If you purchased a Peloton bike or treadmill to exercise with during the pandemic, you’ll soon have a new collection of classes to take from a familiar artist. This week, Peloton announced a multi-year partnership with cultural phenomenon Beyoncé — the artist will help curate classes for the fitness company’s subscription service, starting with a series of Homecoming-themed classes in honor of historically Black colleges and universities. Peloton says that Beyoncé is one of the most requested artists for its playlists.
Based off the announcement, its unclear what Beyoncé’s “curation” entails, but if you’d like to see for yourself, Beyoncé-themed classes have already begun. There are meditations, outdoor runs, and bike rides scheduled for the remainder of this week and more classes to come.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22028039/BeyonceClass_schedule.png)
If you’re already a subscriber through the Peloton app for $12.99 a month or through Peloton’s Bike, Bike+, Tread, and Tread+ devices for $39 a month, you should be able to attend. If not, Peloton is offering a 30-day free trial so you can see if these Beyoncé classes are worthy of the artist’s name.
It’s somewhat interesting that Peloton is signing Beyoncé directly instead of through a publisher; the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) sued Peloton in March of last year for illegally using thousands of songs in video fitness classes offered through its subscription service. After some legal back-and-forth and the removal of some songs from Peloton’s playlists, the company settled the lawsuits in February of 2020. While Peloton said in its Q3 earnings that it’s added thousands of publishers since, it also clearly has a path for artists to join Peloton directly.
