Broadcasters tune in

Another day, another digital first. Canadian channel CBC has revealed plans that it will make its new reality show available through BitTorrent, making it the first broadcaster to release an English-language, prime-time show without any copyright restrictions. The show, entitled “Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister” features contestants that battle it out with each other to come up with ideas to make the great country of Canada a better place. There’s been a lot of buzz around the use of BitTorrent lately, most recently with Nine Inch Nails releasing their new album using the technology.

MyTake – It makes sense for government/state funded TV to make a move like this, because its content is already “free-access”. By using BitTorrent, it opens up another channel and therefore more eyeballs. The interesting move is going to come when the advertising-funding or pay-per-view cotton on to it, but the question is – how do you give it away and still maintain its value? Teasers, free weekends?….time will tell.

No money for new Nails

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails have offered their latest album as a free download and also deliberately leaked it onto file sharing networks. The album, entitled Ghosts I-V, is available as a free download with an extended high-quality version available for US$5. On top of that, fans can also order the CD for US$10 or get tow "deluxe" versions with photography and a blu-ray disk for $US75 and $US300.

On his blog, lead singer Trent Reznor said “We believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them."

MyTake - Not all content is created equal and the recording industry needs to understand this. By offering a number of different variants, the value of the content becomes clearer, you get why you are paying 5 bucks for the high-quality version, you get why you need to pay for the Blu-ray dick - because the content is worth more.