18 ms·

Louis CK self-produces, self-publishes content on his webpage

592 points by rb2k_ 15y ago

rb2k_ 15y ago
I'd LOVE to see more content producers distributing their own content rather than giving money to middlemen. I am not sure if this would also work for people that DON'T have their own TV show but just start doing things. Maybe something akin to "openers" on concerts would work. Bundling less known content in a "pay what you want" basis.
- city41 15y ago
  Although I agree, I'm not sure this distribution method scales as is. I just sent Louis 5 bucks, downloaded the video, copied it to a USB drive, and then hooked it up to my Roku. I'm fine doing that ad hoc process occasionally, but if I got most of my media this way it'd get old very fast. Surely there is a better way to distribute this stuff such that it doesn't take away the nice advantages and gives most/all the money to the artist too?
  - neutronicus 15y ago
    My mileage varies. I love that I don't have to let some "platform" like iTunes or Steam put its tentacles in my computer in order to get an individual piece of media.
  - Fluxx 15y ago
    It's pretty close to that now. I have an RSS feed hooked up to µTorrent that automatically downloads new items I add to my RSS feed (in this case it's TV shows from a private tracker website) or newly available ones from my existing list of favorites. The downloaded files get stored to a folder on my Drobo which I could hypothetically have Plex scan and add to my media library. Instead, because I'm anal about my media sorting, I manually move them to folders by movie/show/season/artist/etc that Plex scans. But that's overkill. Plex then makes my media available on my big TV through my Mini, my bedroom TV through my jailbroke AppleTV and on my mobile devices through the Plex iOS apps. If the market ever allows for a consumer-level product to achieve this (my solution is very geeky) and it works well, it will be successful.
  - wdewind 15y ago
    You're totally right, but those optimizations to this process don't become economically feasible until more than a few people are making a living this way. Sending Louis CK $5 right now is a simple way to make it possible for him to be an example for others in his industry, and thus create a market for the type of product you are talking about. So you've already started solving your own problem, and you didn't even write a line of code!
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
dantheman 15y ago
I'm really glad he did this. I picked up a copy, and in fact am quite glad when I can actually purchase DRM free content. I take a principled position against intellectual property, but that doesn't mean I don't support artists - I just don't endorse monopolies. Hopefully, overtime as more and more artists release content themselves the middlemen will go out of business and we can move towards a more free society.
ck2 15y ago
"Without DRM" should be in the title here. It's the critical part of the experiment. I'm curious to see what happens, hope he gives an update of some kind.
turoczy 15y ago
His description of why he did it: To those who might wish to "torrent" this video: look, I don't really get the whole "torrent" thing. I don't know enough about it to judge either way. But I'd just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to be easy for people to watch and enjoy this video in any way they want without "corporate" restrictions. Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I'm just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can't stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way. Sincerely, Louis C.K.
- freemarketteddy 15y ago
  absolutely brilliant!
- yangez 15y ago
  Wow. His simple tone belies the brilliance in his writing here. I seriously doubt he just spent 5 minutes scribbling this out as an afterthought. He gets a few key ideas across: - he doesn't understand torrenting and so is helpless against it - he cares about his viewers more than taking advice about DRM - the video is owned solely by him and not some soulless corporation, and you're directly hurting him by torrenting - you'll destroy his faith in mankind if you torrent - five dollars is nothing compared to all that! All of which combines to make you feel like a huge asshole for even considering pirate bay - in the nicest possible way. This type of thing makes a lot more sense than DRM in his case, and I bet it's a lot more effective too.
  - shadowfox 15y ago
    Indeed. But I am curious what would happen if a lot more people did this. Would such an appeal lose effectiveness?
john_b 15y ago
I am downloading now. I'm glad he is willing to experiment here; this is what the entertainment industry as a whole really needs.
lukeholder 15y ago
I bought it! supporting the non DRM, content producer/distributor model.
caiusdurling 15y ago
I bought this purely to support him for being brave enough to release it DRM-free. Currently watching it and trying not to snort my drink over my laptop due to laughing too much. Excellent way to discover a new comic I'd say.
- nathos 15y ago
  If you have access to Netflix streaming, his show Louie [http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louie/70179977 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louie/70179977] and one of his older stand-up specials "Chewed Up" [http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louis_C.K._Chewed_Up/70108425 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louis_C.K._Chewed_Up/70108...] are available.
  - Qz 15y ago
    Louie is also available on Hulu (though I'm not sure about the first season).
- leftnode 15y ago
  His show "Louie" is equal parts drama and comedy. It's really an amazing show and he's easily the top comedian today, hands down.
  - trafficlight 15y ago
    Louie is a great show. He is the master of uncomfortable situations.
    - flyt 15y ago
      Louis C.K. is great and I agree with you, but nobody tops Larry David on Curb for uncomfortable situations.
      - skore 15y ago
        I enjoyed Curb - I made it through one and a half seasons - but I couldn't continue watching it. I may just have a low threshold for enduring discomfort, but Curb just keeps pushing and pushing the cringe meter. For Louis CK, it's about what happens WITH the discomfort. Curb, to me, is a DISPLAY of discomfort that is funny to a point, but then just has very little redeeming value beyond that. Another example of the same dilemma would be Ricky Gervais - I really enjoy his comedy specials and stand-up work, but I couldn't watch the original Office or something like Extras. It's funny alright, but if I have to pause it for the cringe to go away every other minute, it just looses focus to me. Cringe->Funny is a proven vehicle these days, bit it's to a point where I find it a little too simple, really. Anyhow - Louis CK (and, to a point, Gervais in his stand-up) glances at the cringe and then opens up a world of insight around it that is way funnier than just having the cringe meter top off every thirty seconds.
thehodge 15y ago
I wonder how much he makes after bandwidth + paypal fees, he limits it to 2 streams and 2 downloads but the file is still 1.2 gig so not a small one..
- pkulak 15y ago
  Bandwidth is pretty crazy cheap these days. I can't imagine it costing more than a quarter to send out a couple gigs.
  - dreamux 15y ago
    About 14 cents per download (streams are probably even smaller) on the lowest tier of S3 (once you're over 10TB/mo it gets even cheaper).
- izak30 15y ago
  about $4, if you use up all four download/stream slots.
mhd 15y ago
And I can buy it from any country, as long as I have a paypal account. Neat.
- tednaleid 15y ago
  You don't have to have a paypal account, you just have to use paypal to pay. Account creation is optional.
- VMG 15y ago
  Just bought it here in Germany, where it's not easy to get his stuff. I would have paid 10$ (7,5 Euros) if he had a Humblebundle pricing scheme.
deepkut 15y ago
Add that to the list of how awesome this guy is.
igorgue 15y ago
And I thought Louis CK was awesome, this makes him more awesome :). I love his show and specials.
freemarketteddy 15y ago
This gives me so much hope....I think we are going to see a revolution in Art and Media as more of these guys start getting "it"...The days of Big brother and his army of douchebag MBA's is soon going to be over!
Timothee 15y ago
I recommend reading his explanation of why he did it the way he did (meaning DRM-free and based on trust), even though he's been advised not to. It's very earnest and has a feel of "listen, I created this. You're likely to like it. If you give me a bit of money, I'll give you access to it. You can do whatever you want with it, but just keep in mind that I worked and paid for it being made." a.k.a what Louis CK would probably sum up as "just don't be an asshole, ok?"
ck2 15y ago
Is anyone wondering how long until PayPal locks his account? Not wishing for it to happen - but realize it's PayPal. Now if we can just get him to be making jokes about PayPal, that I'd pay to see.
- dangrossman 15y ago
  > but realize it's PayPal. Which several hundred million people use without having their accounts locked.
  - ck2 15y ago
    People use it for single small transactions. Wait until paypal sees hundreds of thousands of $5 payments and a balance over $100k - especially if his account is relatively new - unless his people were smart enough to pre-empt this with them.
    - dangrossman 15y ago
      The worst that's likely to happen is they ask him to send a copy of ID and a bill with his address on it, he faxes it over and the account is unlocked the same business day. Does it seem unreasonable that a payment processor should want some evidence of the account holder's identity (much like banks are required by law to collect) once they're in a position to pay out tens of thousands of dollars? I don't see anything to poke fun at.
    - enneff 15y ago
      > Wait until paypal sees hundreds of thousands of $5 payments and a balance over $100k A lot of the account freezings happen when the receiver of the payments isn't distributing an actual product (donations, fundraisers, etc). Louis could very easily provide the details of all the downloads, confirming delivery of the product.
- tpowell 15y ago
  I synced my bank account with Dwolla. Now I wait. And wait.
bobds 15y ago
I've enjoyed much of Louis CK's content without a chance to put some money in his pocket. So I've bought this. $5 feels like a good price point. I don't think I would have paid $20, especially if I knew that he would only be getting a small fraction of that. Bonus points for making it a 1.2 GB h264 encode. I hope this works out great for Louis and makes other people want to try it.
brentvatne 15y ago
Happy to support this with my five dollars! Hopefully this model catches on.
- masklinn 15y ago
  > Hopefully this model catches on. If the success of NiN's "Ghosts I-IV" was not sufficient, I doubt that one will be. It's a long walk, uphill, on a 10G planet, of a slope the size of Olympus Mons.
  - khuey 15y ago
    Olympus Mons actually has a low slope (about 5 degrees). It gets to be the tallest volcano in the solar system by being 400 miles wide.
    - masklinn 15y ago
      > Olympus Mons actually has a low slope (about 5 degrees) By size I meant length, not angle (and completely forgot to talk about angle on the way). Sorry 'bout that. 'though at 10G planet, 200 miles at 5˚ should be plenty fun to walk.
      - saturn 15y ago
        on a 10G planet, 200 miles at 0˚ would be plenty fun to walk..
  - d0mine 15y ago
    A typical person without a g-suit will black out at around 6 g. </quote> http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Effect-Gravity-Human-Body/165048 http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Effect-Gravity-Human-Body/165...
lgeek 15y ago
Chromium crashed during my first attempt to download the show and then I ran out of free disk space the second time (yeah, SSDs are a bit too small). Anyway, my point is that starting a download and then only getting a couple of MBs shouldn't really count as using a download slot. On the other hand, I don't know if it's possible to check how much data has been transferred using existing technology. He seems to be using Amazon CloudFront.
- dantheman 15y ago
  Ideally it'd work where they generate a URL for you that works for 24 hours or something like that, or they give you a one time url, but you can generate as many as you'd like for 24 hours. If for instance they see someone generate 100 or 1000 or something they can then revoke their permissions.
- jamesbkel 15y ago
  Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.
- jamesbkel 15y ago
  Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.
- count 15y ago
  If you buy tickets to a concert, and then something comes up where you can't make it, do you get to go again for free? I don't see this as being unreasonable, especially for $5 with no licensing or DRM or anything around it.
tfb 15y ago
I bought this not only because Louis CK is both awesome and hilarious, but because I really, really want his "method" to become more widespread. I know it's a long shot, but I hope so many people buy this because of how he's released it that it garners some serious attention towards the issue and proves that restrictions like DRM are actually hurting the applicable industries.
adgar 15y ago
Protip: You can start playing the video in VLC/your favorite player as soon as the download starts, if your download rate is fast enough to keep up.
mladenkovacevic 15y ago
I hope he pulls it off and if anyone can it's someone with as much credibility and talent as Louis CK. I feel like I'm getting a bargain at $5, knowing how much enjoyment I'll get from his material. That couldn't be said for the majority of studio-supported/produced mind-numbing crap out there. Sa-da-tay!
kisstheblade 15y ago
Well DRM helps nothing to stop a video from being torrented, so why bother with it. I think Louis CK is smart enough to understand this, and with this personal appeal will probably sell better than using the usual methods. I bought a copy because of this. It's nice to support the artist directly especially when the video file finally is as good as the versions you usually find only on torrent sites (no "you criminal" warnings eg. like on store bought DVD:s. Nice way to thank those that have actually paid for the content...).
jgeralnik 15y ago
Just bought it. While I'm really happy to support DRM free content, I must say I am somewhat disappointed that you can only download it twice. "PLEASE NOTE that you can only stream the film twice AND you can download the film twice. Once you start a stream of the film, your stream will be active for 8 hours. Once you have exceeded your streaming and download limits, you will need to purchase the film again to stream or download it again. However once you have fully downloaded the film, you are of course free to watch it as many times as you like. "
- icey 15y ago
  How much bandwidth do you think $5 buys?
  - bobds 15y ago
    I think it's on AWS. So whatever that buys you on Amazon. The 2 download limit made me worry about disconnecting or restarting the download. I also can't make my download manager open more than one connection, in case that locks me out of the content I just bought. I think it should be higher, but I understand that he can't give away too much bandwidth without cutting into his profits.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - Apfel 15y ago
      You really don't need to worry too much about disconnects. I disconnected twice while downloading and emailed the customer support address and they just replenished my downloads.
  - wx77 15y ago
    For amazon cloudfront at the most expensive tier it buys close to 42 GB but then there would be no profit in sending the file 34 times (someone said it was a 1.2 GB file). It makes sense to me why he is only allowing a few downloads otherwise a few extreme users could take up all his money just by streaming.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- slig 15y ago
  He's not "some guy". He's a very popular stand-up comedian, with a TV show. [1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
    - resnamen 15y ago
      That's a matter of personal taste. Just look at it as an example of an artist taking his work directly to the public and sidestepping the overhead and hassle of traditional digital media distribution models. That's cool, isn't it?
    - ShirtlessRod 15y ago
      If you don't like his comedy that's fine, but he's a nationally recognized performer with his own show. I think that elevates his status just slightly above "just some guy", don't you?
danso 15y ago
He also shoots and edits his own show (Louie, on FX) using a RED camera and his own laptop. He famously fought for total editorial control of his show (to the betterment of all of us viewers) and now he's not even taking a step back when it comes to distribution. Good for him http://gizmodo.com/5658621/how-louis-ck-shoots-and-edits-his-own-show http://gizmodo.com/5658621/how-louis-ck-shoots-and-edits-his...
- cavilling_elite 15y ago
  I didn't know this! This is fantastic. I'm glad to see he is pushing the envelope for both humor and distribution.
jronkone 15y ago
I think there's a huge pent-up demand for software that makes it easy for artists to publish their own content on their own websites easily and also makes making and collecting payments as easy as downloading torrents. Probably something like that already exists, but the fact is that most of the content seems to be aggregated in different kinds of services that the artists don't really control themselves.
- sahillavingia 15y ago
  This is exactly what I'm trying to do with Gumroad: http://gumroad.com http://gumroad.com (I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback)
  - adelevie 15y ago
    I checked out the link and found it a little sparse and details. What does it mean to sell a link? I think you need a lot more info on the landing and about pages.
  - jronkone 15y ago
    The idea seems good, but I think many people would prefer a demo (or more explanation) about how it actually works, preferably without the user needing to supply his/her email. On the technical side, the scrolling text seems to overlap to the next line on some zoom-settings (I'm using Firefox 8 if it matters).
  - heyitsnick 15y ago
    agree with sibling comment - what exactly happens when i sign up? so i get a link to send people, what does the user see? how do they pay? etc. these are the first questions i have and should be answered on the landing page, maybe with a video demo. Another bit of feedback - imo remove the end bit of this sentence, in your FAQ re. pricing: "Simple. It's 5% + $0.30 for each transaction. We're working hard to get this lower.". You have just put the idea in my head that 5% + 0.3 is too much. now i have doubts. maybe now i should shop around? or roll my own? or wait for prices to go down? no need to sow this seed. 5% + 0.3, and you are covering transaction costs? total bargain
resnamen 15y ago
Excellent. I gave him my $5. Louis CK is a media maverick and I wish him good luck. His only condition for the network when he created his TV series was "you don't screw with my writing". And he chases opportunities like this because he just thinks in his gut that it might be the better way forward. Most personalities are too in thrall to meddling PR overlords to take principled stands like these.
antimora 15y ago
I checked out the sample video and noticed in the end louisck.COM was mentioned and not lousck.NET. Both of the sites seem to look alike, except .net version has more tweets.
cavilling_elite 15y ago
I bought it twice. Hopefully his next release will have a "pay what you want" model with $5 minimum.
davesims 15y ago
The Marc Maron 2-part interview with Louis is one of the best podcasts ever made. Louis goes into his production process, how he creates 2 hours of new material every year, and why he brought in Jean Luc Godard's DP to film Pootie Tang. Will definitely make you want to put up a measly 5 bucks for just about anything Louis does. http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-111-louis-ck-part-1 http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-111-louis-ck-part-1
- ineedtosleep 15y ago
  Since I'm not willing to pay for an app just to listen to one podcast, the "2 hours of new material every year" bit (I'm assuming) is also explained in Louis CK's speech about the late George Carlin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU
  - hackernews 15y ago
    You should be able to figure out what the direct link is or you can just google it.
    - psykotic 15y ago
      For the view-source impaired, the direct URL is http://traffic.libsyn.com/wtfpod/WTF_-_EPISODE_111_LOUIS_CK.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/wtfpod/WTF_-_EPISODE_111_LOUIS_CK....
      - alecco 15y ago
        interview starts at 18:40
  - davesims 15y ago
    WTF is the best comedy podcast out there, hands-down. The 2-part with Louis is worth the price of admission alone, but there's many more that are as well. If you like comedy at all and a contrarian, alternative point of view, I can't recommend it highly enough.
gruseom 15y ago
Louis CK is an interesting example of an artist who has grown. His stuff from 20 years ago (that I've seen, at least) was really bad; it was timid and boxed in by convention, which is death to comedy. Somewhere along the way he obviously said fuck it and started telling the truth more directly and provocatively. And that is how lead is transmuted into gold. Funniness is almost a side effect. Now he seems closer than anyone working in this area to Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks territory (if anybody's closer, I'd love to hear about them) with at least a shot at equalling them, which would be amazing.
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  Doug Stanhope has a damn good go at it.
  - gruseom 15y ago
    Sorry, can't agree. Way too harsh on the surface and not enough insight underneath.
    - JonnieCache 15y ago
      Part of Doug's persona is an utter lack of self-respect or self-worth. I think his unapologetic lack of genuine insight into some of the issues he discusses portrays an universal and uncompromising policy of total honestly which is very powerful. Much of his performances involve veering sharply from some relatively considered insight into the human condition to some completely unnecessarily graphic tirade against a trivial aspect of his everyday life, with absolutely no break between them. In many ways it's as much performance art as it is standup, he has a more fundamentalist attitude towards attacking sacred cows than any other comedian I can think of. Also I'd add that his more recent work is considerably improved on a lot of his slightly more incoherent stuff from earlier in his career. His "No Refunds" DVD from 2007 is a lot more focused and better paced. Check it out.
  - pmcginn 15y ago
    Doug was on Louie this season and did an amazing job. He seems to be a comedian's comedian--his name comes up in interviews all the time when comedians are asked who's their favorite among their peers.
aboodman 15y ago
<meta name="author" content="versionindustries.com" /> I would love to know more about how this was produced. Like what level of decision Louis himself was involved in. The writing is great and the design is clean. I want to believe he micromanaged everything. Or even that he made this site himself and that this line was a paste-o that he forgot to remove. Edit: Nuts: "their company (that built the site) is called Version Industries". gotta tweet that shit."
ddw 15y ago
All of his copy is awesome: Hi Thanks for subscribing to the Louis C.K. email list. I swear to Christ* I will not bother you now that I have your email. To complete your subscription, you need to confirm you got this email. To do so, please click the link below: ... *(of course I mean Bill Christ, who owns a Fiat dealership in Ronkonkoma, NY and has diabetes) Which makes me think - why does anyone write boring standard auto emails? But I guess no one is as funny as him and we don't need more Groupon copy in the world. Can't say enough about this guy.
robert_mygengo 15y ago
Best part of this for me is that I can now actually pay to watch something outside of the US from an artist I like. If you don't live outside the US or UK you probably don't realize how rare that is.
mlnowak 15y ago
Truly fantastic approach. Just downloading the video, and happy to pay $5.
postscapes1 15y ago
I recently saw something similar for the film http://urbanizedfilm.com/stream/ http://urbanizedfilm.com/stream/ that uses http://distrify.com/ http://distrify.com/ to handle payment/streaming/affiliates all within the embed itself.
jonbro 15y ago
A small point, but something that is really nice. At the end of the form where you enter your email address, the sign up to his mailing list is checked no by default. I switched it to yes partially because of that.
avar 15y ago
When you buy it you get directed to a page linking to: https://buy.louisck.net/account/download Which is a redirect to: http://download.aws.louisck.net/Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4?Expires=<unix timestamp>&Signature=<long string>&Key-Pair-Id=<an id> Which can be downloaded e.g. with wget and is a: $ file Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4 Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4: ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 2
- jarin 15y ago
  I'm still going to pay the 5 bucks, because far be it from me to take advantage of an honest comedian's technological incompetence.
  - avar 15y ago
    Oh that's not how I meant it. I've paid my $5 for it and downloaded it, and that link I posted will return a 403 without the right authorization. I posted it because I was worried that I couldn't download it with wget before I bought it, I'm on a 3G connection through my phone and I wanted to download it to my server so I could download it later from a more capable connection. I sent the below E-Mail to their support address (support@louisck.net) and I'd encourage others who bought this to send something similar do the same. I think it's important to tell artists that this sort of distribution is appreciated: Thanks for making this show available in non-DRM format. I haven't watched it yet, but I bought it and downloaded it already. My friends and I have been following your work for a while, I've watched both your HBO TV shows and downloaded a bunch of your standups. But since I don't live in the US and don't want to buy DRM content I haven't paid you for any of this. However I'm happy to be able to when you offer something in this format. I can pay for it even if I don't live in the US, and I don't have to buy something like a DVD or subscribe to something like iTunes where I'll effectively be getting a worse service by locking the media I buy into some corporation's proprietary distribution platform. But if you keep offering things in this way in the future I'll be sure to pay for them. It's not that I'm cheap. I make a very good living, and I'm happy to pay for things. I just think it's unethical to pay for media when part of the proceeds go to conglomerates like the MPAA which are actively working towards reducing freedom on the Internet.
tgrass 15y ago
If this were the business model for airbnb, how far would they have gotten with pg?

592 points by rb2k_ 15y ago

rb2k_ 15y ago

I'd LOVE to see more content producers distributing their own content rather than giving money to middlemen. I am not sure if this would also work for people that DON'T have their own TV show but just start doing things. Maybe something akin to "openers" on concerts would work. Bundling less known content in a "pay what you want" basis.

city41 15y ago
Although I agree, I'm not sure this distribution method scales as is. I just sent Louis 5 bucks, downloaded the video, copied it to a USB drive, and then hooked it up to my Roku. I'm fine doing that ad hoc process occasionally, but if I got most of my media this way it'd get old very fast. Surely there is a better way to distribute this stuff such that it doesn't take away the nice advantages and gives most/all the money to the artist too?
- neutronicus 15y ago
  My mileage varies. I love that I don't have to let some "platform" like iTunes or Steam put its tentacles in my computer in order to get an individual piece of media.
- Fluxx 15y ago
  It's pretty close to that now. I have an RSS feed hooked up to µTorrent that automatically downloads new items I add to my RSS feed (in this case it's TV shows from a private tracker website) or newly available ones from my existing list of favorites. The downloaded files get stored to a folder on my Drobo which I could hypothetically have Plex scan and add to my media library. Instead, because I'm anal about my media sorting, I manually move them to folders by movie/show/season/artist/etc that Plex scans. But that's overkill. Plex then makes my media available on my big TV through my Mini, my bedroom TV through my jailbroke AppleTV and on my mobile devices through the Plex iOS apps. If the market ever allows for a consumer-level product to achieve this (my solution is very geeky) and it works well, it will be successful.
- wdewind 15y ago
  You're totally right, but those optimizations to this process don't become economically feasible until more than a few people are making a living this way. Sending Louis CK $5 right now is a simple way to make it possible for him to be an example for others in his industry, and thus create a market for the type of product you are talking about. So you've already started solving your own problem, and you didn't even write a line of code!

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

dantheman 15y ago

I'm really glad he did this. I picked up a copy, and in fact am quite glad when I can actually purchase DRM free content. I take a principled position against intellectual property, but that doesn't mean I don't support artists - I just don't endorse monopolies. Hopefully, overtime as more and more artists release content themselves the middlemen will go out of business and we can move towards a more free society.

ck2 15y ago

"Without DRM" should be in the title here. It's the critical part of the experiment. I'm curious to see what happens, hope he gives an update of some kind.

turoczy 15y ago

His description of why he did it: To those who might wish to "torrent" this video: look, I don't really get the whole "torrent" thing. I don't know enough about it to judge either way. But I'd just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to be easy for people to watch and enjoy this video in any way they want without "corporate" restrictions. Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I'm just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can't stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way. Sincerely, Louis C.K.

freemarketteddy 15y ago
absolutely brilliant!
yangez 15y ago
Wow. His simple tone belies the brilliance in his writing here. I seriously doubt he just spent 5 minutes scribbling this out as an afterthought. He gets a few key ideas across: - he doesn't understand torrenting and so is helpless against it - he cares about his viewers more than taking advice about DRM - the video is owned solely by him and not some soulless corporation, and you're directly hurting him by torrenting - you'll destroy his faith in mankind if you torrent - five dollars is nothing compared to all that! All of which combines to make you feel like a huge asshole for even considering pirate bay - in the nicest possible way. This type of thing makes a lot more sense than DRM in his case, and I bet it's a lot more effective too.
- shadowfox 15y ago
  Indeed. But I am curious what would happen if a lot more people did this. Would such an appeal lose effectiveness?

john_b 15y ago

I am downloading now. I'm glad he is willing to experiment here; this is what the entertainment industry as a whole really needs.

lukeholder 15y ago

I bought it! supporting the non DRM, content producer/distributor model.

caiusdurling 15y ago

I bought this purely to support him for being brave enough to release it DRM-free. Currently watching it and trying not to snort my drink over my laptop due to laughing too much. Excellent way to discover a new comic I'd say.

nathos 15y ago
If you have access to Netflix streaming, his show Louie [http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louie/70179977 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louie/70179977] and one of his older stand-up specials "Chewed Up" [http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louis_C.K._Chewed_Up/70108425 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Louis_C.K._Chewed_Up/70108...] are available.
- Qz 15y ago
  Louie is also available on Hulu (though I'm not sure about the first season).
leftnode 15y ago
His show "Louie" is equal parts drama and comedy. It's really an amazing show and he's easily the top comedian today, hands down.
- trafficlight 15y ago
  Louie is a great show. He is the master of uncomfortable situations.
  - flyt 15y ago
    Louis C.K. is great and I agree with you, but nobody tops Larry David on Curb for uncomfortable situations.
    - skore 15y ago
      I enjoyed Curb - I made it through one and a half seasons - but I couldn't continue watching it. I may just have a low threshold for enduring discomfort, but Curb just keeps pushing and pushing the cringe meter. For Louis CK, it's about what happens WITH the discomfort. Curb, to me, is a DISPLAY of discomfort that is funny to a point, but then just has very little redeeming value beyond that. Another example of the same dilemma would be Ricky Gervais - I really enjoy his comedy specials and stand-up work, but I couldn't watch the original Office or something like Extras. It's funny alright, but if I have to pause it for the cringe to go away every other minute, it just looses focus to me. Cringe->Funny is a proven vehicle these days, bit it's to a point where I find it a little too simple, really. Anyhow - Louis CK (and, to a point, Gervais in his stand-up) glances at the cringe and then opens up a world of insight around it that is way funnier than just having the cringe meter top off every thirty seconds.

thehodge 15y ago

I wonder how much he makes after bandwidth + paypal fees, he limits it to 2 streams and 2 downloads but the file is still 1.2 gig so not a small one..

pkulak 15y ago
Bandwidth is pretty crazy cheap these days. I can't imagine it costing more than a quarter to send out a couple gigs.
- dreamux 15y ago
  About 14 cents per download (streams are probably even smaller) on the lowest tier of S3 (once you're over 10TB/mo it gets even cheaper).
izak30 15y ago
about $4, if you use up all four download/stream slots.

mhd 15y ago

And I can buy it from any country, as long as I have a paypal account. Neat.

tednaleid 15y ago
You don't have to have a paypal account, you just have to use paypal to pay. Account creation is optional.
VMG 15y ago
Just bought it here in Germany, where it's not easy to get his stuff. I would have paid 10$ (7,5 Euros) if he had a Humblebundle pricing scheme.

deepkut 15y ago

Add that to the list of how awesome this guy is.

igorgue 15y ago

And I thought Louis CK was awesome, this makes him more awesome :). I love his show and specials.

freemarketteddy 15y ago

This gives me so much hope....I think we are going to see a revolution in Art and Media as more of these guys start getting "it"...The days of Big brother and his army of douchebag MBA's is soon going to be over!

Timothee 15y ago

I recommend reading his explanation of why he did it the way he did (meaning DRM-free and based on trust), even though he's been advised not to. It's very earnest and has a feel of "listen, I created this. You're likely to like it. If you give me a bit of money, I'll give you access to it. You can do whatever you want with it, but just keep in mind that I worked and paid for it being made." a.k.a what Louis CK would probably sum up as "just don't be an asshole, ok?"

ck2 15y ago

Is anyone wondering how long until PayPal locks his account? Not wishing for it to happen - but realize it's PayPal. Now if we can just get him to be making jokes about PayPal, that I'd pay to see.

dangrossman 15y ago
> but realize it's PayPal. Which several hundred million people use without having their accounts locked.
- ck2 15y ago
  People use it for single small transactions. Wait until paypal sees hundreds of thousands of $5 payments and a balance over $100k - especially if his account is relatively new - unless his people were smart enough to pre-empt this with them.
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    The worst that's likely to happen is they ask him to send a copy of ID and a bill with his address on it, he faxes it over and the account is unlocked the same business day. Does it seem unreasonable that a payment processor should want some evidence of the account holder's identity (much like banks are required by law to collect) once they're in a position to pay out tens of thousands of dollars? I don't see anything to poke fun at.
  - enneff 15y ago
    > Wait until paypal sees hundreds of thousands of $5 payments and a balance over $100k A lot of the account freezings happen when the receiver of the payments isn't distributing an actual product (donations, fundraisers, etc). Louis could very easily provide the details of all the downloads, confirming delivery of the product.
tpowell 15y ago
I synced my bank account with Dwolla. Now I wait. And wait.

bobds 15y ago

I've enjoyed much of Louis CK's content without a chance to put some money in his pocket. So I've bought this. $5 feels like a good price point. I don't think I would have paid $20, especially if I knew that he would only be getting a small fraction of that. Bonus points for making it a 1.2 GB h264 encode. I hope this works out great for Louis and makes other people want to try it.

brentvatne 15y ago

Happy to support this with my five dollars! Hopefully this model catches on.

masklinn 15y ago
> Hopefully this model catches on. If the success of NiN's "Ghosts I-IV" was not sufficient, I doubt that one will be. It's a long walk, uphill, on a 10G planet, of a slope the size of Olympus Mons.
- khuey 15y ago
  Olympus Mons actually has a low slope (about 5 degrees). It gets to be the tallest volcano in the solar system by being 400 miles wide.
  - masklinn 15y ago
    > Olympus Mons actually has a low slope (about 5 degrees) By size I meant length, not angle (and completely forgot to talk about angle on the way). Sorry 'bout that. 'though at 10G planet, 200 miles at 5˚ should be plenty fun to walk.
    - saturn 15y ago
      on a 10G planet, 200 miles at 0˚ would be plenty fun to walk..
- d0mine 15y ago
  A typical person without a g-suit will black out at around 6 g. </quote> http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Effect-Gravity-Human-Body/165048 http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Effect-Gravity-Human-Body/165...

lgeek 15y ago

Chromium crashed during my first attempt to download the show and then I ran out of free disk space the second time (yeah, SSDs are a bit too small). Anyway, my point is that starting a download and then only getting a couple of MBs shouldn't really count as using a download slot. On the other hand, I don't know if it's possible to check how much data has been transferred using existing technology. He seems to be using Amazon CloudFront.

dantheman 15y ago
Ideally it'd work where they generate a URL for you that works for 24 hours or something like that, or they give you a one time url, but you can generate as many as you'd like for 24 hours. If for instance they see someone generate 100 or 1000 or something they can then revoke their permissions.
jamesbkel 15y ago
Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.
jamesbkel 15y ago
Based on the tone of Louis CK in his description, I would try sending some feedback on the problem... he appears receptive. It's only been available for one day so far, so I imagine he would appreciate a chance to improve the system.
count 15y ago
If you buy tickets to a concert, and then something comes up where you can't make it, do you get to go again for free? I don't see this as being unreasonable, especially for $5 with no licensing or DRM or anything around it.

tfb 15y ago

I bought this not only because Louis CK is both awesome and hilarious, but because I really, really want his "method" to become more widespread. I know it's a long shot, but I hope so many people buy this because of how he's released it that it garners some serious attention towards the issue and proves that restrictions like DRM are actually hurting the applicable industries.

adgar 15y ago

Protip: You can start playing the video in VLC/your favorite player as soon as the download starts, if your download rate is fast enough to keep up.

mladenkovacevic 15y ago

I hope he pulls it off and if anyone can it's someone with as much credibility and talent as Louis CK. I feel like I'm getting a bargain at $5, knowing how much enjoyment I'll get from his material. That couldn't be said for the majority of studio-supported/produced mind-numbing crap out there. Sa-da-tay!

kisstheblade 15y ago

Well DRM helps nothing to stop a video from being torrented, so why bother with it. I think Louis CK is smart enough to understand this, and with this personal appeal will probably sell better than using the usual methods. I bought a copy because of this. It's nice to support the artist directly especially when the video file finally is as good as the versions you usually find only on torrent sites (no "you criminal" warnings eg. like on store bought DVD:s. Nice way to thank those that have actually paid for the content...).

jgeralnik 15y ago

Just bought it. While I'm really happy to support DRM free content, I must say I am somewhat disappointed that you can only download it twice. "PLEASE NOTE that you can only stream the film twice AND you can download the film twice. Once you start a stream of the film, your stream will be active for 8 hours. Once you have exceeded your streaming and download limits, you will need to purchase the film again to stream or download it again. However once you have fully downloaded the film, you are of course free to watch it as many times as you like. "

icey 15y ago
How much bandwidth do you think $5 buys?
- bobds 15y ago
  I think it's on AWS. So whatever that buys you on Amazon. The 2 download limit made me worry about disconnecting or restarting the download. I also can't make my download manager open more than one connection, in case that locks me out of the content I just bought. I think it should be higher, but I understand that he can't give away too much bandwidth without cutting into his profits.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - Apfel 15y ago
    You really don't need to worry too much about disconnects. I disconnected twice while downloading and emailed the customer support address and they just replenished my downloads.
- wx77 15y ago
  For amazon cloudfront at the most expensive tier it buys close to 42 GB but then there would be no profit in sending the file 34 times (someone said it was a 1.2 GB file). It makes sense to me why he is only allowing a few downloads otherwise a few extreme users could take up all his money just by streaming.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

slig 15y ago
He's not "some guy". He's a very popular stand-up comedian, with a TV show. [1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - resnamen 15y ago
    That's a matter of personal taste. Just look at it as an example of an artist taking his work directly to the public and sidestepping the overhead and hassle of traditional digital media distribution models. That's cool, isn't it?
  - ShirtlessRod 15y ago
    If you don't like his comedy that's fine, but he's a nationally recognized performer with his own show. I think that elevates his status just slightly above "just some guy", don't you?

danso 15y ago

He also shoots and edits his own show (Louie, on FX) using a RED camera and his own laptop. He famously fought for total editorial control of his show (to the betterment of all of us viewers) and now he's not even taking a step back when it comes to distribution. Good for him http://gizmodo.com/5658621/how-louis-ck-shoots-and-edits-his-own-show http://gizmodo.com/5658621/how-louis-ck-shoots-and-edits-his...

cavilling_elite 15y ago
I didn't know this! This is fantastic. I'm glad to see he is pushing the envelope for both humor and distribution.

jronkone 15y ago

I think there's a huge pent-up demand for software that makes it easy for artists to publish their own content on their own websites easily and also makes making and collecting payments as easy as downloading torrents. Probably something like that already exists, but the fact is that most of the content seems to be aggregated in different kinds of services that the artists don't really control themselves.

sahillavingia 15y ago
This is exactly what I'm trying to do with Gumroad: http://gumroad.com http://gumroad.com (I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback)
- adelevie 15y ago
  I checked out the link and found it a little sparse and details. What does it mean to sell a link? I think you need a lot more info on the landing and about pages.
- jronkone 15y ago
  The idea seems good, but I think many people would prefer a demo (or more explanation) about how it actually works, preferably without the user needing to supply his/her email. On the technical side, the scrolling text seems to overlap to the next line on some zoom-settings (I'm using Firefox 8 if it matters).
- heyitsnick 15y ago
  agree with sibling comment - what exactly happens when i sign up? so i get a link to send people, what does the user see? how do they pay? etc. these are the first questions i have and should be answered on the landing page, maybe with a video demo. Another bit of feedback - imo remove the end bit of this sentence, in your FAQ re. pricing: "Simple. It's 5% + $0.30 for each transaction. We're working hard to get this lower.". You have just put the idea in my head that 5% + 0.3 is too much. now i have doubts. maybe now i should shop around? or roll my own? or wait for prices to go down? no need to sow this seed. 5% + 0.3, and you are covering transaction costs? total bargain

resnamen 15y ago

Excellent. I gave him my $5. Louis CK is a media maverick and I wish him good luck. His only condition for the network when he created his TV series was "you don't screw with my writing". And he chases opportunities like this because he just thinks in his gut that it might be the better way forward. Most personalities are too in thrall to meddling PR overlords to take principled stands like these.

antimora 15y ago

I checked out the sample video and noticed in the end louisck.COM was mentioned and not lousck.NET. Both of the sites seem to look alike, except .net version has more tweets.

cavilling_elite 15y ago

I bought it twice. Hopefully his next release will have a "pay what you want" model with $5 minimum.

davesims 15y ago

The Marc Maron 2-part interview with Louis is one of the best podcasts ever made. Louis goes into his production process, how he creates 2 hours of new material every year, and why he brought in Jean Luc Godard's DP to film Pootie Tang. Will definitely make you want to put up a measly 5 bucks for just about anything Louis does. http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-111-louis-ck-part-1 http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-111-louis-ck-part-1

ineedtosleep 15y ago
Since I'm not willing to pay for an app just to listen to one podcast, the "2 hours of new material every year" bit (I'm assuming) is also explained in Louis CK's speech about the late George Carlin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU
- hackernews 15y ago
  You should be able to figure out what the direct link is or you can just google it.
  - psykotic 15y ago
    For the view-source impaired, the direct URL is http://traffic.libsyn.com/wtfpod/WTF_-_EPISODE_111_LOUIS_CK.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/wtfpod/WTF_-_EPISODE_111_LOUIS_CK....
    - alecco 15y ago
      interview starts at 18:40
- davesims 15y ago
  WTF is the best comedy podcast out there, hands-down. The 2-part with Louis is worth the price of admission alone, but there's many more that are as well. If you like comedy at all and a contrarian, alternative point of view, I can't recommend it highly enough.

gruseom 15y ago

Louis CK is an interesting example of an artist who has grown. His stuff from 20 years ago (that I've seen, at least) was really bad; it was timid and boxed in by convention, which is death to comedy. Somewhere along the way he obviously said fuck it and started telling the truth more directly and provocatively. And that is how lead is transmuted into gold. Funniness is almost a side effect. Now he seems closer than anyone working in this area to Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks territory (if anybody's closer, I'd love to hear about them) with at least a shot at equalling them, which would be amazing.

JonnieCache 15y ago
Doug Stanhope has a damn good go at it.
- gruseom 15y ago
  Sorry, can't agree. Way too harsh on the surface and not enough insight underneath.
  - JonnieCache 15y ago
    Part of Doug's persona is an utter lack of self-respect or self-worth. I think his unapologetic lack of genuine insight into some of the issues he discusses portrays an universal and uncompromising policy of total honestly which is very powerful. Much of his performances involve veering sharply from some relatively considered insight into the human condition to some completely unnecessarily graphic tirade against a trivial aspect of his everyday life, with absolutely no break between them. In many ways it's as much performance art as it is standup, he has a more fundamentalist attitude towards attacking sacred cows than any other comedian I can think of. Also I'd add that his more recent work is considerably improved on a lot of his slightly more incoherent stuff from earlier in his career. His "No Refunds" DVD from 2007 is a lot more focused and better paced. Check it out.
- pmcginn 15y ago
  Doug was on Louie this season and did an amazing job. He seems to be a comedian's comedian--his name comes up in interviews all the time when comedians are asked who's their favorite among their peers.

aboodman 15y ago

ddw 15y ago

All of his copy is awesome: Hi Thanks for subscribing to the Louis C.K. email list. I swear to Christ* I will not bother you now that I have your email. To complete your subscription, you need to confirm you got this email. To do so, please click the link below: ... *(of course I mean Bill Christ, who owns a Fiat dealership in Ronkonkoma, NY and has diabetes) Which makes me think - why does anyone write boring standard auto emails? But I guess no one is as funny as him and we don't need more Groupon copy in the world. Can't say enough about this guy.

robert_mygengo 15y ago

Best part of this for me is that I can now actually pay to watch something outside of the US from an artist I like. If you don't live outside the US or UK you probably don't realize how rare that is.

mlnowak 15y ago

Truly fantastic approach. Just downloading the video, and happy to pay $5.

postscapes1 15y ago

I recently saw something similar for the film http://urbanizedfilm.com/stream/ http://urbanizedfilm.com/stream/ that uses http://distrify.com/ http://distrify.com/ to handle payment/streaming/affiliates all within the embed itself.

jonbro 15y ago

A small point, but something that is really nice. At the end of the form where you enter your email address, the sign up to his mailing list is checked no by default. I switched it to yes partially because of that.

avar 15y ago

When you buy it you get directed to a page linking to: https://buy.louisck.net/account/download Which is a redirect to: http://download.aws.louisck.net/Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4?Expires=<unix timestamp>&Signature=<long string>&Key-Pair-Id=<an id> Which can be downloaded e.g. with wget and is a: $ file Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4 Louis_CK_Beacon_1280x720.mp4: ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 2

jarin 15y ago
I'm still going to pay the 5 bucks, because far be it from me to take advantage of an honest comedian's technological incompetence.
- avar 15y ago
  Oh that's not how I meant it. I've paid my $5 for it and downloaded it, and that link I posted will return a 403 without the right authorization. I posted it because I was worried that I couldn't download it with wget before I bought it, I'm on a 3G connection through my phone and I wanted to download it to my server so I could download it later from a more capable connection. I sent the below E-Mail to their support address (support@louisck.net) and I'd encourage others who bought this to send something similar do the same. I think it's important to tell artists that this sort of distribution is appreciated: Thanks for making this show available in non-DRM format. I haven't watched it yet, but I bought it and downloaded it already. My friends and I have been following your work for a while, I've watched both your HBO TV shows and downloaded a bunch of your standups. But since I don't live in the US and don't want to buy DRM content I haven't paid you for any of this. However I'm happy to be able to when you offer something in this format. I can pay for it even if I don't live in the US, and I don't have to buy something like a DVD or subscribe to something like iTunes where I'll effectively be getting a worse service by locking the media I buy into some corporation's proprietary distribution platform. But if you keep offering things in this way in the future I'll be sure to pay for them. It's not that I'm cheap. I make a very good living, and I'm happy to pay for things. I just think it's unethical to pay for media when part of the proceeds go to conglomerates like the MPAA which are actively working towards reducing freedom on the Internet.

tgrass 15y ago

If this were the business model for airbnb, how far would they have gotten with pg?