Dec 14 -
naternet: I bought this special, though for reasons beyond my control, I haven’t watched it yet. (just not in the mood/busy/wife hates Louie CK) So I’m not going to sit here and tell you all to go pick it up because it’s awesome, even thought I have no reason to think that it’s not. Dude’s got a very solid track record of being very, very funny. What I would like to say is that I really like this direct sales model that has popped up sporadically over the past few years. Radiohead did it a couple years back, asking that people pay what they thought the album was worth, and it was successful. Other artists have found ways to sell their music, video, art, etc without the help of huge studios and media companies getting their piece to varying degrees of success. Now, Louie has done it with his special and apparently managed to make a pretty decent profit in less than a week. Good for him, good for them, good for everyone. Does this mean that Sony, Atlantic, Warner Bros, et al are going to be run out of town? Not likely. But I hope that it means that we, the consumers, are going to get more of a free choice. Instead of having to pay $20 for that CD or DVD by a certain artist, we can pay $5 or 10 or whatever for a different artist, knowing that the majority of the profits go directly to them and not some massive multi-national conglomerate. (I’m not against all multi-nationals so much as I’m for the artists getting more freedom) I love being able to buy content directly from artists I enjoy. It’s a real humanizing connection, in a very digital way. It makes you feel more invested in an artist than simply heading down to Best Buy and shilling out way too much money for a CD or DVD, especially when you realize that only a tiny fraction of that price you paid actually goes to the artist. If I could tie all this in with the ongoing debate over SOPA; things like this are the best of what the internet is all about - the free and unimpeded exchange of ideas through any means imaginable. Yes, sometimes we may not like some of the ideas being exchanged, but that’s the price of freedom, putting up with the asshole minority. So, if you haven’t contacted your representative about SOPA yet, I strongly urge you to first read up on what it aims to do and then, if it makes you as angry as it makes me, let them know your feelings on it. We live in a representative democracy and we should really try to act like it every now and then. And after all of that, if you feel the need to have a good laugh, maybe spend $5 on Louis CK’s new special. Like I said, I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m relatively certain it’s funny.
