BitTorrent "Bundles" Create Cash Registers Inside Artwork

cagraham writes "BitTorrent has released a new file format called Bundle into closed alpha-testing today, according to VentureBeat. The format allows artists to embed a paywall inside of their work, and then distribute the art for free over BitTorrent. When users open the work they can listen or view part it for free, and are then prompted to either pay a fee, turn over their email address, or perhaps share the work over social media, in order to see the rest. The new format may ease artists concerns about releasing work for free and having to hope for compensation in the future. Artists who have already signed on include Madonna, The Pixies, and author Tim Feriss."

Comments

Let me translate that into English:

[Anonymous Coward]

They've reinvented demoware.

Re:Let me translate that into English:

[_KiTA_]

They've reinvented demoware.

You're forgetting the magic words that summon Venture Capitalists:

"It's Demoware... IN THE CLOUD"

Re:Let me translate that into English:

[eieken]

This comment was made gold by having the essential "cloud-to-butt" chrome extension

What stops people from redistribution?

[SplatMan_DK]

Unless there is yet another crappy DRM scheme buried inside these "bundles", what stops people from simply redistributing a paywall-free version?

Seeding CRM protected files has newer been difficult. It just so happens nobody wants to download them ...

- Jesper

Re:What stops people from redistribution?

[Sockatume]

The honour system. Bittorrent users would never pirate music from independent artists, they only go after labels' output where the economics don't favour the artist or the consumer.

Stop laughing.

Re:What stops people from redistribution?

[pla]

(b) is dumb. No one (statistically speaking) gives a fuck.

You have mistaken giving a fuck out of principle for giving a fuck out of annoyance.

I have quite a few gamer friends. Most of them couldn't give the least damn about the ethics or long term implications of DRM in games. Every single one of them understands what it means when they can't play (for example) a single-player game offline on their laptop in a waiting room or on a plane. And the majority (sometimes with a bit of help, admittedly) of them have "fixed" those problems by grabbing a crack off the internet.

So no, most people have no idea they should oppose DRM. Despite that, most people do hate everything about it without even knowing the target of their ire.

Re:What stops people from redistribution?

[Urza9814]

I pirate a lot of stuff -- movies, TV shows, video games...

But in the past couple years I've completely stopped pirating music. Why? Well, if I can get a guaranteed high-quality, DRM-free copy of the album in ten seconds for $5, why would I bother spending more time to pirate a copy of unknown quality? Particularly considering how hard to find much of the music I listen to is -- you can find it on Amazon, but it's not on TPB, not on GNUtella, not on slsk, often not even on iTunes...

I'd use Netflix if I could use it the way I wanted -- i.e., integrate it into my custom home theater system. But until Netflix will run on a Raspberry Pi, I'm going to be pirating my movies and TV shows. Of course, the ones that offer a paid download option (or even a donations appreciated download option) get my money. As for video games -- those I usually pirate just because I can't find them anymore. Pirated a bunch of N64 games because I don't have an N64, you can't find the game cartridges anywhere, and they don't offer those games for sale on the Wii store (the ones they do offer I've already purchased)...so I hacked the Wii and pirated the roms. Trying to do the same for Gamecube games now, for the same reason -- I just can't find the game discs even if I wanted to buy them. Give me a $5/game download option and I'd GLADLY skip the freakin' *weeks* I've spent trying to get the damn pirated copies to work...

Re:What stops people from redistribution?

[hairyfeet]

I would agree with that...to a point. One thing we have seen over and over in economics is there is a "sweet spot" when it comes to pricing and ease of use and when that sweet spot is ignored then a black market appears to serve those customers you are foolishly ignoring.

Take video games as an example. While of course lower prices equal more sales there is a point where continuing to lower the price doesn't increase sales simply because all of those that want the product have gotten the product by then. Watching game sales that release sales figures here is what I have observed...for indie games the sweet spot seems to be between $2-$5, unless its mobile in which case its a buck. For big name titles it really depends on how niche the game is, for example a Mirror's Edge or a God sim like Populus seem to do best in the $10-$20 price range while something more accessible to a general audience, your Saints Rows and Borderlands seem to do best in the $20-$40 but the SMART publishers go for the lower end of that curve and make up the difference in impulse buy DLC, your costumes in both and expansions in Borderlands.Finally you have those games with a VERY short shelf life, your Call Of Honor: Gears Of Killzone Halo Edition where everybody buys it for the MP which is quickly dead when the next come out and those can sell a huge amount in the $40-$60 range simply because if you don't buy at release when the next title comes out the previous one quickly becomes a ghost town.

But if you ignore those sweet spots then piracy WILL jump off the scale because time and time again we have seen when a large part of the market isn't being served a black market WILL arise to serve those customers. We have seen this in everything from piracy to Chinese knock offs of popular electronics, if the people think the price for a tablet should be between $100-$150 and the big names all push $400 then somebody WILL come along and give all those potential customers what they want.

I think where most industries seriously fuck up is by saying "Oh if you refuse to bend over and give us every cent we think our precious shit is worth (or that we require to pump up our stock price, see the former head of EA saying games should be $100) then you are the evil and should be destroyed" when in reality a black market is simply a signal that you are doing SOMETHING WRONG, your price is too high, your product has ease of use issues, there is something driving your potential customers across the street to the black market, you fix that issue? Watch the money train pull in.

Sharing as a true "free-advertising" model

[taikedz]

Describing the mechanism as a pay-wall probably does the feature a disservice - of course, one way of unlocking is pay, but it is stil possible to view free, and a more useful corollary as demonstrated in the article is that the artist can more effectively drive the user to a retailer of their merchandise (and a preferred one at that), or to their own store.

As usual, persons who specifically do not wish to pay money will not have to, but ensuring a store link for that particular content accompanies the piece in an otherwise free-distribution format

1. -allows sharers to share, and recipients still have a no-pay way of viewing the material
2. -enables artists to edge persons amenable to the idea of paying towards a store, removing the requirement of said consumers to proactively locate a retailer
3. -which subsequently would make the act of sharing a real free-advertising mechanism

This could work really well, so long as sharing gratis and libere is still possible, and if artists using this can provide direct access to the specific item in an international store.

Re:Ya Good luck with that

[Somebody Is Using My]

Alternately (and more likely), people simply won't bother with these bundles.

In other words, expect to see something like this for all these "bundles" on your favorite torrent site:

HOT TORRENTZ* FOR MADONNA'S NEWEST SONG!!!!
          Comment 1: Hey, this is just a demo and it asks for money after 1 minute. Anyone know where I can download the full song?
          Comment 2: yeah, go to http://www.piratestuff.com/torrent1234.html**
File size: 12MB Total downloads: 1 Seeds: 37*** Leechers: 0

Meanwhile, the usual torrent of the MP3 or AVI files without the bundled DRM will have thousands of downloads. Why should people waste their time downloading these bundles and then looking for a crack when it's available elsewhere without the hassle?

* purposeful use of "z" to make it seem cool and illegal, just like a real pirated song!
** not a real link so don't even bother
*** seeders are all the copyright owners wondering why nobody is downloading