Peloton Class Action Says 57% Of Classes Deleted

Peloton Interactive Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit by three individuals who claim that the exercise company deleted around 57 percent of their on-demand fitness class library.

Eric Fishon, Alicia Pearlman, and Patrick Yang say that Peloton removed many classes from its on-demand library because the company was accused of copyright infringement by members of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

The copyright lawsuit against Peloton claims that the fitness company has been using musical works in its workout videos for a long time and did not get the proper licensing to do so. Thus, in March 2019, Peloton removed every class from its library that had one or more of the copyrighted songs, the plaintiffs allege.

The Peloton class action lawsuit states that the removal of the infringing music resulted in 5,739 classes being taken off the platform, which substantially reduced the on-demand options which would have been available to users.

The removal of the copyrighted music also decreased the quality and quantity of popular music that is available on the defendant’s workout playlists, which reduced the users’ experience with the subscription service, the plaintiffs allege.

The Peloton class action lawsuit states that music from artists such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kanye West, and Justin Timberlake were taken off the on-demand fitness platform.

“In addition to losing more than 50% of their on-demand classes, users have lamented that the workouts in the new classes (those without the removed songs) don’t ‘flow like they used to’ and have struggled to ‘find a playlist with 50 percent decent songs’ since Peloton’s removal of the infringing works,” the plaintiffs state.

The plaintiffs also allege that Peloton’s CEO John Foley stated that the removal of classes would not affect the users’ experience with the service.

“That representation, however, is demonstrably false and Peloton never disclosed to its subscribers, including Plaintiffs and the other Class members, that it would be removing over half of the classes from its on-demand library,” the Peloton class action lawsuit argues.

In addition, the plaintiffs claim that the NMPA recently filed an amended complaint in the copyright action and stated that it found another 1,324 songs on the platform that would probably result in the company’s removal of more classes from its on-demand library.

The Peloton class action lawsuit states that the company continues to market “an expansive, ever-growing library of live and on-demand studio classes taught by world-class instructors” despite the fact that they are removing music from its platform.

The plaintiffs say they are entitled to use an on-demand library that continues to grow, as the company has continued to represent. The class action lawsuit states that Peloton should have known that their users would not be able to utilize the full library because the amount of classes being reduced.

“By misrepresenting that its on-demand digital library would be ‘ever-growing’ and failing to disclose the imminent removal of over half of its on-demand library, Peloton defrauded Plaintiffs and the other Class members, deprived them of the benefit of their bargain with Peloton, and/or unjustly enriched themselves at Plaintiffs’ and the other Class members’ expense,” the plaintiffs contend.

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The plaintiffs are represented by Gregg G. Gutzler, Adam Levitt, and Adam Prom of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC and Ashley C. Keller and J. Dominick Larry of Keller Lenkner LLC.

The Peloton Class Action Lawsuit is Eric Fishon, et al. v. Peloton Interactive Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-11711, in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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