Some of you may remember when BitTorrent released its Bundles product back in 2013. Bundles allow musicians and artists to offer both free and paid content, something BitTorrent feels could help the music industry to consider it a legal and viable distribution option. While that likely isn't going to happen anytime soon, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke decided to give Bundles a chance last year, and some suggest he may have made as much as 20 million in the process.
Now keep in mind, that number is tied to the amount of downloads his BitTorrent album debut, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, received, not necessarily the exact amount of money he made. There is a free song and music video plus a $6 full album inside the Bundle. While reports suggest Yorke amassed about 4.4 million downloads in total, there is no telling how many downloads converted to album purchases. BitTorrent gives artist the option to disclose the paid to free breakdown on Bundles, but the Radiohead singer/writer exercised his right not to.
Either way, its hard to say Thome Yorke and BitTorrent at least partly help the case for alternate music distribution. At 4+ million downloads, Yorke certainly made a decent profit even if only a tiny fraction of those downloaders purchased the $6 album. He was listed as the top legally downloaded artist on BitTorrent for 2014.