Peloton Names Gwen Bethel Riley Head of Music (EXCLUSIVE)

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Popular exercise platform Peloton Interactive has named a new head of music, promoting Gwen Bethel Riley, previously vice president of music partnerships, to senior vp. She replaces current svp and music head Paul DeGooyer, who will transition to consultancy next month after three years at the position and nearly five with the company.

Riley joined Peloton in August from Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, where she was head of music business affairs and sourced, licensed and commissioned music and global talent for games, consumer products, digital properties and interactive audio and live event executions. Video games were among her specialties at Disney as Riley was involved in launching musical content on Xbox, Apple iOS and Disney+, including “Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved” and “Tap Tap Revenge.”

Prior to the decade spent at the Walt Disney Company, Riley worked at Artisan Entertainment (now Lionsgate Films), Tapulous and GBProductions developing licensing practices and standards for indie films, building in-house publishing catalogs, and producing scoring sessions.

In February, Peloton settled a lawsuit filed by members of the U.S.’s music-publishing trade organization that had sought more than $300 million in damages over the interactive-fitness company’s alleged use of 2,468 unlicensed songs.

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), which represents American music publishers and songwriters, and Peloton together announced that they have “fully settled” the litigation brought last year by 14 NMPA members.

Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, Peloton and the NMPA entered into a “joint collaboration agreement” that pledged they “will work together to further optimize Peloton’s music-licensing systems and processes.”

Following the settlement, DeGooyer commented: “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.”