Trusting customers seems to pay off....

[rdfry]

I love louie CK, he is one funny man and you never know what he is going to say.

[aagstn]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Rifftrax does this.

Basically they are the people who were on Mystery Science Theater 3000 when it ended. But they kept at it.

Their price is a little steeper though, $9.99 for their video on demand titles.

I have supported them as well by buying everything they have released so far, but I was a die hard MST fan.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I definitely chipped in my $5.

[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.

Is anyone aware of what else, if anything, was done to promote the video? TV commercials? Tweets? Mentioning it at a show? Just curious.

[Andrew H.]

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.

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.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

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 wonder about that effect: I did essentially the same thing with my initial ebook sales (low prices, no DRM) and the publicity I received for that didn't go very far.

I suspect that already being a popular figure gave him a bigger push than the particulars of the experiment. He seems to believe that he'd've made more money from a production company selling his video at $20, so he (or whatever production company he would've used) must believe he has an established core audience that can't be much smaller than those who bought the $5 video.

[stonetools]

This is a nice anecdote. But anecdote ain't data.

There are a heckuvalot of folks who put their books, music, shows etc. online who didn't recover the production costs- or were ripped off by pirates.
See the " Cynical Musician " for his decidedly acerbic view on the promise of the Internet:

THE PARADISE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Finally, let me address some potential criticisms. I’ve focused on the “pure recording artist” for a reason. Yes, it is true that the artist can supplement her income from other sources: playing live, licensing, merch sales or whatever, but that’s exactly the point. The further we go towards the “new” methods of distributing recordings, the more it becomes necessary to do just that. The Internet should have been a paradise for the recording artist, but it became hell. The trends on the Internet are such, that it is becoming harder and harder to pursue recording music as a career. If recordings aren’t a money maker, they’ll be treated as one of three things: advertising, a hobby or not worth the bother. But we still want recorded music, don’t we?

I might add, we want professionally written and edited books as well. And authors don't get paid for performing.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Perhaps the most important quote from that same article:

If recording artists ever go the way of the blubber merchants, it won’t be because there’ll be no demand for their product. It will be because making recordings makes no economic sense.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by stonetools

books, music, shows etc. online who didn't recover the production costs

Is that due to a flaw in the business model, or lack of appreciated talent?

[Blue Tyson]

Probability.

The chance that any random example of a particular type of entertainer for money actually makes any is very small.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Is that due to a flaw in the business model, or lack of appreciated talent?

Flawed business model, essentially, not taking into account how much money would be lost due to file-sharing (or not taking steps to minimize file-sharing, by DRM or any other method... CK's method was essentially asking customers not to rip him off, but it worked).

All indications are that good talent generates such high sales numbers that, even with loss due to file-sharing, they still come out profitable... CK's example exemplifies that.

[MrsJoseph]

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.

Is anyone aware of what else, if anything, was done to promote the video? TV commercials? Tweets? Mentioning it at a show? Just curious.

Being famous helps - but also the idea of the gesture he made as well. I haven't heard of this experiment prior to this and I typically do not buy comedy videos. I bought this one on GP.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Being famous helps - but also the idea of the gesture he made as well. I haven't heard of this experiment prior to this and I typically do not buy comedy videos. I bought this one on GP.

My only point was, thanks to being famous, a lot more people heard about the gesture. I've sold my books with no DRM at low prices for the last 5 years--essentially the same "gesture"--but how many people know me as compared to CK? One out of a few hundred thousand, maybe? Which could be the only reason I'm not sitting on a pile of money as big as his.

(Not that I'm actually equating my talent alongside CK's... just as an example.)

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

My only point was, thanks to being famous, a lot more people heard about the gesture. I've sold my books with no DRM at low prices for the last 5 years--essentially the same "gesture"--but how many people know me as compared to CK? One out of a few hundred thousand, maybe? Which could be the only reason I'm not sitting on a pile of money as big as his.

(Not that I'm actually equating my talent alongside CK's... just as an example.)

This is true...just look at the Kardashians. If ever there was a waste of skin and bone...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I think about this whenever I see an author appearing on, say, Oprah or The Daily Show or Leno, to promote a book that hasn't been out long enough to be a best-seller. But thanks to their appearance on TV, it probably will. And I think: The only difference between them and myself is a publisher or agent that has access to those TV shows and get their authors that exposure. If I called The Daily Show and tried to wrangle an appearance, I'd be put on eternal Hold.

Louis CK? The Daily Show's probably calling him.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I think about this whenever I see an author appearing on, say, Oprah or The Daily Show or Leno, to promote a book that hasn't been out long enough to be a best-seller. But thanks to their appearance on TV, it probably will. And I think: The only difference between them and myself is a publisher or agent that has access to those TV shows and get their authors that exposure. If I called The Daily Show and tried to wrangle an appearance, I'd be put on eternal Hold.

Louis CK? The Daily Show's probably calling him.

Well, he did do a lot of additional "grass roots" promotions. I have a friend that has followed his career and we were talking about Louis CK last night - he did years of crappy night/comedy clubs and the like. For this video he tweeted it, posted it on his website and even did an AMA over on reddit(which was almost 10000 posts). Reddit is a pretty big thing for a lot of people. Larry Correia, Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman and Robin Hobb have all done some kind of activity on Reddit. I don't use Reddit so I'm not quite sure how it works.