Louis C.K.'s Experiment
by Volker Weber
Since putting his "Live at The Beacon Theater" video up for sale for $5 on Saturday, free of DRM, region restrictions, or any other silly bullshit, Louis C.K. has sold over 110,000 copies. A little quick math reveals that this is well over half a million dollars.
In a statement on his site, Louis reveals that his costs for producing the video and creating the website, all paid out of his own pocket, were about $250,000. So he's made 100% profit in 4 days.
Comments
once a again a proof for the sentence of the year:
"Speak after me: DRM Is bad for the customer (™ vowe)"
Since vowe is repeating this phrase for a while, I dare to declare it sentence of the decade. This fits even better since all the DRM discussion came up in the early 2000s.
Großartig!!
Pedro, what Louis delivered was "better than free". That is the road to success. Apple has done the same with their iTunes music store. Uncrippled music, plays on anything you own.
Might I say, $5 for this is a bargain.
Best stand-up I have seen in years.
Best $5 I spent this month :) Highly inappropriate and highly entertaining!
Yup, I agree. $5 well spent!
Of course I bought it as well -- even if just to support the experiment and make it a success. That I get an hour of LouisCK's great stand-up, with fresh material and all, is a bonus.
Just goes to show -- if you make it easy for people to give you their money and do the honest thing, they will. If you punish them for being honest, they'll copy&torrent. Bring me the heads of a) the guy who invented non-skippable and non-fastforwardable sections on DVDs and b) the guys who decided I have to watch several minutes of unskippable "You wouldn't steal a car..." on DVD I paid MONEY for!
