Louis C.K., a popular stand-up comedian began selling his comedy album on his website for just $5, while donating a portion of his profit to charity. This album does not come with any type of Digital Rights Management or electronic copy protection whatsoever. Many people speculated that this may not go over well for the comedian; a single person can purchase the CD and copy it as many times as he wants to give out for free. This was not the case, however, as Louis C.K.'s endeavor was a huge commercial success.
Not only was the comedian successful with his sales, just a few months later, two other A-list comedians, Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari, began selling their albums online with a similar plan and business model as well as donating a portion of their proceeds to charity in a similar fashion to Louis C.K.
With other comedians following in his footsteps, Louis C.K.'s larger influence on the comedy business is yet to be known. Perhaps, if many more comedians begin to hop on this trend, comedy may end up taking a turn for the hardcore. Comedians will no longer be answering to a network, or a producing company about what is off-limits for thei comedy specials. They will be able to talk about literally whatever they want, no matter how offensive.
What can this new rising trend of album sales be telling us? It may signal the coming end of record companies; if a few comedians can make large amounts of records sales completely on their own without the marketing of a record company, how long will it be until the most popular bands begin leaving their record companies to begin independent digital distribution website?