In the last few years BitTorrent has worked hard to shake its association with piracy. The company’s bundle format is the centrepiece of its new era in online legitimacy and recently clocked up 100 million downloads. All of them completely legal.
A BitTorrent bundle is an online release package relating to an artist. Its contents may vary and are often exclusive but typically include assets like live footage, demos, and pre-releases. The beauty of the format, though, is that its only limit is imagination. Artists now have to be innovative to stand out.
Into the light
One act who has excelled in this regard recently is Pretty Lights who released an extensive bundle that included a full album (A Colour Map of the Sun), a full remix album, three music videos, a live video and an experimental video dubbed ‘The Visual Project’ that was intended to add interpretive imagery to the music. The bundle very quickly became the top download across torrent sights.
As a result of the high demand, a site dedicated to BitTorrent bundles is now in operation. It collates all available bundles in one easy-to-navigate space and offers considerable banner space to promote the latest and most anticipated packages as well as those releases that are currently trending.
Recently the company unveiled the next step in their business plan: monetisation.
As the battle against illegal usage of music continues to rage, it will be interesting to see how highly consumers will value these pieces of extra content.