BitTorrent’s Matt Mason On Promoting Artists From Pretty Lights To Counting Crows
A variety of services associated with filesharing and music sharing, from Grooveshark to the post-MegaUpload project MegaBox, are recognizing that they can turn the inherent marketing aspects of sharing into new services. BitTorrent has been a leader in such efforts to legitimize their company while extending their business activities. BitTorrent's Matt Mason looks at the success of these efforts which have benefitted musicians from Pretty Lights to Counting Crows.
Forbes contributor Ryan Holiday recently spoke with Matt Mason, author of The Pirate's Dilemma and executive director of marketing for BitTorrent, about such efforts which include:
- Sick of Sarah Goes 'Platinum' via BitTorrent
- BitTorrent Debuts Live P2P Streaming Platform With Weekly DJ Sets
- An In-Depth Case Study on the Pretty Lights + BitTorrent Partnership
Matt Mason described BitTorrent's promotional efforts:
"For the last 18 months or so at BitTorrent we've been working with a hand-picked selection of artists, filmmakers, TV producers, DJs, game developers and authors to put their work in front of our users to see if we could generate positive returns."
Mason included multiple examples of music promotion from Pretty Lights:
"We distributed a bundle of music for Pretty Lights, a DJ from Colorado, last December. That bundle was downloaded over 6 million times and generated 100,000 new opt-in email sign-ups on Pretty Lights' website."
To Counting Crows:
"Last month we released a BitTorrent Bundle of new music from Counting Crows…Before working with BitTorrent, they were being mentioned in social media channels once every eight hours. After we launched the BitTorrent Bundle, they were being mentioned once every two minutes."
Mason placed these efforts in the context of legitimizing BitTorrent's impressive technology. BitTorrent's artist promotion program has certainly demonstrated the power of BitTorrent as a promotional tool, one that indie musicians are better situated to employ than are major label artists.
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Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business Changes and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
