Have the online pirates decided to go straight?
Everyone knows someone who downloads music and/or movies illegally – even if they don’t do it themselves. But now – the main group behind the file sharing protocol, which has caused such a fundamental shift in the entertainment industries, is making a move which seems to suggest it’s trying to go straight; or, at least, straight-er!
The developers of the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol have recently introduced what is described as a brand new multimedia format they’re calling a bundle. Thanks to these bundles, users will be able to download brand-new music, books, videos, movies, and more – either without paying, or with prices they choose.
How Bundling Works (An Overview)
Use of the word “bundle” in this overall context is, of course, nothing new; on both sides of the Atlantic, bundles are the way things have been moving. On both the content side and the access side, most of the big players keen to snap up our business as we all yearn for simplification and ease of billing. Consequently, organizations like Consumer Reports say that buying bundles is increasingly a buyer’s market.
In the USA, providers with special deals like VerizonfiosDeals.com and in the UK providers with special bundle deals like BT and Sky, are competing hard for our business. This is most probably due to the fact that once consumers have made a decision, they’re keen to stick with it. In the U.S. for example, 85% of Consumer Reports readers bundling Internet, home phone, and TV reported they'd “probably” (50%) or “definitely” (35%) go again with the same provider.
Grouping is the future
Clearly, this shift towards simplification, the consequent bundling of services, and the commercial advantages therein haven’t been lost on BitTorrent, whose latest move sees files grouping together a whole range of content. But there are differences – and one important difference is that at least some of the content may only be accessed once the user enters a key.
This, it is thought, will assist artists in selling or distributing material to fans as an add-on to the initial music file or movie clip downloaded. According to the BBC, one business analyst believes this represents BitTorrent's effort to reinvent itself.
As most people are well aware, BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer data transfer is blamed for enabling millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens around the globe to pirate music and movie content, due to the adoption of the technology by various websites which are in breach of copyright law.
But Mark Mulligan, the editor of ‘Music Industry Blog’ believes BitTorrent’s bundle to be a step towards the firm repositioning itself as a useful partner to owners (and creators…) of media content.
Revolutionising media … again?
BitTorrent, meanwhile, believes its bundling move could potentially revolutionise the media industry, saying that what's different about its new service is that the song becomes the store in which it is being sold, or the film already comes with the box office “baked” inside it. In other words – the creators (or owners of the copyright) have the potential to generate income, or create a connection to a new devotee, each time the particular piece of content is shared.
In launching the new service, BitTorrent’s has teamed up with the Ultra music label, releasing material from American DJ “Kaskade”.
As they download the free file, users are then taken to a page which offers instant access to a song / video trailer. But to unlock additional content, which includes a tour leaflet and a short movie – they must also enter their email addresses. The email can then be used later by artists to promote concerts / merchandise etc.
This, in turn, paves the way potentially for users to pre-pay for content in much the same broad way that more traditional bundles involving phone / Internet and mobiles do.
