Louis CK Makes $200K in 4 Days on Web Video

Comedian Louis CK has scored nice profits by taping, producing, and distributing his stand-up special by himself and without the help of a network or studio. In what he calls an "experiment" to cut out the middlemen and keep prices low, CK hired a camera team to tape two of his stand-up performances at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. He then began selling the video for $5 a pop on a newly built website, and after merely four days had racked up 110,000 downloads and $200,000 in profits, reports Mashable.

The $200,000 is less than what a major company would have paid him in an upfront fee, writes CK, but by distributing the project directly to his fans, he was able to charge $5, while a studio would have charged $20, encrypted the file, and gathered personal info from customers. “I got paid nice, and I still own the video (as do you)," he writes. "You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again." (More comedian stories.)