Heh, am I the only one who actually WENT to that tour?
Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
31–40 of 144 posts
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#32I just purchased it. That was simple as possible (enter e-mail in box, redirected to PayPal, redirected to page with stream and download buttons). There's a streaming limit (3 views) and download limit (5 downloads).
The download is hosted on Amazon S3 where I'm barely getting 500k/s. The stream and download limits would then limit his delivery costs to ~$1.50 per customer with S3's bandwidth pricing. PayPal is taking out $0.41. He could be getting as little as $3 of each $5 for the special.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly doubt that Louis CK is the most popular working comedian. He seems really underrated, in my experience. Either way, I bought that show and loved it, probably will get this too.
Considering he sold 200,000 copies of his video in 12 days, I would say he's pretty popular.
Right now yes. I had no idea who he was before the story showed up on HN. I'm sure I'm not the only one who got to know him because of his stunt.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#34Is anyone here already working on an easy to customize template for these guys to build websites that easily charge for DRM-less shows? I remember last time someone linked to something similar, but they had DRM and draconian payment methods (no paypal etc).
It seems like youtube or vimeo is missing a really big opportunity here.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#35Heh, am I the only one who actually WENT to that tour?
No! I saw it here in Toronto and it was hilarious.
Just bought it for $5 to re-watch!
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#36I just purchased it. That was simple as possible (enter e-mail in box, redirected to PayPal, redirected to page with stream and download buttons). There's a streaming limit (3 views) and download limit (5 downloads). The download is hosted on Amazon S3 where I'm barely getting 500k/s. The stream and download limits would then limit his delivery costs to ~$1.50 per customer with S3's bandwidth pricing. PayPal is takin…
>>>redirected to PayPal
Which allowed you to buy it -- for now. See, there's a weak link in that chain. Just two weeks ago there was a huge uproar over PayPal rejecting payments for books they unilaterally and unjustifiably deemed "offensive."
And they can do that to any comedian too.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#37It's interesting that all this has come from comedians. Perhaps not surprising, given that TV shows are owned by networks, and bands are largely indebted to record labels- I never thought about it before, but a comedian is far more of a "free agent" than anyone else- for instance, Aziz is one of the main stars in a hit NBC comedy (well, as much of a hit as NBC gets these days), but he's free to do stuff like this as…
It has begun quite a while ago with podcasts. Adam Carolla runs a whole podcast production shop in addition to his own hugely popular show and even some spin-offs, then there's the Nerdist (same thing), Joe Rogan has a popular show, Doug Benson, Bill Burr and many others. Comedians just seem more... entrepreneurial. It would be interesting whether it's because there's less structure (existing or required) in the come…
True, Kevin Smith also turned his podcast with Scott Mosier (smodcast) into quite a money-maker.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#38I just purchased it. That was simple as possible (enter e-mail in box, redirected to PayPal, redirected to page with stream and download buttons). There's a streaming limit (3 views) and download limit (5 downloads). The download is hosted on Amazon S3 where I'm barely getting 500k/s. The stream and download limits would then limit his delivery costs to ~$1.50 per customer with S3's bandwidth pricing. PayPal is takin…
>>>redirected to PayPal Which allowed you to buy it -- for now . See, there's a weak link in that chain. Just two weeks ago there was a huge uproar over PayPal rejecting payments for books they unilaterally and unjustifiably deemed "offensive." And they can do that to any comedian too.
So can any payment processor, direct or third party. Right up to the top, with Visa and MasterCard declining to process for Wikileaks. Your point?
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#39Is anyone here already working on an easy to customize template for these guys to build websites that easily charge for DRM-less shows? I remember last time someone linked to something similar, but they had DRM and draconian payment methods (no paypal etc).
It seems like youtube or vimeo is missing a really big opportunity here.
Why should a comedian have to submit to a behemoth like writers do? To get on iPad or Kindle or Nook, you have to go through their stores and risk rejection or wind up giving them 30% (a fee I do not think is in any way justified just for hosting; they damn well can't market anything, just provide one listing out of jillions).
I say more power to the comedians. Submit to no one, share with no one. I wish writers could do the same.
Re: Aziz Ansari releases DRM-free standup special for $5
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>>redirected to PayPal Which allowed you to buy it -- for now . See, there's a weak link in that chain. Just two weeks ago there was a huge uproar over PayPal rejecting payments for books they unilaterally and unjustifiably deemed "offensive." And they can do that to any comedian too.
So can any payment processor, direct or third party. Right up to the top, with Visa and MasterCard declining to process for Wikileaks. Your point?
Wikileaks is not content. That's more political than anything else, with the Patriot Act used to threaten the processors.