Is this the future of digital distribution?
Parks & Recreation star Aziz Ansari has announced that he’ll be offering his comedy special directly to fans via download and streaming for just $5.
Sound familiar? If so, that’s because another comedian, Louis C.K., did this a few months ago with his special — netting himself over $1M in the process. Then Jim Gaffigan followed suit by offering Mr. Universe on his website for the same price.
So is this the future of digital distribution for live events? It’s hard to see why not. By bypassing the networks, these artists are pocketing all of the proceeds themselves and — if Louis C.K. is any indicator — are doing quite well.
So the obvious question here is this: will this D.I.Y. model of digital distribution start extending into other areas? It doesn’t take a great leap of imagination, for example, to see musicians starting to offer their concerts online using the same model. And how about theatrical producers doing the same thing? Seems like a decent idea to me.
What do you think…is this the future of digital distribution? Let us know in the comments section below.
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personally i’m an independent producer and the idea of D.I.Y. model of digital distribution in filmmaking has been around for a while! in fact, all the youtube and the others come from this concept of distributing video files using the internet. I guess what you’re saying now that we are in 2012, is why not more independent industry professionals (bands, filmmakers, comedians, etc…) have been waiting that long to distribute by bypassing the networks? answers are simple (1) legal issues with the studio/distributors/producer (2) i let you think about it!