A reader updates us:
Louis C.K.'s experiment has netted over $1M in twelve days thus far. He's quartering the money, using a quarter to pay for production costs, a quarter for large bonuses for his staff, a quarter for charity and he's keeping a quarter. To me this has been the most interesting online experiment since Radiohead's "In Rainbows".
Another responds to Alan Jacobs' take on CK's project:
What Louis has found is a new model, but only for those who have been able to leverage "mass media" to first find "mass success."
The interesting thing about the Internet is that it allows properties and personalities who were once wed to a network for a business model to eventually decouple from a network and still find success. Take Seinfeld, Friends, or The Sopranos … for a season or two the network held the cards. But once those properties became hits, who had the power? The talent. And the Internet provides a viable alternative for those who feel their contract with a network or distribution partner is unfair to go out on their own.
I am still waiting for an artist like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber to cut ties with a record company and create a subscription model whereby rabid fans pay $5 a month for videos, concerts, and songs as they are recorded rather than waiting for a new album. How many Bieber fans would ask for a one-year subscription at $60 a year from their parents? Even only 100,000 probably surpasses his record contract. Get to a million and it is a no brainer.
Another shifts gears:
Louis CK is not the only one taking a risk in the way he is selling his product online. Small game developers, who can't afford the price of distributing and marketing their games the same way as Activision or EA, have begun joining together to sell their games as part of a pack, called the Humble Indie Bundle. The games are free of DRM or any other means of theft prevention. They don't even have a set price. Customers choose how much they want to pay for the games and how that money will be distributed.
And it works. The Humble Indie Bundles have brought in substantial sales and profit for the small developers. By going out on a limb and trusting their customers to not steal their work, the developers have been rewarded with more than enough funds to continue doing what they love.
And did I mention you can get the games for free by making a donation to the American Red Cross or Child's Play charities through their website? Because you can.
The Dish 