Louis C.K. is a normal guy, albeit an extremely funny one. He's a single dad with two kids living in Manhattan who jokes his most important job is making sure his kids go un-killed everyday.
But last December, he did something remarkable for an "everyman" comic--instead of going through behemoth middle-men like HBO or Comedy Central to host and distribute his latest comedy special, he politely asked his fans to not illegally torrent it and instead download a $5 digital rights-free copy directly from him and his personally managed website. The funny thing is he's far from "hip" and has no affection for social media diehards. Check out this wonderful bit on how, if Jesus came back, we'd all be too busy tweeting to listen to him:
Louis C.K. didn't do it this way because he thought he'd make more money, but because he understood one immutable law of the Internet: if you make it easy and cheap for people to get something they want, they'll do it: “I buy lots of things online and I had a focus group of one. I thought about it, and five bucks seemed almost free and I figured if I took out the hassle, most of the speed bumps, it would almost be like hitting a link and streaming it."
And it's worked (hell, I bought it). The special has grossed him over $1 million dollars as of December 22, 2011 (it's likely much higher now), enough to pay the rent for the Beacon theater, his staff, himself and still give a quarter of it away to charity. All for a per-download price that is truly, as C.K. says, "almost free."
Louis C.K. has done for comedy was Radiohead did for music in 2007 when they released In Rainbows on their website with a "pay-what-you-want" policy. C.K. has likely forever changed the way comedy specials are distributed. He made a conscious choice to connect directly with the groundswell, a.ka. those who wanted to view his special and support him, and in the process exposed the corporate gatekeepers who have long controlled how content is shared as largely irrelevant, unnecessary and money-grubbing entities.
Like many comics, Louie CK is very loud with his opinion. One of the things that I really like about him, however, is that you can tell that he really thinks before he speaks. Even when he is making a joke about something that others might consider serious, he is just spewing nonsense. I think it was really smart of him to make this move rather than just say something insulting to people who illegally download.
ReplyDeleteSo... I love Louis C. K. so I was immediately intrigued when I saw your post (to those who don't know his stand-up, I thought this clip was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPas5Xu0_8M&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8091E0ECD43B9748)
ReplyDeleteNow after reading this I like him even more - it was a very clever way of getting around a tricky situation that many professionals in the industry have dealt with much more poorly and unsuccessfully. He is obviously really critical about a lot of the social media we have, but he clearly understands the way it works and how it can be successful in many ways, and it turned out better than he could have ever imagined.
Considering how much attention comedians have gotten from the access that social media provides, it would be pretty naive to downplay its importance in their own success. Louis C. K. really treated the situation very maturely and professionally and with a clear understanding of his audience.