Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
Let's not discount the value of already being famous; that surely helped in getting the word out to more people about his video, especially as so many fans would naturally go to the website where the video was promoted.
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Yeah, that's huge - what works for a person who can net $177,000 for two live shows isn't necessarily broadly applicable.
But the experiment is fascinating on a number of levels, in particular the costs associated with the video. I wouldn't have guessed that filming the video would have cost $170,000, or that setting up the website would cost $32,000. (And it looks like this was less than it could have been, since he directed the videos himself and edited them "around the clock.")
I'm also surprised that he would have made more money by going with a normal production company, since the normal producer would have charged four times as much as he did (although maybe that's the reason...). Maybe more importantly, it looks like there would have been no risk with a traditional producer, since they would have paid the $250,000 costs out of their own pocket (and they would have directed and edited the product, too). I think it takes a lot of confidence not just to accept the possibility of making less profit, but to accept that you might have an actual loss if your experiment fails.
On the other hand, this seems like it might be a good way to expand your brand and audience; by trying this experiment, he has certainly gotten a lot of publicity that he would not have otherwise received.
I'm also very interested in his idea of cutting ticketmaster out of ticket sales.