The push towards DRM-free distribution has come in fits and spurts. Louis CK helped pioneer and popularise the model, but to date there still hasn’t been a centralised hub where you can buy high-quality comedy, for a little bit of money, that the artist gets to keep.
Splitsider Presents, a new offshoot of internet comedy compendium Splitsider, hopes to change that.
The Splitsider Presents model is familiar to anyone who downloaded Louis CK’s Beacon theatre release; five bucks gets you a DRM-free download of high-quality, Splitsider-vetted funny stuff. At launch, that means comedy group Olde English’s Exquisite Corpse Project (trailer above), and Splitsider founder/former Gizmodo editor Adam Frucci hopes initially to add a new release every few months.
And while five dollars is five dollars any way you slice it, it’s worth noting that — unlike nearly any distribution model in the history of people making money off of creativity — Splitsider Presents makes sure that the artist actually gets paid. 70 per cent of proceeds ends up in the auteur’s pockets, with the rest going towards bandwidth, transaction and legal fees, and a small cut for Splitsider.
Splitsider Presents is live right about nowish. And even if you don’t care about DRM or distribution at all, it’s worth checking out Exquisite Corpse solely for the funny. [Splitsider Presents]