Today, BitTorrent announced that it has hired new co-CEOs Jeremy Johnson and Robert Delamar as the peer-to-peer file sharing service continues to focus on its content distribution platform. The company is hoping Johnson and Delamar can continue to commercialize BitTorrent Bundle by partnering with big-name content creators and sponsors.
BitTorrent will also be refreshing the platform this summer with the introduction of ad-supported live streaming through mobile apps, and the first application for live video streaming based on the BitTorrent Live protocol will be made available this spring. A multi-channel app based on Live is also in the works.
The company currently has over 30,000 creators and more than 200 million users downloading on-demand music and video bundles. It has experienced a growth of 50 percent in the last year, with 46 percent of current publishers using Bundle as their primary distribution platform.
Back in September 2014 Radiohead lead singer Thom York released his first solo album in eight years through BitTorrent. In a December report that same year BitTorrent said his album, which costs $6, was downloaded 4.4 million times and that 90 percent of the sales revenue went directly to the artist. They have also partnered with Madonna and offer her short film Secret Project Revolution as a downloadable bundle. And last February film director David Cross released Hits, BitTorrent’s first feature film allowing fans to decide how much they wanted to pay to download the title.
BitTorrent has also hired David Chidekel as Head of Business Development and Business Affairs to help create sponsorship deals with publishers, and four-year BitTorrent veteran Straith Schreder will be vice president of creative initiatives, tasked to open up the company’s new Los Angeles office and continue to grow BitTorrent Bundles.
Though a conversation about who killed the music industry isn’t complete without the mention of torrents, BitTorrent is hoping to grow what it believes to be a stable distribution platform for experimental storytelling with some new hires and fresh products.
Photo via BitTorrent
