The involved parties expect the Precor buyout to wrap early in 2021.