Louis CK does it again - 2 audio shows without DRM at $5 each

http://buy.louisck.net/

by middus • 14 years ago

177 41 14 years ago

buy.louisck.net

middus• 14 years ago

I just bought both. You'll get 4 downloads for each show and can download MP3 and/or FLAC. Quality seems pretty good to me, but I'm not an audiophile.

fromhet• 14 years ago

"You get 4 downloads" Why limit it? It seems totally against the point. Why not even let people download a torrent and they can get the video on as many devices as they please and it wont even stress his servers.

Pkeod• 14 years ago

Distributing by torrent is different from providing a quality download service with purchase. If someone really wants to download by torrent and wait then what's stopping them from paying and then doing that.

Limiting number of downloads protects their bandwidth from would be jerks. Protecting their service is important for their customers to have a quality experience. It's fair, and most people will only ever download once. If they for some reason use up all 4 downloads and want more they should e-mail them. Why wouldn't give more if some had a genuinely good reason for using up their downloads?

trun• 14 years ago

Somewhat related, I think his site has my favorite 'forgot my password' email ever.

  Apparently you forgot your password? Ok, so here's your new one, stupid:

  EMAIL:    xxxxx@gmail.com
  PASSWORD: moron.xxxxx

maybird• 14 years ago

Are you saying that your password is reset to "moron." followed by your login?

leftnode• 14 years ago

Hah, no, it isn't. I reset mine as well and it was "moron." followed by some random characters.

VMG2• 14 years ago

mine was numbnuts.xxxx

coffeejunk• 14 years ago

he also released his beacon performance as an audio download.

jeffool• 14 years ago

And those who bought the Beacon video, now get the audio as a choice!

AgentConundrum3• 14 years ago

s/a choice/an added bonus/

You get the audio in addition to the video now, whether you buy it now or in the future.

Stand up guy.

jrockway• 14 years ago

What's more interesting is that he got HBO to release their content in a DRM-free format. (HBO is the network that previously wouldn't let you buy their online video service unless you already had cable and an HBO subscription, rather defeating the purpose of buying the content online.)

This is what fighting piracy looks like.

tptacek• 14 years ago

Plenty of HBO content is sold a la carte online. But HBO itself is cross-subsidized from cable subscriptions. Their online service is not intended to replace their TV channel, but just augment it.

lukifer• 14 years ago

"Previously"? Did anything recently change with HBO? (Dear suits: please let me give you money.)

encoderer2• 14 years ago

Also worth mentioning that they don't "let you buy" their content: it's just all free. All of it.

I know it sucks that you can't subscribe to HBO Go without being a cable customer. But for existing HBO users, it's a very, very well done service. The iPad app is gorgeous and well engineered. It has basically every epoisode of every season of every HBO series, all HBO original movies, and as far as I can tell nearly every HBO original documentary, comedy special, etc. And of course all of the movies HBO is currently running in their rotation.

HBO on Cable runs about $13 a month. I'm sure they could sell subscriptions just to Go for $20-25. But HBO wants to be a Cable service, not an Internet service. Nothing wrong with that. They're not luddites trying to avoid technology: they're using it very effectively. They're just using it in the way that suits their business model and philosophy.

georgemcbay• 14 years ago

"HBO on Cable runs about $13 a month."

HBO on Cable costs $13 plus whatever your basic cable fees, which after "introductory rates" often means $80/mo or more. Granted, you get more than just HBO then, but in the case that you just want HBO and nothing else there is no sanely priced option.

blhack• 14 years ago

Here's a thing on conversion:

I'm going to be offering other things through this site. Would you like to hear about them?

	      Yes, I'd like to receive further emails about Louis C.K. things.	
	      
              No, leave me alone forever, you fat idiot.

No was checked by default, and the phrasing says "Hello, I am a human."

I clicked yes.

AgentConundrum3• 14 years ago

I remember when the video came out, the opt-in emailing was a huge deal, and he commented on the response he got to that in pretty much every interview I read from him on the subject.

I also opted-in to his mailings, partly because it was opt-in rather than opt-out, and partly because of his tone. He has some great copy for selling comedy videos, and now albums. In the email he sent out about the new audio specials, he had his usual laid back tone, but he also ended with this:

> Okay. that was exhausting. Sorry. I didn't even ask you how you are. How are you? Oh yea? Oh good. That's great. What? Oh man. That's tough. I'm sorry... Oh well that sounds like you handled it well, though. So. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know that's... yeah. Well... Just remember, time will go by and that'll just be on the list of shit that happened to you. You'll be okay. Yeah. Huh?... Oh. Really? HE DID? Oh my GOD! hahaha!! That's CRAZY! No. no. I won't tell him you told me. Of course not. Alright well... uhuh? Oh wow. yeah. Alright well.. I really gotta go. Thanks for listening. I'm glad you're basically okay. Stay in touch.

> your friend,

> Louis C.K.

It's almost like treating your customer like a person and not just a wallet with some flesh hanging off of it helps your cause. It's a novel idea to be sure.

kevingadd• 14 years ago

I've always held the pet theory that a sufficiently human and casual tone can overcome a lot of fatigue/wariness that would otherwise stop people from listening to you. Sometimes, I feel like if you're just completely transparent and honest with the customer, maybe they'll be willing to listen.

I never managed to convince anyone to try A/B testing a banner ad that literally just said 'BUY OUR SHIT', though.

VMG2• 14 years ago

Well, his approach might also be influenced by the fact that he is a comedian

donald_draper2• 14 years ago

Lol - I bought the first video, and now one of the audios. However, at the end of the process I didn't remember my old password. So I clicked 'I forgot my password' and it said 'Oh my god, you're an idiot' and sent me an email with a new one - a random password beginning with the letters 'idiot' :-D Love the humour.

donald_draper2• 14 years ago

Oh, and I can download the audio version of the video I bought for free - nice :-)

cf0ed2aa-bdf5• 14 years ago

I forgot my password as well, it started with 'moron'. :(

batista2• 14 years ago

A guy self-publishes stuff on the internet. News at 11.

slig• 14 years ago

He's not "a guy". He's very famous and has his own TV show that he created, starred, wrote and post-produced on his macbook. Also, he's also selling his stuff, without a middleman, DRM-free and with a very decent price.

He is also managing to sell stuff that was from HBO, again, DRM-free and at reasonable price.

batista2• 14 years ago

>He's not "a guy". He's very famous and has his own TV show that he created, starred, wrote and post-produced on his macbook.

So, "a famous guy self publishes on the internet". Does that make it MORE news-worthy? Famous guys have been self-publishing on the internet for a long-long time.

>Also, he's also selling his stuff, without a middleman, DRM-free and with a very decent price.

Like tens of thousands of other artists you mean? They even used to do this pre-internet, e.g. the music tape scene market, or the fanzine market.

I don't get what Louis CK does differently than any other. Famous and non-famous people have done exactly the same things before, from Stephen King and Radiohead to thousands of underground bands...

And if we remove the absolute "no middleman" rule (which is not exactly true in this case, he pays some service for the payment processing for example), and keep it to mean: "no media company/recording company middleman", then any of the tens of thousands of bands/artists that use a "submit to music stores/process payments" middleman TuneCore, CD Baby, etc are doing the same.

antidoh2• 14 years ago

The news is that he's part of the Big Content establishment, or at least he's as much a part of it as he chooses to be. He makes networks millions. And despite being part of that establishment, and having as much motivation as any other DRM-using publisher, he chooses to go DRM-free, and still makes money. His customers are happy, and he's happy.

The smack-talking personality and humor in his site copy is all icing on the cake, it's the money-making non-DRM sales that's news, relevant, and worth paying attention to.

cnbeuiwx• 14 years ago

I bought Shameless since Louis CK is awesome, and also because his advisors wanted him to put DRM and other crap on the shows and he refused.

Totally worth the money.

antidoh2• 14 years ago

Despite the vague "stickin' it to the man, we're all in this together" vibe (which I like), I'll note that his T&C is ten browser page-downs worth of text. Which is fine ...

gerold• 14 years ago

Folks, why do you upvote this?

I can see the tech aspect about selling DRM free media, alright. But this link goes straight to a site selling MP3s. In my books thats ADVERTISEMENT.

Don't get me wrong, I like Louis CK. But HN is really the wrong platform to exchange random entertainment links. Think about why you like this newsfeed, and help keeping it clean.

Jugglerofmusic• 14 years ago

Yo How come nobody has mentioned teh fact that the "Word - Live from Carnegie Hall" mp3 Files dont work, only the FLAC files work. I know i'm not the only one who had this problem, ive dl'ed on two different computer and my fried said he had the same issues, we had to convert the FLAC files to mp3 format, no mention of this on the site or here. WTF

Louis CK does it again - 2 audio shows without DRM at $5 each

Related Stories