• Louis CK
• Esso C K es!

A few days ago, Louis CK, the comic and auteur at the helm of the cult FX television program "Louie," announced that he was posting his concert film Live at the Beacon Theatre as a $5 DRM-free download or stream via his new Web site: https://buy.louisck.net/.

The announcement itself reads like part of CK's stand-up act, complete with a self-deprecating statement where he positions himself as an everyman (" just some guy") and makes a plea to would-be pirates not to steal his work:

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.

The strategy worked!

CK followed-up on December 13th with another statement, which includes:

As of Today, we've sold over 110,000 copies for a total of over $500,000. Minus some money for PayPal charges etc, I have a profit around $200,000 (after taxes $75.58). 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...If the trend continues with sales on this video, my goal is that i can reach the point where when I sell anything, be it videos, CDs or tickets to my tours, I'll do it here and I'll continue to follow the model of keeping my price as far down as possible, not overmarketing to you, keeping as few people between you and me as possible in the transaction.

Without fail, the second an "established" figure like CK, or Radiohead, or Kevin Smith embark upon the new media path, Web pundits stumble all over themselves to declare "The End Of Traditional Media" or make some other wrong-headed self-serving told-ya-so style commentary, like Matthew Ingram's "What Louis CK knows that most media companies don’t."

Ingram concludes his piece , "Media conglomerates are used to not only over-charging for their products, but locking them down and trying to control their distribution as tightly as possible — the idea of simply offering something for sale without DRM no doubt seems like insanity. But if more artists take the Louis CK route, who will be left to provide the locked-down content for those old media companies?"

While there is little doubt that consumers have occasionally been gouged by "the man", to suggest that media conglomerates "over-charge" for their products is an erroneous claim. Likewise, his assertion that that it is systematic for companies to "lock down" works and "control their distribution as tightly as possible" is naive.

• Plunder'd
• Arrrrrrrrr!

Fear of piracy IS a serious consideration when selling works online. Ever since Napster turned the model on its head, everyone with an internet connection considers it their birth right to consume creative works for free. (Many of these same pundits make a case that artists must find other income streams, like live performances, or merchandise sales. Theft (let's call piracy what it is) remains rampant, and difficult to regulate. Why else would CK have needed to make the plea NOT to pirate his work?

CK himself nailed it on a Reddit Q&A:
To steal from someone and not feel bad, you either have to be a sociopath or view the act differently. One way is to remove “Someone” from the equation. You’re not stealing from a person. Big companies do a lot to help people view them as less than human. I heard a speech by Noam Chomsky who said that corporations are like super humans. They cannot be hurt like a human can and they never die. They are not susceptible to scrutiny or accountability. this makes them more profitable. If companies want to enjoy these benefits to some degree they have to live with what else comes with being not human. you miss out on compassion, forgiveness, camaraderie, empathy, trust all kinds of shit.

What is most disconcerting to me is how pundits like Ingram, in their effort to push their own "the-future-is-now" agendas always seem to miss the big picture. To suggest that efforts like this somehow threaten "old media companies" is wrongheaded. Does he seriously wonder "who will be left to provide content" if folks like CK succeed? Ingram has clearly never watched stadia full of would-be superstars line-up to audition for Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, et al. If nature abhors a vacuum, television detests one. Plenty will rise to fill the void.

The real truth is that folks like Louis CK, or Radiohead, or Kevin Smith are not tearing down the system or undermining media conglomerates. They are simply capitalizing on their privileged position as established artists with a viable fan base within the establishment to cut out the "middle-man." (It's been postulated, that an artist can make a decent living when they cross the threshold of 1,000 true fans).

The direct sales model is just a tool at their disposal. (CK's assertion that the new model allows him to sell directly to consumers for $5 is admirable, but it is not new. If anything, it sounds like something Fugazi has been doing for decades—long before the internet, or direct downloads, or the iPad. The decision to sell for $5 is not about the mode of distribution, it's about the political will of the artists, and their desire to keep things affordable, which often includes accepting a smaller profit margin. HOW they get there is up to them.)

If anything, established artists have every reason in the world to celebrate media conglomerates. These are the companies that afforded these select artists their advantage in the first place. For the most part, when it comes time to promote their direct sales, these artists reach-out to traditional media outlets, like radio and television.

As much as the pundits want to force the agenda that the guard has changed, the fact remains that few examples exist where an artist is discovered and makes a living exclusively via the internet.

The key here is "making a living."

Or how convert Web interest, downloads, streams, follows, likes and RT's into cash.

When the NBC news-magazine "Rock Center" covered the "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" phenomenon, Brian Williams noted that the 14,000,000+ views on YouTube would be coveted by networks.

He then made the revelation that its adaptation into a TV show is Marcel the Shell's "the next logical step."
14 million views is nice, but Web views don't pay the bills.

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In other words, television is still king.

Just ask "Louie."