Hoping to use the power and popularity of peer-to-peer file sharing, the musician PAZ will have his music included in future uTorrent downloads.
PAZ's mixtape debut of "Young Broke & Fameless" on uTorrent, a subsidiary of the company BitTorrent, is a continued step towards supporting and distributing legal content by the BitTorrent operator. Since its debut, the album has been downloaded more than 150,000 times, according to PAZ's official website, which includes downloads.
BitTorrent previously shared music from the artists Pioneer One and Yes Men with success, so this might be a new progression in the distribution of music online.
"We want to continue to build on the successes that we have already seen with Pioneer One and the Yes Men," said Jenna Broughton, BitTorrent spokesperson. "In both cases, their creations were wildly downloaded and consumers showed their enthusiasm by opening their wallets and donating to these creators so that they can continue to make future content."
Thousands of musicians have tested free music releases to help draw new fans to their music, labels and publishing studios. Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay promoted an artist and saw thousands of downloads, due to the promotion by the controversial site. Other BitTorrent operators have also started testing the waters with similar music and movie backings, but now it’s up to file sharers to support the acts that are available.
It's still nearly impossible to become a chart topping musician without the backing of a major record studio.
Although the days of sending in demo tapes are long gone, going digital still doesn't guarantee an artist's success -- but it opens the door to new opportunities. In addition to creating a following of fans, sharing music online gives musicians the chance to get their content heard by a number of record labels who might be paying attention.
