Peloton Nams Gwen Bethel Relay Music Head, Succeeding Paul Digoar – Various
2 min read
Popular practice platform Peloton has announced the name of the new head of the interactive music division, promoting Vice President Gen Bethel Riley to senior VP before the music partnership. He replaces current SPP and music chief Paul DeGuere, who will transfer to a three-year position next month and in consultation with the company after about five years.
Riley joined Pelot in August from Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, where he was head of the music business and acquired music and global talent to execute games, consumer products, digital features and interactive audio and live events. Video games at Disney were among its specialties because Riley was involved in launching music content on Xbox, Apple iOS and Disney +, “Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved” and “Tap for Revenge”.
Before spending decades at the Walt Disney company, Riley worked at Artisan Entertainment (now Lionsgate Films), Tepulus and GBProductions developing licensing practice and standards for indie films, creating internal publishing catalogs and creating scoring sessions.
In February, Pelton settled a lawsuit filed by members of a music-publishing trade company in the United States seeking more than 300 million in damages for alleged use of 2,468 unlicensed music by an interactive-fitness company.
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which represents American music publishers and songwriters, and Peloton have jointly announced that they have “completely settled” a lawsuit filed by 14 NMPA members last year.
The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, Peloton and NMPA entered into a “joint cooperation agreement” in which they pledged to “work together to further optimize Peloton’s music-licensing systems and processes.”
After the settlement, Diguer commented: “Music is an important part of Peloton’s experience, and we are very proud to be a pioneer in a new earning stream for recording artists and songwriters.”
