Matthew Dear + GE’s Drop Science Bundle hits 1.6MM Downloads
In a first-of-its-kind partnership with GE, The Barbarian Group, and musician Matthew Dear, our latest Bundle explores advertising as art.
An advertisement is so much more than it appears to be. The dawning of social media has transformed ads into something more than a picture found in a magazine or a clip in between television programs. But, can an ad actually become art?
Our latest BitTorrent Bundle, Drop Science, tackled that question head on. Developed in partnership with GE and The Barbarian Group, Drop Science turns the sounds of GE’s machines into a song – transforming the hums and whirrs of industry into an orchestra.
In tackling the musicality of machines, there’s perhaps no artist better equipped than Matthew Dear. The musician, producer, and DJ has grappled with unique sounds and rhythms while exploring the themes of futurism, dystopia, and the more avant-garde realms of pop. Dear extends his boundary-pushing artistry to his own record label, Ghostly International, which has become renowned for representing artists that transcend traditional pop sounds to provide something unique.
As a result, Drop Science melds Dear’s aesthetic with GE’s tools to create an interactive, remix-friendly experience that not only invites the user to see and hear Dear’s work but to engage with it in his own way. This was achieved by providing a diverse media package, including art, GIFs, and samples that allowed users to create their own music from Dear’s recordings. But the diversity of material did not end at the Bundle itself: users could familiarize themselves with a video of Dear’s work at GE on Youtube, and the song on SoundCloud.
Since the Bundle dropped on 8/26, the results have been staggering:
– More than 1.8 million impressions on the Drop Science Bundle Page
– More than 1.6 million downloads (82% conversion)
– Nearly 188,000 streaming sessions
– More than 42,000 new email subscribers
Interestingly, the majority of activity remained within BitTorrent despite activations on both SoundCloud and Youtube – meaning that users preferred the experience cultivated natively on our site. Not a bad start, considering Drop Science is the first project of its kind for BitTorrent.
Perhaps most importantly, the experience of Drop Science shows how much advertisements can provide an artistic value that goes beyond a few seconds. It can be an interactive medium that involves the audience in new and creative ways while still remaining true to brand goals.
About BitTorrent Bundle
BitTorrent Bundle is an alpha project made with and for the web’s creative community. Our mission is to help artists connect directly with fans, inside the content they share.
Each BitTorrent Bundle allows artists to distribute content directly to the Internet. And each Bundle comes with a key. Fans can unlock artist content with an email address. The idea is to make each song a storefront, and each file more valuable, every time it’s shared. Got ideas for the next BitTorrent Bundle? Hit us up.
