Who Is Louis C.K. And Why Are So Many Tech Sites Obsessed With Him?
If you rabidly check every computer-oriented or technology-related site on the Internet to keep up with the most current events in the technical world, you may well be confused by a name you keep seeing there. For the last few weeks, one name keeps appearing with a frequency that has not appeared on technical news sites and blogs since the death of Steve Jobs. The new name on the tip of virtually every technology geek’s tongue is Louis C.K.
Louis C.K.?
Louis C.K.?! Who is Louis C.K.? If his name is on the technical sites, he must have taken over one of the big computer companies! Is Louis C.K. the new CEO of Microsoft? No, Louis C.K. is none of those things. Louis C.K. is a stand-up comic and comedy writer. He has, to date, illustrated no particular aptitude for anything computer-related or innovative in the electronics field. Why then, are so many technical sites that usually focus on Internet security issues, forthcoming computer product releases and everything concerning the minutia of smartphones paying so much attention to Louis C.K. all of a sudden?
In mid-December, the 44 year-old comedian decided to skip the networks, bypass potential FCC censorship and all of the other potential middlemen who might have profited off his talent and presented his latest stand-up comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live At The Beacon Theater. The reason this has become such an issue for the computer sector of the blogosphere is that Louis C.K.’s direct-to-consumer offering has several significant technical aspects that have been untried until now.
On the most technical side, Louis C.K. has attempted to make his program exceptionally easy to view. Louis C.K.’s website sells the program directly and after paying via PayPal, you return to the site where you get access to the video and have the ability to download it. Louis C.K. presents the video without digital-rights management programming or regional encoding, which means you may view it on any computer or smartphone around the world.
The computer and electronics industry place a huge premium on intellectual property rights and protecting those who create programs and media. The reason so many technical sites are interested in Louis C.K.’s direct-sale from his website experiment is that Louis C.K. is counting on fans to not pirate his work for free distribution. That’s it; Louis C.K, is using the most advanced technology on the planet to test the most basic human instinct.
The experiment appears to have worked. After almost a week on the market, Louis C.K. claims that 110,000 paid downloads streamed from his website. To date, there appears to be only one pirated source of the program on the Internet and that means Louis C.K. might have hit on something many of the multi-billion dollar media companies have not.
If people like what you produce, they will buy. Maybe it truly is that simple. Louis C.K.’s success certainly makes that argument.
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