Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 140 posts

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#51

Post by ColdSnickersBar »

pyre wrote: post #45
ColdSnickersBar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-technical users are almost every single user in the world. So, if DRM prevents just those people from being able to simply email a video to a friend, then it actually is preventing most "pirating".

It prevents person-to-person sharing for non-technical users of the original content . The real question is: How hard is it for a non-technical user to find and download a pirated version from the Internet? It's the difference between: Hey! This track is awesome lemme email it to you. and Hey! This track is awesome. Google for a pirated version of it!

Almost everyone on the internet doesn't know what a torrent is, and would stop at trying to email it to a friend. The larger share of the market IS being prevented from sharing by DRM.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#52

Post by jrockway »

ramy_d wrote: post #35
tptacek wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen him live a couple times, and he's gotten up on stage and joked about how much more money he has than everyone in the entire room. I don't think he's hurting.

he's also done the opposite the "I don't even have 'no money'" routine.

He also tried to buy a 22 million dollar house in Louie, and succeeded despite his accountant's insistence that he could not afford the $70,000 a month payment. So there you go. Both at the same time.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#54

Post by officemonkey »

blhack wrote: post #12
yan wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, I think what Louis is doing is amazing and am a huge fan. Having said that however, how many other comedians can pull this off? He has a very large, very dedicated audience. Likewise for music. Trent Reznor can pull off very successful self-productions, but he's also Trent Reznor. The question is, how can you make this model scale down to lesser-known acts?

Well...look at stuff like Minecraft. Notch was nobody, he just made something that people wanted.

Notch was hardly nobody. He was already a seasoned programmer who had worked on hits like "Luxor."

"Overnight success" usually takes years.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#55

Post by tptacek »

ramy_d wrote: post #35
tptacek wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen him live a couple times, and he's gotten up on stage and joked about how much more money he has than everyone in the entire room. I don't think he's hurting.

he's also done the opposite the "I don't even have 'no money'" routine.

When, and what was the bit?

Also: you've seen him live, right? How much did you pay for the tickets? Both times for me, the face was over $30, and both times the house was packed.

Do the math on how many shows he does. He tours constantly; a new one every year.

I don't think he's hurting. I think he's "only serious" when he jokes about having more money than everyone in the whole audience.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#56

Post by bherms »

jrockway wrote: post #52
ramy_d wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he's also done the opposite the "I don't even have 'no money'" routine.

He also tried to buy a 22 million dollar house in Louie, and succeeded despite his accountant's insistence that he could not afford the $70,000 a month payment. So there you go. Both at the same time.

Succeeded? I don't think he did. He ended up just getting a different apartment I thought.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#57

Post by gospelwut »

scythe wrote: post #26
yan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re: DRM, I wouldn't call it a factual error. The article didn't imply that it's not possible, it just said it was harder. And I'd argue stripping DRM (no matter how easy it is) is, is in fact harder than not bothering. re: Popularity, I thought so too, until I had to wait on a long, long line to see him in Caroline's over two years ago. I was lucky enough to snag tickets to the Beacon theater show (that he's selling…

>And I'd argue stripping DRM (no matter how easy it is) is, is in fact harder than not bothering. But it's never, ever, necessary, not when gazillions of scene groups strip DRM from a work and upload it as soon as it hits the market, if not before; sometimes they just get hold of the studio version. It might make some obscure video games harder to pirate, since it's much harder to strip DRM from code than from data,…

For you, maybe. I've found AAC being proprietary is enough to make people buy iPods. Hell, I'm pretty sure you can convert it to MP3 within that piece of shit iTunes.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#58

Post by ddw »

tptacek wrote: post #55
ramy_d wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he's also done the opposite the "I don't even have 'no money'" routine.

When, and what was the bit? Also: you've seen him live, right? How much did you pay for the tickets? Both times for me, the face was over $30, and both times the house was packed. Do the math on how many shows he does. He tours constantly; a new one every year. I don't think he's hurting. I think he's "only serious" when he jokes about having more money than everyone in the whole audience.

That specific "no money" bit was a long time ago, way before you saw him and before his "Lucky Louie" show. So yes it's possible that at one point he had "no money." He's not the type of comedian that keeps doing a funny bit even if it isn't true.

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#59

Post by ff0066mote »

funkah wrote: post #27

I was surprised that he revealed yesterday in the reddit thing that he has never owned a home or had real financial security. I'm enough of a fan to know that he is definitely not rich from comedy, but I somehow figured he had made enough to own a home outright at least. FTA: "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 thin…

I agree that the attitude which some torrent users have (feeling good when they actually pay for things) is annoying.

However, nobody can deny that computers and the internet have irreversibly changed the game. It is simply no longer default that one must purchase information. Information doesn't want to be free, it just is free (for better or for worse).

Re: Louis C.K. "I've never seen a check from a [TV] comedy special"

#60

Post by bediger »

chwahoo wrote: post #20
smackfu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In books, the answer is to sell eBooks priced at impulse levels, then sell thousands or millions of copies. For instance, the #5 seller on the Kindle is a $1 book: http://www.amazon.com/Wife-by-Wednesday-ebook/dp/B005SJLB24/...

This only scales so far. Once more books are priced at impulse levels, it will provide less of an advantage and ultimately hurt your bottom line compared to the current typical price level. It's similar to web apps being "free" in order to attract eyes/users. I think competing on other fronts (quality, connection with users/readers, obsession with consumer satisfaction) are preferable to cutting price because it's "t…

Got any examples of this? I mean, lots of stuff (gum and "People" magazine at the grocery store, screwdriver bits and flashlights at the hardware store) is priced at impulse levels in lots of stores, lots of types of stores. Whose bottom line is that hurting? Dewalt's or Wrigley's or Maglite's? I don't really think so.
Post reply on HN