Louis CK's Internet Experiment Pays Off

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."

Comments

Pirate attitude

[bonch]

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.

Re:Pirate attitude

[Endo13]

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.

Re:Pirate attitude

[LordLimecat]

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.

Re:Pirate attitude

[Digital Vomit]

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.

Re:I'm shocked!

[isonline]

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.

Re:I'm shocked!

[mistiry]

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.