BitTorrent Report 2015 Shows 50% Growth For Direct To Fan Distribution Platform

BitTorrent has been recasting itself a mainstream direct to fan distribution platform for several years now, but 2015 was the year that their aspirations came closer to reality. Their annual BitTorrent Report chronicles activity on the platform.

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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

Interesting Takeaways

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.

Read The Full BitTorrent Report 2015 here.

Bruce Houghton on 12/22/2015 in D.I.Y. | Permalink | Comments (0)

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