Comedian Louis CK weighs challenges of piracy and profit in new video release

Louis CK posted his PayPal account page to his website.

I do not dedicate a lot of time to discussing music, movie, or software piracy on this blog as those topics are covered extensively on other blogs. However, I did want to bring up a story I read concerning comedian Louis CK's new video. The comedian decided to forego digital rights management and traditional advertising. Instead, the download is simply for sale on his website.

"The experiment was," wondered Louis CK, "If I put out a brand new standup special at a drastically low price ($5) and make it as easy as possible to buy, download and enjoy, free of any restrictions, will everyone just go and steal it? Will they pay for it? And how much money can be made by an individual in this manner?"

The result was spectacular - over $1 million in just twelve days. Perhaps if people didn't have to pay $30 for a movie, there would be less piracy.