I mentioned on Friday that Louis CK would be releasing a new comedy special on his site for just $5. No DRM, no commercials, just pay and play. It's getting a lot of media traction because it's a new undertaking for a comic to distribute their work this way. Yesterday, Louis CK posted a progress report on how well it's been going. For less than a week of availability it's already made, profit, around $200,000 (after covering production and web cost). It's not surprising but it's always encouraging to see more and more people realizing that the fewer barriers between artist and fan is largely beneficial. The doesn't seem to have been a large amount of pirating of the material because A) people love Louis CK and B) the cost is so low it's just easier to buy it.

I think his only stumble was to not give fans the option to pay more if they wanted to. I have no doubt lots of people would have taken advantage of the ability to say `thank you for the laughs` with their extra dollars.

There's a nice summary of the project here, a Reddit Q&A here and a recent NPR interview if you're looking more Louis material to fill your day.