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A recent survey showed that 41% of artists say they now use some for of direct-to-fan distribution, BitTorent, who sponsored the study, hopes to be at the forefront of this seismic shift. In the last year their Bundle publisher network grew 50% to more 30,000 creators with 24% using Bundle paygates.
"When we launched paygates in 2014, our goal was to build a more sustainable way for artists to share their work with fans; providing creators with 90% of sales revenue, and 100% of subscriber data," Bittorent said in a statement. "In 2015, we saw artists use paygates to fund future projects, and social good initiatives."
The Top 10 Most Downloaded Music Bundles
1
Ratking
2 Golden Rules
3 Fool’s Gold Records
4 Salva
5 Lowtemp Music
6 The FADER
7 Hundred Waters
8 Kodak To Graph
9 Mr. Carmack
10 Little Simz
The Top 10 Most Downloaded Film Bundles
1 Doctor Who
2 HITS
3 Being Evel
4 Spring
5 The Nightmare
6 Rubble Kings
7 Imba Means Sing
8 Sneakerheadz
9 Deep Web
10 Advantageous
The underground is massive. - In 2015, the most downloaded album Bundle was Ratking’s 700 Fill. The EP, written in just a week, was exhilarating, reckless, and lyrical; the sound of New York and not giving a fuck. DIY projects like Ratking ruled our most-listened-to lists; with fans discovering new music from Salva, Mr. Carmack, and Little Simz.
Art as an open source movement. - In Bundle, creativity is conversation. Every download is the start of a story; a collaboration between artists and fans. From Martin Gore’s Featherlight stems to Salva’s Peacemaker instrumentals, more than 12MM remix projects were downloaded by fans.
Preserving creativity, person to person. - BitTorrent Bundle began as a way to build something that we felt the Internet was missing: records. The feeling of opening and unpacking music, words, and art. The way it brought you closer to bands, and the community around you. BitTorrent was built for records; as a way to preserve and share stories spanning genres, movements, and even decades. In 2015, The FADER became the first publication to partner with us for digital distribution, with a 100 issue archive spanning 16 years of music journalism. From FADER 100 to Soulection White Label, more than 3MM archival Bundles were downloaded by fans this year.
