How Spotify Is Bringing Fitness Classes to Your Phone—Without Special Equipment

In November 2021, Spotify partnered with Peloton to add over 1,400 workout classes to its Premium subscription. The catch: you don't need to buy a Peloton bike or treadmill. You can do these workouts on devices you already own—your phone, laptop, or smart speaker.

The partnership put curated workout playlists from Peloton instructors Olivia Amato and Kendall Toole directly into Spotify's app. A new section called "Curated by Peloton" offers seven ready-made playlists, plus full-length fitness classes that mix instructor guidance with music from Spotify's popular playlists like Today's Top Hits and Lofi Beats.

Removing the Cost Barrier

Peloton built its business by selling you expensive equipment. The company's bikes and treadmills cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, and that price tag kept a lot of people from using the service at all. Spotify's approach sidesteps that problem entirely. You get the instructors, the classes, and the music on whatever phone or device you already have.

Technically speaking, this is a significant shift. Spotify had to engineer its system to work smoothly across phones, computers, and televisions. The company also had to mix music and voice instructions together in a way that sounds clear—both elements competing for the same audio space is trickier than it sounds.

The fitness classes also work across your devices. You can start a workout video on your TV, switch to audio-only instructions on your phone while you're outdoors, and finish a cool-down session through your smart speaker.

Beyond Peloton: A Growing Fitness Network

Spotify hasn't stopped with Peloton. The company has since added fitness creators including Yoga with Kassandra, Sweaty Studio, Chloe Ting, and Pilates Body by Raven. Each creator brings a different type of workout—yoga, high-intensity training, dance cardio, and reformer pilates.

This is intentional. By working with multiple creators rather than relying on one partner, Spotify spreads its risk. If one creator falls out of favor, others fill the gap. It also lets Spotify match whatever fitness trends become popular next.

Connecting to Other Fitness Apps

In April 2023, Spotify connected with Strava, an app that tracks running and cycling activity. The partnership lets you play Spotify music while you track your workout in Strava—all without switching between apps.

This move tells you something important about Spotify's strategy. The company isn't trying to build its own fitness tracker from scratch. Instead, it's plugging itself into tools that already exist and do specialized jobs well. Spotify provides the music and audio instruction; Strava handles the performance tracking.

The Licensing Advantage

Here's where Spotify's existing business actually gives it a real edge. Peloton has faced legal trouble in the past for using music in its fitness classes without proper permission. Spotify, on the other hand, already has agreements with music labels and publishers—that's the core of its entire business. Those existing relationships make it much easier for the company to include music in workout content legally.

For Spotify's business, fitness content is a bonus that comes with your Premium subscription at no extra charge. The goal isn't to make money directly from workouts. It's to give you more reasons to keep your subscription rather than cancel it. Fitness content makes the Spotify Premium package seem more valuable without Spotify needing to charge extra.

What This All Means

If you think about how the internet works, Spotify is following a path we've seen before. Decades ago, YouTube became the central place where people found and watched video content—not by competing with every specialist service, but by being the default platform where you could find almost anything. Spotify is trying to do something similar with fitness audio and instruction. The company already owns music streaming; now it's adding workout classes, instruction, and coaching to the same interface.

This fitness expansion shows how a large, mature platform can use the tools it already has—in this case, the ability to stream audio and reach hundreds of millions of people—to move into new areas. The technical foundation stays the same, but the content categories grow broader. That makes you less likely to leave the service, which is valuable for a company whose main job is keeping subscribers.

The partnership approach—working with Peloton, Strava, and independent fitness creators rather than building everything in-house—is efficient. Spotify brings the audience and the audio technology. Creators and partners bring their expertise. That combination spreads the work around and lets Spotify expand faster than it could alone.