BitTorrent’s advantages as a platform for distribution and exposure are attracting more and more companies and businesses. Berklee College of Music’s online division surprised many when they recently announced the release of a free BitTorrent Bundle containing music lesson videos and ebooks.
The Berklee Online Musician’s Guide might be the first educational material released by such an institution via the highly-controversial file-sharing protocol. This bundle will surely make music enthusiasts and composers quite happy as it offers 23 music lesson videos dedicated to lots of various topics including guitar and drum performance, music production, songwriting and business practices. The Ebooks content also cover an impressing variation of topics – guitar, piano, music theory, songwriting, orchestration, production and business (check the full list here).
While there’s an instand download sample containing 4 videos, to have access to the rest of the content you have to your email address.
BitTorrent’s blog reads:

We’re partnering with Berklee Online to build the world’s largest open music classroom.[...]
In collaboration with Berklee Online, we’re making a collection of some of this material available to all the Internet’s music students. The Berklee Online Musician’s Guide is a 27GB compilation of 23 in-depth music lesson videos and 7 ebooks, covering everything from songwriting and production to performance and business best practices. It’s pretty awesome.
For over a decade, we’ve seen the power of BitTorrent in moving information. Our goal is to apply this to education; empowering the next generation of creators. If you’re an aspiring or established musician, the Internet is now your classroom.
Commenting on the company’s recent partnership, Berklee’s Vice President for Online Learning, Debbie Cavalier said:
“Part of our goal at Berklee Online is to expand the reach of the college. We’ve been teaching music online for over ten years, and we’ve always included a free component to what we do. This includes our lesson-rich YouTube channel and Berkleeshares.com free lesson site, as well as our more recent development of MOOCs.”
“The technology behind BitTorrent is impressive. It’s one of the best tools out there to move data to a large community of engaged people. We’re looking at this partnership with BitTorrent as an extension of our free approach, and it is one that I am very excited about.”