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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

#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?

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

#72
post #65

I dislike how it says "if anybody stole it". Piracy isn't stealing, it's copyright infringement. I'm still curious about the bandwidth costs. 110, 000 people is 110, 000 gigabytes which is 110 Tb of bandwidth. How much does that cost?? Also, since some of the torrenters did indeed pay for the video, they can be included as profit and they didn't add to the bandwidth costs. They were also a small amount, 10k is listed…

110TB is ~10k on amazon s3

edit: looks like i was beat to it; and didn't include multiple downloads.

to add some value 110TB is $9213.68 200TB is $14640.90

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

#73

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 "buy this because I like alternative distribution models," I am fairly confident that more people are on the side of the former.

I also don't know why you think most of his "true fan base" would have bought this already. I love Louis CK and only found out about this because I am an HN reader. Why would you think most non-HN readers even know this is available? I mean really, I think you should at least wait a week before decreeing that "today's most most popular working comedian makes less money selling independently."

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

#74
post #65

I dislike how it says "if anybody stole it". Piracy isn't stealing, it's copyright infringement. I'm still curious about the bandwidth costs. 110, 000 people is 110, 000 gigabytes which is 110 Tb of bandwidth. How much does that cost?? Also, since some of the torrenters did indeed pay for the video, they can be included as profit and they didn't add to the bandwidth costs. They were also a small amount, 10k is listed…

[deleted]

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

#75
post #65

I dislike how it says "if anybody stole it". Piracy isn't stealing, it's copyright infringement. I'm still curious about the bandwidth costs. 110, 000 people is 110, 000 gigabytes which is 110 Tb of bandwidth. How much does that cost?? Also, since some of the torrenters did indeed pay for the video, they can be included as profit and they didn't add to the bandwidth costs. They were also a small amount, 10k is listed…

[deleted]

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

#76
post #63
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More valuable than the long tail is that he probably has an email list of ~20,000 people -- and more by the hour -- who have demonstrated interest in paying money for Louis C.K. comedy specials. I trust I don't need to tell you what to do with that if you're the exclusive producer of Louis C.K. comedy specials.

He makes it seem like he won't be using that list: > and they would have owned your private information for their own use. > You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again. And I think Louis CK is going to be Louis CK's EP from now on. EDIT: Forgot about the "don't contact me" default on the purchase screen.

When you go to the purchase screen you can choose between "contact me," and "don't contact me." To Louis' credit the default is "don't contact me," but I as a fan actually opted in to receive future notifications. I fully expect to be notified next time this opportunity arises (and I am probably not alone).

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

#77
post #63
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More valuable than the long tail is that he probably has an email list of ~20,000 people -- and more by the hour -- who have demonstrated interest in paying money for Louis C.K. comedy specials. I trust I don't need to tell you what to do with that if you're the exclusive producer of Louis C.K. comedy specials.

He makes it seem like he won't be using that list: > and they would have owned your private information for their own use. > You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again. And I think Louis CK is going to be Louis CK's EP from now on. EDIT: Forgot about the "don't contact me" default on the purchase screen.

He made the list opt in, so if you didn't want to hear from it that was the default.

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

#79

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 disagree. I like Louis CK but I haven't looked into this at all and probably in a few weeks I'll have forgotten about it without buying anything. But the model I like. I'd love if I could get all my media DRM free over the internet and be able to pay for it. Right now I torrent and PVR a lot of stuff but the continued existence of programs I like are at the whim of those with Nielsen boxes.

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

#80
post #63
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More valuable than the long tail is that he probably has an email list of ~20,000 people -- and more by the hour -- who have demonstrated interest in paying money for Louis C.K. comedy specials. I trust I don't need to tell you what to do with that if you're the exclusive producer of Louis C.K. comedy specials.

He makes it seem like he won't be using that list: > and they would have owned your private information for their own use. > You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again. And I think Louis CK is going to be Louis CK's EP from now on. EDIT: Forgot about the "don't contact me" default on the purchase screen.

You can opt into getting emails from him, when you make the purchase.
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