Comedian Becomes Production Company & Distributor: Own Louis CK for $5

Louis CK dissintermediates distribution players and sells his recent comedy for $5 direct

You can own Louis CK for $5. Mind you he’s only  funny if you like mildly overweight balding guys in their mid 40s (because that’s clearly not my thing).

The comedian pulled a “Tom Green” by going direct with his audience. In a bold move, he self financed his recent production and distributed it directly to fans for $5 a digital copy. He’s even been transparent about the financial details (see story). 

On the purchase website he requests that people don’t torrent the copy, and makes this statement about his price:

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. They would have given you an encrypted and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would have owned your private information for their own use.

Can anyone do this? Nope. But Louis CK says he quickly  made more than he’d have been paid by a production and distribution firm. He’s got a fan base, and with social media tools he’s able to “get the word out” without advertising and retail presence. So it works. And as Louis says, “They charged me 15 dollars. That’s how much it costs to only have 20 dollars.”

8 thoughts on “Comedian Becomes Production Company & Distributor: Own Louis CK for $5”

  1. This is simply awesome. And the record companies are still beating themselves over the head, fining people for copyright infringement, charging for downloads, enslaving the artists they sign, all in an effort to figure out how to keep generating revenue the old way.

    There is nothing in this world that inspires me more than seeing someone say, “You know what? Screw you guys. I’ll just do it myself.” And then slam-dunking it like Louie did.

  2. Good idea and I’m glad it’s working for him, but I’m also glad I didn’t buy it or I’d be wanting my money back. I watched it and not a single laugh was produced. I did smile a couple of times.

    “À chacun son goût” and all that, but I don’t understand why he’s so popular.

  3. I’m glad to see self distribution can work if you have a large enough audience. I don’t care for his comedy but it makes me happy to see him get the most money from his content.

  4. I’m very happy for what Louis accomplished, I hope it sets a strong precedent for others to do similarly. It’s way past time recording companies and etc get their power taken away from them and back into the creative types.

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