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.”