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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

#141

Post by vacri »

lukev wrote: post #28
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…

Disagree. I've never bought a comedy DVD in my life, because frankly, an hour of humor isn't worth $15 + the overhead of receiving a package and storing a physical artifact in perpetuity. But $5, I can have it in seconds, and forget about it until I want it again? Different story entirely. So I bought it. I don't think I did it because it was an experiment - if every comedian released stuff like this, I feel like I'd…

Why can't you rip the physical disk?

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

#142

Post by phil »

guelo wrote: post #119
Lagged2Death wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What about iTunes video?

Undoubtedly, Apple would do it if they could get the licenses. The movie industry still has a little fight left in it, though.

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

#143

Post by bostonvaulter2 »

ck2 wrote: post #135

It's a great "experiment" but let's be honest - this only worked because it's Louis C.K. If it was an unknown or less popular comedian - they would have had a fraction of the sales and lost money.

Doesn't mean it would't be worth it for them.

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

#144

Post by TomAnthony »

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…

Beyond the anecdotal evidence sirclueless has given for the actual supporting of the experiment (which matches up with what I have seen), it is the experiment that drove the publicity for this story to get so much coverage. Just look at the title of this thread.

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

#146

Post by tankenmate »

cookiecaper wrote: post #126
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…

> it's that the circumstances of this business model work for Louis CK, but not necessarily others following in his footsteps. I fully agree with this. If you have your own cable TV show, you can make a lot of money by selling your wares independently online. The platform is a lot different for those of us that can't start an AMA on Reddit and have it shoot up to 10,000 comments in a few hours. This mentality is remi…

Personally I had never heard of Louis C.K. before. What I did do though is watch the quick taster on his site and liked what I saw; sold.

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

#147

Post by barrkel »

citricsquid wrote: post #32
lukev wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree. I've never bought a comedy DVD in my life, because frankly, an hour of humor isn't worth $15 + the overhead of receiving a package and storing a physical artifact in perpetuity. But $5, I can have it in seconds, and forget about it until I want it again? Different story entirely. So I bought it. I don't think I did it because it was an experiment - if every comedian released stuff like this, I feel like I'd…

You're proving my entire point. You bought this because it's an experiment, you wanted to validate the experiment.

He's not. He's making a point about the transformative nature of price, lack of DRM encumberance and immediate gratification. These are behind the success of itunes as well.

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

#148

Post by barrkel »

vacri wrote: post #141
lukev wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree. I've never bought a comedy DVD in my life, because frankly, an hour of humor isn't worth $15 + the overhead of receiving a package and storing a physical artifact in perpetuity. But $5, I can have it in seconds, and forget about it until I want it again? Different story entirely. So I bought it. I don't think I did it because it was an experiment - if every comedian released stuff like this, I feel like I'd…

Why can't you rip the physical disk?

How do you get a physical disk in seconds for $5? Are we reading the same comment?

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

#149

Post by mojowo11 »

weaksauce wrote: post #49
ChuckMcM wrote: post #37

I'm glad he made some money on it. His mind will be blown when the 'long tail' kicks in (people buying this video 3 years from now, still). He mentions "This [$200,000] is less than I would have been paid by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it to you, but they would have charged you about $20 for the video." Here is the part where this can go off the rails. So the long tail will hit, peopl…

Trent is not part of radiohead; Radiohead and Trent(nine inch nails with ghosts) did the same thing but at different times.

I'll just throw this out there -- he did an interview with Digg a while back and talked about some of this stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxhxVIiwaA

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

#150

Post by chippy »

hooande wrote: post #84

Is it just me, or is Louie sounding more and more like a part of the hn/reddit crowd? He went from "I don't know what this 'torrent' thing is" (implied: "I'm not a nerd or anything") to being excited about online distribution and avoiding DRM. I've been a fan of his for some time and this seems unlike him. I think it's pretty cool to see someone's geeky side being exposed publicly.

I am also cynical - I suspect it's clever marketing. Targeted.
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