Last week Louis decided to make his new special, ‘Louis C. K.: Live at the Beacon Theater,’ available to fans for $5 – no pay TV subscription necessary, no middleman, just a small fee for a lot of laughs.
With no rights management it could have been snapped up and made available for free via pirate sites – and of course this did happen. But amazingly, many people paid the five dollars, and in return received a package of two streams and three downloads to be viewed however they liked.
“I went at this like a consumer, just looking at human impulses,” Louis told The New York Times.
“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. It’s been pretty damn great so far.”
According to the Times, by now Louis was anticipating about 200,000 total downloads, which would mean he’s grossed $1 million. After covering costs of about $250,000 for the live production and the website, that’s a $750,000 pre-tax profit. Not bad, Louis, not bad at all.
“It feels weird having numbers out there, because that’s my personal income,” he continued.
“But I talked to my mom, who is a pretty judicious, careful person, and she said, ‘Tell them everything. Just let it all get out there.’ So that’s what I have been doing, at least so far.”
Copyright : Comedy Central New Zealand