File-sharing service BitTorrent is on a mission to “help artists monetize the BitTorrent ecosystem” — a system of 150 million users that most often download free songs and episodes without consideration for how it affects the content creator.
“BitTorrent Inc. hopes to change this with a new revenue model that supports collaborating artists while keeping content at its desired price (free),” reports Slate.
Last week, BitTorrent began offering a free download bundle that “pairs exclusive music and photos from hip-hop producer DJ Shadow with a free, optional install of RealPlayer,” according to the article.
This is part of a plan that BitTorrent hopes will “be a new way of distributing content, one that allows artists to profit without asking downloaders to pay up. Each bundle will come with software — like a media player or anti-virus program — and that’s where the money comes in.”
If the user decides to install the program, the software vendor will pay an advertising fee to be shared between BitTorrent and the featured artist.
However, Slate poses some legitimate questions: “Will BitTorrent’s experiment pan out? Even if ad revenue is enough to satisfy everyone’s piggy banks, its success relies on users actually downloading the sponsored software. And how many of your friends do you see using RealPlayer?”
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