And the band played on. Peloton has come to terms with members of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), which had brought a lawsuit against the exercise machine maker over alleged copyright infringement. The association said at the time that Peloton had been illegally featuring music from Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and others.
The parties also said they have now entered a joint collaboration agreement focused on Peloton’s music licensing.
"Music is an important part of the Peloton experience, and we are very proud to have pioneered a new revenue stream for recording artists and songwriters,” Paul DeGooyer, Peloton’s head of music, said in a statement. “We're equally proud to partner with [NMPA President and CEO David Israelite] and the NMPA to ensure that songwriters are, and continue to be, fairly compensated. With the NMPA's input, we are confident our proprietary, state-of-the-art music system will provide an even more dynamic fitness experience for our millions of members worldwide."
Trading up? In other Peloton lawsuit news, the company has secured a settlement in its case against Flywheel, with the latter company admitting to patent infringement earlier this month. Flywheel will be shutting down its at-home classes as part of the agreement. Additionally, Peloton is providing Flywheel customers who did not finance their bikes a refurbished Peloton device as a replacement.
Best Buy dips deeper into health devices. Best Buy has launched the Lively Wearable2 and Lively App by GreatCall as the latest addition to its Best Buy Health product line. Designed for older adults, wrist- or neck-worn device includes fall detection, a step counter, a four-month battery life and the ability trigger an emergency alert. The paired app, meanwhile, can connect to 24-7 urgent response services as well as a monitoring app for family and caretakers.
The Lively Wearable2 itself runs customers about $49.99, with subscriptions to the system’s other services starting at $24.99 per month.
Safe search: On. Earlier this month, Snapchat announced that it will soon be launching a new feature for users experiencing mental health or emotional issues. Called “Here For You,” it will see the app automatically surface safety resources when its users are searching for terms related to anxiety, depression, stress, grief, suicidal thoughts and bullying, for example.
“Snapchat was founded on the belief that talking with photos and videos, with our real friends, was more personal and more fun than texting,” the company wrote in its announcement. “While we have continued to evolve our platform in the time since, we have never strayed from our core mission of helping close friends express themselves freely and be creative together — and making sure they can do it safely. … Join us in doing our part to create a safer internet!”