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Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

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Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#111

Post by jfoutz »

citricsquid wrote: post #51
phil wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's bunk. It boils down to saying, "sure, it worked for Louis CK and Radiohead, and Cory Doctorow and Humble Bundle. It worked for Trent Reznor, OK Go, and pretty much everyone funded by Kickstarter... But it could never work for you." This stuff doesn't because it's sprinkled with magic experiment dust. It works because the authors are doing good work, they're able to build a fan base, and they're able to make th…

The reason it works for those specific groups is because of their fan base. Do you think that if Britney Spears tomorrow launched a similar "DRM free pay what you want" sale that and the "viral" element (news articles about how edgy it is) didn't exist she would have the success that these people have? She would outsell all her other releases because "whoa DRM free this is incredible!"? I don't think so, her average…

Femme Fatale, amazon mp3 is eleven dollars. I don't think pay what you want is going to be a viable model other than random stunts, but drm free is .. well.. seems to be here to stay for music. See also: iTunes Plus. People want drm free so much, they'll pay extra for it.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#112

Post by asmosoinio »

po wrote: post #19

I think by releasing the sales figures he actually runs the risk of decreasing sales. I think there is probably a segment of the population that would feel bad about not paying for the video but now that he announced how much money he made their guilt over stealing from a poor artist will subside. It's a bit hard to keep people sympathetic if you've announced that you just made a nice profit. I'm sure at this point h…

Or: Releasing the numbers just made him a whole lot of new visibility, and increased his sales enormously.

I had never heard of the guys before. I saw some headlines here and in reddit before, but never bothered to check it out. But raw income numbers are rare and interesting, so this headline made me check it out.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#114

Post by X-Istence »

lukifer wrote: post #17
staunch wrote: post #9

I wonder if he would have made more if he had let users choose the price.

Or without even choosing the price, going Bandcamp-style and setting a base price while letting you choose to pay more. He also could have made more by providing a link to send the special as a gift, both giving a fans a way to show support, and perhaps growing his audience at the same time. Very happy for his success, and I hope other artists are paying attention.

Sending it as a gift is going live tomorrow ...

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#115

Post by sirclueless »

DaveMebs wrote: post #73
rkudeshi wrote: post #36

Devil's advocate: In the post, he himself says he would've earned more by doing a show for HBO/Comedy Central/other (also note that he mentions, but doesn't factor in the cost of his own time in putting this all together). Given that a lot of people purchased this only to support "the experiment" (i.e. they might not buy the next time he or someone else does this), does this really demonstrate the success of selling…

I don't think there is any evidence to support the notion that "a lot of people purchased this only to support the experiment." Sure, some folks on a HN thread commented to this effect, but I think that the vast majority of the 111000+ people who bought this probably like Louis CK. I recognize that I don't have any data to support my assertion either, but given the options of "buy this because I like Louis CK" and "b…

Well, almost all of the facebook shares about this that I have seen are exclusively about the novelty and experiment. I didn't see anything that just left it at "Oh, Louis C.K. is awesome. Check out his new thing."

So at least anecdotally, a lot of people around me bought this because of novelty and to support this business model instead of because they like standup or Louis CK.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#116

Post by jamesbritt »

agildehaus wrote: post #100
seanalltogether wrote: post #71

Can anyone comment on the $170,000 cost to produce the video? He says he edited it himself so that pricetag must cover only the recording side of it. Is this cost a reflection of the price that large studios normally pay, or would he have gotten this rate from a smaller shop as well?

This one video spanned three performances (Nov 10, 11, 12). Three nights in the Beacon theatre + audio/video engineers + equipment + set + lighting + production assistants + security + travel expenses + other stuff I can't imagine. I'm sure it adds up quick.

He said, in the NPR interview, that he only filmed 2 of the 3 Beacon shows.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#117

Post by skurry »

So this is why Big Media is freaking out. Anyone with a MacBook and a Shure SM58 mic can record a studio quality album, and anyone with a Canon 5D on a shoulder rig can produce professional quality video. The Internet replaces the studios' giant duplication and distribution networks. And now Louis proves that this applies to full features as well, and that the artist can make really good money with this model. Reminds me of Kina Grannis of YouTube fame, who won a major record label deal, but decided to keep self-publishing, probably for her own best (even financially). Too bad Big Media is barking up the wrong tree (piracy). They can't stop technology.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#118

Post by wpietri »

citricsquid wrote: post #13

I really hope people don't turn this into a "Louis CK did it, so you should publish without DRM!". I agree with the anti-drm sentiment a lot of people hold, but this experiment only worked because it's "rare". Every time something like this is done people use it as evidence of the viability of the idea (Radiohead's pay what you want comes to mind too) and that really shouldn't be done. The only reason I heard about t…

I can't say why it worked for him, but it worked for me as a consumer because it was easy-peasy and felt very safe.

I'm perfectly happy to pay for content I can get reliably and instantly. Today I gave Amazon $10 for the two Christopher Nolan Batman films because a) it was dead simple, and b) I trust Amazon not to fuck me over. (And I guess c) it works on my Linux box, and d) I love his work.)

In fact, I'm even happier with the Louis CK thing because it's just a file. I'm going to buy another copy for my dad for Christmas, something I doubt Amazon will even let me do.

So yes, as far as I'm concerned, yes, everybody should do this. They may not break sales records, but they may not do that the DRM way either.

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#119

Post by guelo »

Lagged2Death wrote: post #24
citricsquid wrote: post #13

I really hope people don't turn this into a "Louis CK did it, so you should publish without DRM!". I agree with the anti-drm sentiment a lot of people hold, but this experiment only worked because it's "rare". Every time something like this is done people use it as evidence of the viability of the idea (Radiohead's pay what you want comes to mind too) and that really shouldn't be done. The only reason I heard about t…

Isn't iTunes all DRM-free MP3 these days?

What about iTunes video?

Re: Louis C.K. experiment results: over $500,000 in 4 days

#120

Post by catshirt »

seanalltogether wrote: post #105
natep wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My interpretation is that this was the cost of the cameras, cameramen, and venue (tickets, box office, ushers, sound setup, soundboard, lights, spotlights, advertisements). Basically, all the costs associated with getting people in the seats and the show on film (or whatever the cameras record to)

Yeah maybe. I think the numbers are a bit weird then. He talks about making a profit of 200k, but then admits that ticket sales largely covered production costs, so is his total revenue around 750k with profits closer to 500k? I wonder if HBO or CC paid for the special, whether he would still get 100% of ticket sales.

i can say with near complete certainty that if HBO or CC paid for the special he would receive substantially less than 100%
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