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Louis CK's Internet Experiment Pays Off

Posted by samzenpus on from the honor-system dept.

redletterdave writes "Comedian Louis C.K., real name Louis Szekely, took a major risk by openly selling his latest stand-up special, 'Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater,' for only $5 on his website and refusing to put any DRM restrictions on the video, which made it easily susceptible to pirating and torrenting. Four days later, Louis CK's goodwill experiment has already paid off: The 44-year-old comic now reports making a profit of about $200,000, after banking more than $500,000 in revenue from the online-only sale. The special, which has sold 110,000 copies so far, is only available on Louis CK's website."

8 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. Pirate attitude by bonch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Louis CK said in an NPR interview earlier this week:

    "And a friend of mine who does torrent stuff a lot says that when torrent users do buy something, they act like they're doing the greatest thing ever. ... They're saying, 'I bought something today. I paid for it. And I didn't steal it. I'm the greatest person alive.' "

    I've noticed this attitude as well. It's really, really annoying.

    1. Re:Pirate attitude by Endo13 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The "moral superior" attitude comes from paying someone who actually deserves it, as opposed to paying the MAFIAA who create nothing themselves and charge 5 times what something is actually worth, while passing on next to nothing to the people who actually did the work.

      I'll gladly pay an artist if his work deserves it, but I'll be damned if I help enable the abusive greedy behavior of the content cartels. They can go fuck themselves.

      --
      There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
    2. Re:Pirate attitude by LordLimecat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The "moral superior" attitude comes from paying someone who actually deserves it, as opposed to paying the MAFIAA who create nothing themselves and charge 5 times what something is actually worth, while passing on next to nothing to the people who actually did the work.

      I'll gladly pay an artist if his work deserves it, but I'll be damned if I help enable the abusive greedy behavior of the content cartels. They can go fuck themselves.

      You DO realize that noone is obligated to create entertainment for you for the price you demand, right? Reading your post one gets the idea that you feel yourself entitled to entertainment.

    3. Re:Pirate attitude by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 4, Interesting

      She looked unimpressed and said, "I can get all of them free on the internet".... paying anything more than $0 is stupid in their book.

      That's a perfectly natural reaction. What's odd is the reverse: paying for an infinite resource. It's like paying someone for a "piece" of fire when you can just put your stick into the flames for free.

      I find that people who are against digital sharing seem to have this strange attitude of "if I have to suffer and pay for non-property, then everyone else has to as well!".

      Whether anyone likes it or not, the free sharing of digital media -- be it movies, programs, books, whatever -- *is* the unavoidable future of computer technology.

      --
      Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
  2. Re:I'm shocked! by isonline · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oh the professional publishers do! They also realize that if they control the channels they can pay the actual author a pittance as well as make a greater profit off the higher prices paid by the non-pirates and the fees that the extort out of the people they attempt to drag into court.

  3. Re:I like it! by Endo13 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Every time an artist does something like this, it pays off greatly.

    The most surprising thing here is that anyone finds this surprising.

    Artists have been doing just fine in the face of rampant piracy for decades now. Every industry affected by piracy has continuously gotten larger and more profitable.

    The only things that have ever hurt these industries are the same things that hurt *any* industry: poor quality products, poor marketing, poor judgement by the manufacturer in setting the MSRP, etc.

    --
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  4. Re:I'm shocked! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I will NOT pay $20+ for a DVD full of DRM/malware.

    Honestly, if someone took the time to obtain, organize, and catalog enough DRM/malware to fill an entire DVD, I'd pay $20 for it out of pure curiosity. Maybe add in writeups for each piece included, describe them, tell their histories, who wrote them (if known), etc, etc. Would make a neat archive, really.

  5. Re:I'm shocked! by mistiry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although it definitely lacks some content, I too use Netflix for this reason.

    It has actually reduced the amount of stuff I have to pirate, because it gives me a moderate collection of mostly-HD TV shows and movies available for $8/month on my Wii, Xbox, computer, and phone.

    Rather than waiting for a torrent to download, I can boot up the Xbox, find something interesting, and within 10 seconds I'm watching it in full HD.

    I am happy to pay the negligible $8 each month to legally do this.