Louis CK Live at the Beacon Theatre and Torrenting

I have my own personal opinion and preference for torrenting and "illegal downloading" and to say the least, as someone who wants to work in creative mediums, torrenting is one of the greatest forms of distribution in the universe. Whilst some things I torrent out of spite and/or a lack of patience, I genuinely believe that downloading something illegally is wrong for this or that reason, as I'm sure you do too, but let me give you a tale of woe and stupidity.

I said Woe!

Louis CK is definitely in my top five comedians of all time. The unabashed honesty and bravery in his performances are astounding and his humour is beyond any form of comedic measure that doesn't involve me wheezing with asthmatic delight and wonder. Louis' show, Louie on FX is one of my favourite shows currently running and I wait for the third season with baited breath. The show has some of the most original, thought-provoking and fantastic comedy being written today. All of it done by C.K, himself. Writing, directing and editing, Louie is tight and usually split between vignette's that range from heartfelt tales of real emotion and simple scatalogical humour with a twist.

I'll never look at Pregnancy the same way again

Whilst the third season is being written and C.K takes some well deserved time off, I've been looking for more and more of Louis' stuff online and I remembered something he had said during a visit on Conan O'Brien's show back when he wed two guys.

This better be nominated for a fucking Emmy!

He had said on the 5th of December, he would be making available, via his site, a copy of his own stand up for streaming or download for $5. Five goddamn dollars. Unfortunately for me, the fifth came and went and it wasn't till someone mentioned via Twitter that Louis' stand up was hilarious and linked to the site, did my brain ignite and check how much I'd been paid via PayPal.

Artist's Rendering

So I had about $10 left in there, Christmas shopping and what not, so I bought it and then was going to download it when my girlfriend and I had to move to a new place of habitation for a series of reasons. I waited it out till we were finished moving for the day, as I don't have any 3G capabilities and I've found trying to download anything greater than a hundred megs a waste of time and will probably more than likely drop out.

We arrived at Arcadia's grandmother's place and I thought I'd start the download before we headed out to move some boxes and pack things up from Arcadia's house. I asked if that was cool, she was fine with it and off we went. Upon returning, I found that the download had been interrupted. I really wanted to watch Louis' stand up and so without thinking, not for an iota or a second, I instantly jumped to my port of torrenting call, like a digital junkie, found a torrent and downloaded it.

Can you spare two bucks for the net cafe, mate?

The thing is when you have bought the video, you have the option to stream or download and only two times to do it. It's a fair amount and also you can watch it more than once if you tried to download it, but with no fault of Louis nor my own, the video had decided to interrupt itself and had simply died out, wasting a download option.

I felt bad after I'd downloaded it at a breakneck speed but then I remembered reading something on Louis' site which popped up right before I purchased the video. Louis is okay with it, to put it simply. The message reads simply:

To those who might wish to “torrent” this video: look, I don’t really get the whole “torrent” thing. I don’t know enough about it to judge either way. But I’d just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to be easy for people to watch and enjoy this video in any way they want without “corporate” restrictions.

Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I’m just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way.

Sincerely,
Louis C.K.

Yes, I am aware of what I've done...

Of course, Louis did tweet on the 11th of December, a few days after the release that: Please don't torrent this video. I paid for the whole thing with my own stupid money. And I agree with him, not just the stupid money thing, which he goes into length about in the special, but the fact that he did pay for it with his own stupid money. Paid for the cameramen, distribution, everything! He's not a big company, he's not the man exploiting another comedian, it's just Louis CK giving you an hour of stand up for $5.

The last Stand Up DVD I bought, and I won't name names, was $20 and had 45 minutes of material with maybe an extra sketch, which I had already seen when they put it online. It was not exactly quality for money in comparison, but what Louis is doing here is humble, noble and his style. The whole thing doesn't even feel like an hour's worth of material and he covers so much from his kids to history and trying to be humble in a world like ours. He even put a cover you can download and print on the site.

If only...

Paid for it, watched it, loved it. But I still feel a bit bad. Straight downloading is always a risk to me because of how unstable my wireless connection is, but I do want to support a lot of artists I like. I recently bought Donald Glover's first studio album Camp and I'm glad I didn't do my usual "try then buy" scenario because 1. I love Glover's free EP's he's put out over the years as Childish Gambino and 2. The album is my second most listened to thing all year, other than the Buffy Musical Soundtrack Once More with Feeling.

I'll never tell...

Camp has basically been My Dark Twisted Fantasy of 2011 and it just gets better every time I hear it. But with more and more artist's going cheaper, independent and smarter in terms of creative distribution, I would like to think people will download a little less and less. I may have used a torrent as a form of distribution, I still get the smug satisfaction of saying I paid for it...that's about it...five dollars cheaper and smugness...if only I could make that profitable.