Music Remains A Priority For Fitness Companies

Equinox Media licensed the entire Universal Music Group catalog in January, but access to the world’s largest music wasn’t enough for the parent company of SoulCycle and Equinox.

As announced earlier this month, the fitness brand has partnered with Lorde, Calvin Harris, the Jonas Brothers, and the Supremes for a new series called “Equinox+ Features.” 

• Available on Equinox+, the initiative promotes album drops, tours, anniversaries, and other milestones through artist-themed workouts, both in-person and at-home.
• Equinox has seen success in smaller versions of the series — like Joe Jonas participating in SoulCycle classes featuring his original music. 

As fitness companies battle it out, music has become a key component in attracting customers. Peloton, for example, has launched its own virtual music festival and partnered with Verzuz.

However, the brand also settled a lawsuit in February filed by a music industry group that sought more than $300 million in damages and ended up paying a reported $49.3 million in settlement and litigation costs.

Slate recently published a chart from the Trichordist covering companies’ payout rates for musicians.

The report revealed that Peloton pays out 3.1 cents per stream of a strong, compared to Spotify’s 0.35 cents and Apple Music’s 0.68 cents.