A Statement from Louis CK

Basically the coolest guy ever. Louis CK did a stand up act, filmed, produced, and sold it himself on his website for $5 and did not put any copyright protection or anything on it. He wanted to see how people would respond vs illegally downloading. This is the result.  

Pardon the Language.

-----Original Message-----
From: Louis C.K. [mailto:info@louisck.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 8:44 AM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject: A statement from Louis CK

Hi.  This is LOuie.  It seriously is me. Im even going to leave

the O stuipdly capatalized because who would pay an intern to do

that?? Okay so you bought the thing with my fat face on it and

you clicked the button that said i could email you. And i know

that now you are thinking "aw shit. Why'd i let this guy into my

life this way?". Well dont worry. Because i really swear it that

i wont bug you. I will not abuse this privalage of having your

email. You wont hear from me again... Probably, unless i have

something new to offer you. The reason i'm writing now, in the

back of a car taking me to the Tonight Show set, is to let you

know that as of now there is some new and cool stuff on my site,

related to Live at the Beacon Theater. Theres a thing where you

can download and print a dvd box cover and label so you can burn

and make your own dvd of the video. And theres a new option where

you can gift the special to as many people as you want (for 5

bucks each) and they'll get a nice gifty email from you with a

link to the video.

Also, some of you may know, i recently made a statement (that

sounds so dumb. Like i'm the president or something) about how the

video has been doing online. Im pasting it in here below in case

you missed it.

Lastly I'm planning to put some more outtakes of the show on

youtube and i think i will put one on the site that is only

available for free to you folks on this list, who bought the

thing and opted in. But dont hold me to that because really i

just thought of it and typed it.

Okay well please have a happy rest of the year and more happy

years after that. And please even have been happy in your past.

What?

Thanks again for giving me 5 dollars. I bought 3 cokes with it.

Regards. Sincerely, Actually,

Louis

===========================

People of Earth (minus the ones who don't give a shit about

this): it's been amazing to conduct this experiment with you. The

experiment was: 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?

It's been 4 days. A lot of people are asking me how it's going.

I've been hesitant to share the actual figures, because there's

power in exclusive ownership of information. What I didn't expect

when I started this was that people would not only take part in

this experiment, they would be invested in it and it would be

important to them. It's been amazing to see people in large

numbers advocating this idea. So I think it's only fair that you

get to know the results. Also, it's just really cool and fun and

I'm dying to tell everybody. I told my Mom, I told three friends,

and that wasn't nearly enough. So here it is.

First of all, this was a premium video production, shot with six

cameras over two performances at the Beacon Theater, which is a

high-priced elite Manhattan venue. I directed this video myself

and the production of the video cost around $170,000. (This was

largely paid for by the tickets bought by the audiences at both

shows). The material in the video was developed over months on

the road and has never been seen on my show (LOUIE) or on any

other special. The risks were thus: every new generation of

material I create is my income, it's like a farmer's annual crop.

The time and effort on my part was far more than if I'd done it

with a big company. If I'd done it with a big company, I would

have a guarantee of a sizable fee, as opposed to this way, where

I'm actually investing my own money.

The development of the website, which needed to be a very robust,

reliable and carefully constructed website, was around $32,000.

We worked for a number of weeks poring over the site to make sure

every detail would give buyers a simple, optimal and humane

experience for buying the video. I edited the video around the

clock for the weeks between the show and the launch.

The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th. 12

hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned

$250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website. 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. They would have given you an encrypted

and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would

have owned your private information for their own use. They would

have withheld international availability indefinitely. This way,

you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want, and you

can watch it in Dublin, whatever the city is in Belgium, or

Dubai. I got paid nice, and I still own the video (as do you).

You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from

us again.

I really hope people keep buying it a lot, so I can have

shitloads of money, but at this point I think we can safely say

that the experiment really worked. If anybody stole it, it wasn't

many of you. Pretty much everybody bought it. And so now we all

get to know that about people and stuff. I'm really glad I put

this out here this way and I'll certainly do it again. 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. (Of course i reserve the right to go

back on all of this and sign a massive deal with a company that

pays me fat coin and charges you straight up the ass.). (This is

you: yes Louie. And we'll all enjoy torrenting that content. You

fat sweaty dolt).

I probably sound kind of crazy right now. It's been a really fun

and intense few days. This video was paid for by people who

bought tickets, and then bought by people who wanted to see that

same show. I got to do exactly the show I wanted, and exactly the

show you wanted.

I also got an education. And everything i learned are things i

was happy to learn. I learned that people are interested in what

happens and shit (i didn't go to college)

I learned that money can be a lot of things. It can be something

that is hoarded, fought over, protected, stolen and withheld. Or

it can be like an energy, fueled by the desire, will, creative

interest, need to laugh, of large groups of people. And it can be

shuffled and pushed around and pooled together to fuel a common

interest, jokes about garbage, penises and parenthood.

I want to thank Blair Breard who produced this video and produces

my series LOUIE, and I want to thank Caspar and Giles at Version

Industries, who created the website.

I hope with all of my heart that I stay funny. Otherwise this all

goes to hell. Please have a safe and happy holiday, and thank you

again for all this crazy shit.

Sincerely, Louis C.K.

--

This email was sent to XXXXXXXXXX

If you are no longer interested you can unsubscribe instantly:

 If you want to buy the concert please do so here https://buy.louisck.net/

I Plead the Fifth

 Reuters: Solyndra CEO, CFO will invoke 5th Amend rights, decline to answer questions at Congressional hearing Friday, per a letter

Sparks Fly!

Wow! Sparks fly when a ball hits Alex Avila's Mask!

Just a Matter of removing a lot of Zeroes

Why the US was downgraded...

U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:


Annual family income: $21,700.

Money the family spent: $38,200.
New debt on the credit card: $16,500.
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Other Loans: $450,000*

Total budget cuts: $385.


* US contingent Liabilies are about 2-5 times national Debt.


We are so in trouble.....

Banks Offered Deal in Robosigning Law Breaking

Banks offered Deal in robosigning law breaking.

Big US banks in talks with state prosecutors to settle claims of improper mortgage practices have been offered a deal that is proposed to limit part of their legal liability in return for a multibillion dollar payment.

The talks aim to settle allegations that banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial seized the homes of delinquent borrowers and broke state laws by employing so-called “robosigners”, workers who signed off on foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing the paperwork.

This looks like a plea bargain to pay smaller fines for the robo-signing in order to get away with the vast, as yet uncharged fraud involving securitization.Many workers saw their savings lost and state pension funds were looted by the actions of the large financial institutions. This sounds like a wink and a nod to the latter.

Executives Paid more than what Companies Paid in Taxes

I don't really have anything to say about this so I'll get straight to the quote

At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday.

More here

Utter Over-reaction to Irene

Atlantic Casinos Closing
Garden State Parkway to Close for Irene
NYC area Hospitals Evacuated
All NYC Public Transit Shut Down

I mean come on people way to completely shut down a city for a small percentage chance that this thing maintains its ferocity through Sunday. It has already been downgraded to a category 2 and will probably end up as a tropical depression by the time it hits NYC.

Maybe I will be proven wrong but this IMO is a ridiculous overreaction.

The Bernank's Jackson Hole Speech Transcript

I am paraphrasing

Everything is fine we hope the economy doesn't completely implode on our watch so we can collect usurious speaking fees after we are done ruining the American Economy.

That is all

Love,
The Bernank

A great video that I forgot about.

So my friend over at The Crimson Cavalier re-reminded me of this one while we were discussing our current music playlist. I mentioned I was listening to Bismarkie and he linked me this gem. As a Red Sox fan I thoroughly enjoyed both the enthusiasm of the crowd and the play on words.

Some Scary Facts About Irene's Probable Course and wind speed

Projected Path

Wind Speeds

 Looks like almost 74-95mph gusts in Manhattan!!!

Quick Quote From Goldman Regarding tomorrow and QE3

Taken together, our analysis suggests that QE3 is unlikely to be a panacea for growth. Nonetheless, our estimates suggests that $1trn of asset purchases–or an equivalent increase in the duration of the Fed's balance sheet–might increase GDP growth by up to 0.5 percentage point in the first year after any announcement of QE3.

Gold Margins Raised, leverage lowered to 11X. S&P leverage maintained at 45XHypocricy

So yea, CME raises gold margins on YG futures which results in 11X leverage to day trade the contract. Keep in mind folks you can trade ES (S&P 500 mini Contract) at 45X leverage. Volatility in indexes is totally OK but god forbid gold starts going parabolic!

Its just plain sad... they tried this with silver and it did not do much after the initial panic selling.

The simple fact is that more and more people will move to owning physical and these contracts which whose other side are taken by banks using fractional reserve lending much like your deposit accounts will come to an end and we will experience two kinds of markets, the physical market which will IMO command a 20-30% premium over the paper market (GLD, YG futures, etc.)

Apple has produced nothing of actual societal value. -Denninger Rant

So folks, after a month or two of ranting and raving (but mostly linking) I have decided to return to posting on my blog. I know i don't really have readership base but I'm having fun so I might as well continue. Without further adieu I present to you Karl Denninger who posted about Steve Jobs' resignation as the Apple CEO. Most of the post is pretty vitriolic, but I loved this part.....

Apple has produced nothing of actual societal value. Jobs is not Edison or Einstein, although I heard comparisons to both this morning. Utter balderdash. He invented nothing other than a consumer cult that has driven both the abuse of workers in China (Foxconn anyone?) to the point that they attempt suicide by throwing themselves off the building parapets and the acquisition of more more more by Americans (and others) through the use of cheap credit - that is, excessive leverage. Worse, the company embarked on an intentional act of exploiting that consumer cult through the embedding of non-replaceable consumables inside their products (specifically, batteries) which is nothing more than an attempt to guarantee repeat sales for products through intentionally destroying their economic value. I attack banks all the time for having done this with explodo-mortgages that effectively forced you to come back for a refinance in two years and I reserve the same disdain for corporations that do this with their so-called "consumer products." Embedding a component in a non-replaceable fashion that has a known 500-cycle approximate lifetime when each "cycle" is typically one day for the average user essentially embeds in the device a two-year ticking time bomb, exactly as did an "explodo mortgage." That consumers are starry-eyed and willfully put up with that crap doesn't change what was done - or why. Would you buy a car that had an engine that intentionally self-destructed at 100,000 miles? Then why did you buy an iPhone or one of the "ultra nice" iMacs that has a non-replaceable battery in it that will wear out, on average, in a couple of years? Aren't you in fact a few points short in the IQ department doing the latter, when it's exactly the same as doing the former?

Keep in mind Henry Ford really brought this idea of making things that break to the mainstream when he started the Model T line, Apple has done an even better job by literally making products that you can't fix when broken.


Steve Jobs: Do come on.