Comedian Makes $200k Selling Video With No DRM

King of Heroes said:
If he'd gone with a large company they'd have taken a huge chunk out first, leaving him with only a fraction of what he made here.
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no a large company would have just paid him $$$$$$$$ to make the video, covered all the cost associated with it making, edited, marketed and so on for him.. He would only be "risking" the time he spend writing new material (something a comedian has to do anyways) compared to the to having to cover all the cost of production himself..

I'm really glad this worked out for him and clearly in the long run if it keeps selling it works out even better.. Being it's not like a large company signs a contract then goes "Wow we REALLY made money off this, here is more for you content creator"...

but I can understand why most people would take the solid low risk pay day that comes from a large company..
 
Croak said:
I can't believe you just used Dane Cook and comedian in the same sentence. Unless you, yourself, are trying to be comedic. If so, I must admit you appear more talented than Dane Cook. :)
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whats more ironic about him comparing him to Dane Cook is that Dane Cook as been directly accused of stealing tons of Louis CKs material!
 
haha.. This really makes me LOL since I pirated it, & then liked it so much I paid the 5 bucks afterwards..
 
I think he's a great comedian, but I would have bought this on principle alone. The industry needs more people like him.
 
4saken said:
whats more ironic about him comparing him to Dane Cook is that Dane Cook as been directly accused of stealing tons of Louis CKs material!
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Comedians are always being accused of "stealing" other comedians material. I've seen Louis CK's standup many times and I went and saw Dane Cook last time he came through here and it was fucking hilarious, and I hadn't heard any of the bits he did that night.
 
8du8 said:
....saw Dane Cook last time he came through here and it was fucking hilarious, and I hadn't heard any of the bits he did that night.
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Already your judgement is suspect. :D
Kidding aside, Dane's early stuff was funny (in low doses). He just got too big, too fast and started cranked out garbage as a result. That's my theory, anyway.

Still, give me Bill Hicks any day.
 
It makes sense, but they're cutting out the most important people - the labels/studios! If the artists fail to utilize such people, then the executives can't afford their Bentley's and million-dollar houses! Why doesn't Louis think of these other people instead of wrongfully screwing them out of a life of riches. This is wrong.

:D

I like the idea, it's too bad things like this don't catch on.


Although, I'm still trying to figure out why he paid $32k for that website ...
 
Spidey329 said:
It makes sense, but they're cutting out the most important people - the labels/studios! If the artists fail to utilize such people, then the executives can't afford their Bentley's and million-dollar houses! Why doesn't Louis think of these other people instead of wrongfully screwing them out of a life of riches. This is wrong.

:D

I like the idea, it's too bad things like this don't catch on.


Although, I'm still trying to figure out why he paid $32k for that website ...
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Most likely the shopping cart, PayPal tie ins, etc.
 
Unexploded said:
Already your judgement is suspect. :D
Kidding aside, Dane's early stuff was funny (in low doses). He just got too big, too fast and started cranked out garbage as a result. That's my theory, anyway.

Still, give me Bill Hicks any day.
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My take is a lot of times what makes a person funny to other people is perception. Its his popularity I think that makes people dislike him, not his ability to make people laugh or not.

Also, I think the fact that he is not a traditional comedian in the way he delivers his jokes makes some other comedians dislike him.

One of my favorites though is Jim Gaffigan, there is almost nobody that can be as funny as Gaffigan without being vulgar.
 
200k in sales, you know paypal raped him in the ass with no lube.
 
8du8 said:
My take is a lot of times what makes a person funny to other people is perception. Its his popularity I think that makes people dislike him, not his ability to make people laugh or not.

Also, I think the fact that he is not a traditional comedian in the way he delivers his jokes makes some other comedians dislike him.

One of my favorites though is Jim Gaffigan, there is almost nobody that can be as funny as Gaffigan without being vulgar.
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I'll give you that, Gaffiagan and Brian Regan, both damn funny without going blue.
For all out funny, Dave Attell is tough to beat. Also a big fan of Dylan Moran (Black Books is worth a download, starts a little slow, but brilliant show.)

I didn't mind Cook's manically physical delivery, just thought eventually he seem to run out (good) material and started getting kinda gimmicky. Still love his bank heist bit.
 
Everyone should go buy this, not just to support this distribution method, but because Louis CK is funny as hell and you'd be missing out.
 
Meant to mention this in my first post, this reminds me of Radiohead's efforts to distance themselves from corporate sponsorship/assistance. They actually sold fewer albums at launch than in previous times, but made much more money since they didn't have the costs of the corporate system.
Regarding his show, they gave him a small budget since he wanted strong creative control over it, this made it a low risk for the network. It is literally to the point that he sits there editing episodes on his Macbook. I'm not his hugest fan, but his reddit AMA was insightful and interesting.
 
DOOMHAMMA said:
I think his show is boring, but I agree that Thuleman is either being sarcastic or somehow oblivious to Louis C.K. Best part is, I don't think Louis had even begun his publicity campaign yet judging by the AMA he did on reddit.
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Louis CK is a lot like Sam Kinison was. You simply can't handcuff him like he is on a TV Channel, even FX on Cable. He has to be set free without restrictions to really be enjoyed.
 
I thought the $5 was worth it, hopefully this will be a lesson to other artists.
 
spaceman said:
Did someone really not know about CK and Dane? Seriously. If you are unaware, there is a big ole shitstorm about Dane "stealing" some of CKs material. Happens a lot but when Cook blew up like he did, made a lot of comedians butt hurt jealous.

CK is widely acknowledged as a very top tier stand up by other comedians. Smart guy btw. Hard, hard worker too. You have to be to do as much as he does.

Respect!
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Season 2 went over that.
 
Spidey329 said:
Although, I'm still trying to figure out why he paid $32k for that website ...
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To setup and handle the demand? The bandwidth delivery. The amount of coding to get it functioning correctly.

It may sound like a lot, but it's just like if you were developing a program from the ground up. What requirements and how. You have to pay someone to do it correctly.
 
yeah the 32k for the website is what everyone is talking about over on reddit that makes no sense The front end is hosted on dreamhost but looks like the file was served from S3. so 200tb for the 1.2 gb download would be like 15k with S3??? not sure about the rest....
 
Heard about this a while back and forgot all about it.

Thanks for the reminder. Purchased.
 
This part bothers me


This 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.


So he earned less money than what a studio will give him. So studio gives him over 200k for 2 shows? Wow.
 
Gonna buy it tonight when I get home.

Anyone want a copy? I kid I kid. After hearing all the positive things mentioned in this thread, I don't see much risk in paying $5 for some good entertainment.
 
TheBuzzer said:
This part bothers me


This 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.


So he earned less money than what a studio will give him. So studio gives him over 200k for 2 shows? Wow.
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You may want to reread what you just posted...
 
TheBuzzer said:
This part bothers me


This 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.


So he earned less money than what a studio will give him. So studio gives him over 200k for 2 shows? Wow.
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meh. way easier to comprehend than "professional sports players" salaries IMO.
 
TheBuzzer said:
This part bothers me


This 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.


So he earned less money than what a studio will give him. So studio gives him over 200k for 2 shows? Wow.
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He wouldn't make that for every show. Just a series of shows that a studio was going to film for a special that they would then sell.
 
He's one of my favorites along with Brian Regan, Ron White, and Jeff Dunham.

If you were familiar with his comedy (this is directed to the idiot claiming it's a marketing ploy) you would realize this isn't a marketing ploy. It's right in line with a lot of the stuff he bitches about.
 
This is actually how free-market economics/capitalism is SUPPOSED to work. The crap that Republicans and Democrats sell is watered down "legislate and prosecute to the fullest extent" garbage.

Anyways, I hope more artists and inventors realize that they have the ability to be entrepeneurs. ...especially in our globally connected internet world.
 
HBO pays him a lot more than $200k for a "comedy special" that they air (single episode). They regain that from the fee they collect from cable companies who in turn charge a premium for the HBO channel.
 
I have only heard of CK Lewis, never watched any of his stuff. As for Dane... I thought he was great when I first saw one of his stand ups.... but when you watch another one... it is basically the same thing.

I should look up CK.
 
As a fan of Louis CK, I can recommend the following specials and shows:

- Shameless (2007)
- Chewed Up (2008)
- Hilarious (2009)
- Louie (2010 - present; indie-oriented TV show on FX, 2 seasons thus far, and if you're able to get into it, it's worthwhile).

I haven't seen this latest show, and I thought he was going to release the special entitled "Word" soon, so I'm puzzled, but the clip I have seen was somewhat boring. I'll have to watch the entire thing.

Dane Cook appears on s02e07 of Louie, discussing the material he allegedly stole from CK. I don't like Dane Cook, and I agree with what most fans of comedy say of him, but he has SOME redeeming qualities. He is certainly a good performer...although that's what is said of Mencia as well...

HBO would have paid him well for his specials. He tours the country performing a routine, and when he has it honed, the special is made, as is my understanding. He then retires 90% of that material, and develops a new routine.

Louis CK is among my favorite modern comedians (not just for his known comedy, but for his short films, film-commentary (checkout his Youtube commentary on the movie "GAP")).

Carlin would have been among my picks for those passed.
 
Normally don't buy comedy specials, but paid my $5 to support this distribution model.
 
Ok, I really didn't read the last 4 pages but, WTF, I like Luis CK, I thijnk he is really funny, usually I would never really buy this type of video, honestly I only buy stuff for my kid as she will watch the same thing like 100 times...for me, watch and forget...BUT, marketing BS or not, after seeing this story I just bought it...good for him.
 
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