BitTorrent Fires 20% of Its Employees
Written by Ernesto on August 06, 2008BitTorrent Inc., founded by Bram Cohen, the inventor of the BitTorrent protocol, is firing 12 of its 55 employees. The company, which also develops the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent, had been struggling to make money from their download store, which is one of the causes of the layoffs.
One of the main plans of BitTorrent Inc. was to be the next iTunes, by selling movies and music via their “BitTorrent powered” online store. For several reasons, DRM being one of them, the store never became the success they hoped it to be.
Valleywag reports that the company has now decided to lay off its sales and marketing department, due to failing attempts to sell the entertainment store to Best Buy. This means that the development of uTorrent, specifically the long awaited Mac version, is not in danger.
The BitTorrent entertainment network was launched February 2007 and offers movie rentals starting at starting at $2.99. Before the store launched, BitTorrent Inc’s co-founder Ashwin Navin said that the store was going to compete with BitTorrent sites like The Pirate Bay and mininova, as he said, “If we’re not competing effectively with piracy, we’re not going to win.”
There never was any real competition however, mainly because the movies are infected with Windows DRM. The company never wanted to use DRM. In fact, Bram Cohen told TorrentFreak in an interview that the DRM issue is causing an awful lot of headaches, but that most of their content partners are insisting on it.
BitTorrent’s Ashwin Navin was a bit more outspoken about it. He said that DRM is “a time bomb waiting to happen,” and that it will inspire people to pirate content. One thing we can be sure of, it didn’t help to convert illegal downloaders to go legal.
If online video stores want to compete with their pirate counterparts, the pricing should be reasonable, the catalogue extensive, and all without DRM. The BitTorrent store failed to meet these standards, and unfortunately, 12 people lost their job because of it.
Update: In a comment received after publication of the article, Ashwin Navin told TorrentFreak that the layoffs are not related to the failing entertainment store.
Previously: EFF Supports TorrentSpy in Electronic Privacy Case
Next: Transmission BitTorrent Client Now Bundled With Clutch
55 Responses
That sucks for the people who got fired. I do hope they will start actually working on the mac version of utorrent.
1st
If they just open-sourced the clients already there would already be a Mac and linux fork of uTorrent.
PWNED
muhahahahahahah
Nothing personal but being a linux users I want nothing to do with anything windows which would include Windows DRM. So here is an idea for them….change you business model to exploit the new technologies. Pick an appropriate price point and give everyone alternatives rather then proprietary crap and head ache.
They have text on cigarettes that says “smoking kills”,”Cigs cause lung cancer” and other variations..
perhaps on software with DRM it should carry a label that says “We are fu*king morons so this software ships with DRM” or “The industry are f*cking morons and make us ship this to you with DRM”
They have been shooting themselves in the foot for so long I’m surprised they have not run out of feet.
WHEN will they (the industry) learn?
/Joe
http://www.eZee.se
Bit Torrent inc just doesn’t get it.
It is up against free p2p.
For it to succeed it needs to give away content and make money from advertising (media sales).
It can also ensure that bit torrent is on every server and pc so allowing everyone to download rich media without clogging the internet. It could collect fees from big media for the use of its software.
Anon. BT p2p
http://www.Dargens.com
Bittorrent, inc. deserves a slow painful death for the slow tortuous demise they’ve inflicted on what used to be a phenomenal client, utorrent. New version, banned, new version, banned, new version, banned. How long before the BT community labels these butt munches as the complete and utter idiots that they are?
Mark my words, if/when the Mac version comes out, it’s going to tank. Big time. The further they take this from the genius of Ludde, the crappier it’s going to get.
I bought GTA: San Andreas for PC the day it came out, I could have pirated it, but I wanted to own the game. I pop it in to play, the thing tells me about 75% of the time that the disc is not valid. THIS IS THE RETAIL DISC I BOUGHT IN THE STORE. What choice did I have but to get the no-cd exe crack in order to play it.
Now do you people finally believe me that utorrent is owned my BitTorrent Inc. and that BitTorrent Inc. is in the pocket of the MPAA?
Yeesh.
Infected with Windows DRM? Ya I don’t like DRM either but you really could have used a more neutral description of what they are trying to do to preserve the content from being illegally traded.
This site is so biased you make Fox News look like journalists. Your not on a crusade for pirates rights and accept the fact that companies would like to be paid for their products/services.
So what you are saying is that the firings have nothing to do with the article, nice.
if the guy states that it is unlinked, edit at least the start of the article where you say its linked, and is the ‘blurb’ on the front page, its purely misleading. (not trolling, just think its better on the whole)
THIS SITE HAS TURNED MY GAY :(
Long awaited Mac release, indeed.
@9
Neutral description? The neutral description is “infected.” The idea of “protecting against piracy” with DRM is already utterly absurd. This is the neutral description.
Even bittorrent can’t make DRM products profitable…
DRM should stand for dumb retarded managment for anyone that insists on useing it.
I feel sympathic to these guys, both bittorrent as a company and the guys n gals who are out of a job, due to failing sales or not.
I’m guessin because bittorrent is probably a hated company by the entertainment industry they probably didn’t want to cut anywhere near a fair price in the first place.
Forcing DRM, other sites get around it but only because there so big the entertainment industry couldn’t dare to lose the income.
Sadly the BT model fails in the fact people don’t want to pay per peice, I think it has to be per subscription and cheap at that to stand a chance of really having some affect.
Starting at starting at
DRM.. lol thats all you needed to say.
DRM = pathetic.
Why would I buy that? What are you stupid?
this was the movie industry at fualt i would pay for HQ movie download at a fair price with no
DRM Bittorrent had the right idea
but the evil industry couldnt meet them half way and kill the DRM
LONG LIVE PIRACY u get a better product AND QUALITY that u cant even buy only if the evil pigs could just get with it their is money to be made with online sales if u just get rid of the fucking DRM
The layofffs (and maybe more on the way?) are a big reason NOT to buy any DRM-infected downloads from Bittorrent, Inc., because if the company ever shuts down its DRM server, your paid downloads can become worthless faster than you can say “sellout!”.
“Now do you people finally believe me that utorrent is owned my BitTorrent Inc. and that BitTorrent Inc. is in the pocket of the MPAA?”
In the pocket? They sell movies made by MPAA members…
“This site is so biased you make Fox News look like journalists. Your not on a crusade for pirates rights and accept the fact that companies would like to be paid for their products/services.”
This is a blog.
Yeah, DRM horrible. My mom asked me to pirate some mp3’s because of DRM in the downloads on the official website (of a couple places) preventing her from using the music she downloaded legally.
“[...]accept the fact that companies would like to be paid for their products/services.”
No problem with that. I will gladly do that …
… the second those companies get rid of all the idiot management guys that whine about “we can’t compete with free” and then do indeed try to compete with free in that they offer stuff that is MORE convinient and as a minimum AS userfriendly AS the unrestricted current “better choice(TM)” offerings.
Hint for the whinebabies, you don’t archive this goal in the way that you make your product unattractive and high on hazzle factor with playing preventing DRM shit or by pumping the money into idiot scam compaies that take your money and then try to disturb the “better choice(TM)” competition to have it look even more unattractive and more “hazzleisch” then YOUR own offerings.
You don’t win customers from the competitor by attacking/besmirching him, but by being better then him and offer the customer more value then he does!
I have a big one
Nick:: “Infected with Windows DRM? Ya I don’t like DRM either but you really could have used a more neutral description of what they are trying to do to preserve the content from being illegally traded.
This site is so biased you make Fox News look like journalists. Your not on a crusade for pirates rights and accept the fact that companies would like to be paid for their products/services.”
It takes a lot more journalistic integrity to call Windows DRM an infection, then it does to refer to it using effusive weasel words that sweep the malicious harm it does under the rug.
Which ironically hurts the media companies that champion it more than anyone else, because saddling their products with Personal Rights Denial and a pricetag makes them vastly inferior to the all the “illegally traded” copies offered by torrents and P2P networks. And, surprise surprise, an ever increasing number of consumers are choosing the superior option. DRM fuels piracy because it puts the end-user in chains, going as far as outright destroying media files X number of hours after hitting the Play button.
If DRM is how these companies want to be paid for their products/services, then guess what, sweetums? They are denied.
The only thing that belongs on Fox News is your snivelling corporate-apologist speak.
Shit happens
They Need Do What RIAA Is Allready Doing With Music And Offer Movies Without DRM Then It Might Sale There A Start.
i have utorrent on linux just run it by wine
…QED
I have heard several cases in which ceo Ashwin met with bittorrent webmasters and then a few weeks later they got fucked by the mpaa. You can ask anyone.
@ 28
“Offer Movies Without DRM Then It Might Sale There A Start.”
What?
What ‘Putin 08′ said.
Putin, where’s _your_ blog.
SUSBSCSCRSCRIEB!!!1!
There’s no such thing as “illegal download” fuck capitalism we’ll do as we please not to make worst than nazi psychopaths richer
@ #2 If they did outsource the development for utorrent. Half the world would see the code revisions since v1.6.1 which allow BigStudio to keep tabs on the users of utorrent
Yeah, I guess selling out to companies doesn’t look too good now does it Bram?
I knew this would bite him in the ass later, and now I’m proven at least partly right.
Also, Ludde is an equally big sellout too, offering up his splendid utorrent to be raped by these goons, so let’s hope he comes back to the free software crowd with an even more superior BT client when this poor excuse of a company dies.
Meh… call me a jerk, but I think Bram Cohen let it go to his head. He took an extremely simplified P2P system and split it in two – clients and meta-servers (trackers). It’s not a dizzying achievement, in fact any network-aware developer could have done the same thing (and many did). The prime difference is BitTorrent took off quickly enough to gain critical mass, where others floundered.
To make money, Cohen would have had to patent his system and license it to others. Of course this would have greatly hindered its growth and acceptance. The media store thing is also a flawed concept, as we all know the media cartels don’t like to do business with technology people… just look at the bullshit that went on before iTunes launched videos! They also don’t like to do business with people who are indirectly responsible for the massive upsurge in copyrighted file sharing.
Buying out uTorrent, to me at least, was confirmation that Cohen was turning evil. uTorrent was a far better client than the official BitTorrent client. You don’t buy something that’s free, except in two scenarios: either you want to destroy it to avoid competition, or somewhere down the road you expect to turn it into a profitable item. Neither outcome is good for the users.
It’s funny how many people are saying that because there are problems with the BT company, then they’ve ruined uTorrent.
Does that mean if the article was “BitTorrent Hires 20% More Employees”, that uTorrent is a better client?
@37 – how does it make Bram evil? The current situation means that there’s at least one full time developer improving the client (rather than just relying solely on it being developed in someone’s free time). Why is that a bad thing?
The creator of bit torrent struggling to make money on the internet? NO WAY! LoL.
Talk about reaping what you sow.
#40
..Lol i can only imagine that that japanese emotion is saying right now.
And let me clear one of the many misunderstanding in article.
BitTorrent Inc KNEW DRM WOULD BE A PROBLEM, but they couldnt it because the partners they where trading with OUT RIGHT DEMANDED THAT THEY USE DRM!
Yep BitTorrent Inc made a bad move and it cost them their work force, the failed avoid the very thing that fuels piracy to begin with the are the pesky Serial Numbers, ungodly long registration forms that just makes people say “f*k you idiots im out of here”
Unless BitTorrent can come close to rivaling Mininova they should get the hell out of the internet or learn from Veoh Inc.
Yes it also worries me that Utorrent may be discontinued because the company that is making them has sit a slump, i do not want to shift back to Vuze with all its bloatware.
Made some typo’s But you get the point. *goes off to pirate videos*
I wonder if my grandchildren will see the Mac version. Or the linux one.
So according to the update the layoffs weren’t because the store was failing? Wasn’t that like the point to the whole article, something is fishy. Anyways I’m glad it won’t interfere with the development of uTorrent.
Never trash people for selling out. Given the opportunity, you would sell out in a second. Especially don’t trash Ludde for selling out. He has done a lot more for you than you for he, plus he really can use the money more than he can use notoriety and fanboys.
what i meant was if they sold movies without drm like apples itunes does with music and if it’s priced right maybe they would get some sales.
“The Customer Is Always Right” in the end at least.So i guess we should pirate just a little bit more.
Why wait for uTorrent on Mac when you can just use FrostWire.
I have a larger one.
Sales & Marketing let go. You mean BT got off the pipe.
@ 37 Aug 07, 2008 at 15:21 by Billco
Ain’t that the truth.
“Also, Ludde is an equally big sellout too, offering up his splendid utorrent to be raped by these goons, so let’s hope he comes back to the free software crowd with an even more superior BT client when this poor excuse of a company dies.”
Yup, Ludde’s a dick. A smart dick, but a dick none the less. He had to know that the crappy bittorrent coders were going to run his client into the ground.
He’s not coming back, btw. Nope. He’s enjoying his cash, I’m sure.
“He had to know that the crappy bittorrent coders were going to run his client into the ground.”
Seriously – what have BT inc done to uTorrent that’s so bad?
@10 Aug 07, 2008 at 00:02 by Nick
” Infected with Windows DRM? Ya I don’t like DRM either but you really could have used a more neutral description of what they are trying to do to preserve the content from being illegally traded.
This site is so biased you make Fox News look like journalists. Your not on a crusade for pirates rights and accept the fact that companies would like to be paid for their products/services.”
———————————–
Nick-
Infected with DRM is calling it EXACTLY what it is. Cheers to TorrentFreak for calling a spade a spade. Anyone that pays even a penny for DRM INFECTED media is just pissing their money away.
And I wouldn’t blame BT Inc. too much as they did try and convince the industry to allow DRM free media. They knew that with DRM attached, the project would most likely fail but the studios insisted. It’s not Bram and BT Inc. that don’t “get it”, it’s the industry suits who still desperately cling to an obsolete business model where they were always in control.
The Dan Glickman’s and Randy Saaf’s of the world can whisper promises in their ears all they want about how the industry will crush the free flow of media but it’s just not going to happen. Their time is past and the new emeging business model will be built with or without them. As each week passes they become less and less relevant to the issue.
DRM keeps hackers going …..
so keep up the DUM DRM
keep coming we keep cracking as to what brams peeps have done for utorrent…..
you mean like the exploitable utorrent that took them 6 months to make a fix? ( yup the hacker posted a proof a concept and the admin laughed at it) funny how it became serious later…..
guni gougou
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