After a Year of Experimentation, BitTorrent Bundle Wants to Make Artists (and Itself) Money

BitTorrent, the data transfer protocol associated with piracy, continues to try and clear it’s name after hitting the 100 miilion milestone.  Most people think the data protcol was created for piracy, but this isn’t the case at all.

The BitTorrent Bundle platform, where content creators can distribute a combination of free and “gated” content, is increasingly becoming a viable marketing and distribution platform.

Artists such as rapper G-Eazy, Madonna, Moby, De La Soul, and Public Enemy have had success with BitTorrent Bundles as well as film and video game creators.

Although the term “BitTorrent” has been associated with music and movie piracy for years, there is an important difference between BitTorrent, Inc. and BitTorrent, the open source file transfer protocol.

BitTorrent powers piracy through torrent indexing sites such as Pirate Bay, but BitTorrent, INC is a separate entity and uses BitTorrent file transfer protocol for legal purposes.

It’s important that there is a fair marketplace for connecting content creators direct-to-fans. Pay gates can be beneficial because a content creator, artist or publisher will be able to put some content in front of the  gate, some behind the gate, and set the price the consumer has to pay to open that gate (to get their bundled content).  BitTorrent plans to take a 10% cut from these pay gates as well.

The bottom line is there is some value that BitTorrent bundles can offer to artists.  Whether you’re upset with competitors offerings like Spotify, or if you want to utilize bundles as an additive service to Spotify, their is a legal opportunity to leverage BitTorrent bundles to increase music exposure and sales.