[rsbrown]

This is phenomenal. I mean that both in the colloquial (it's fuckin' awesome) and the literal. Louis CK's direct-to-consumer efforts are a phenomenon that (I sincerely hope) are ushering in a new era of entertainment marketing and sales.

The plethora of middle men at all stages of the current state of the industry (talent discovery, production, distribution) are really destroying the art.

Kudos to Louis for using his success as a platform for change. I hope others in the industry will discover their courage and follow suit.

[marquis]

At some point there is always, I believe, the need for the 'middleman' in terms of curation - if everyone sold tickets on their own website you might not know they were around, or not ever hear about them. But I hope that when these new kinds of curations sites evolve (and I'm sure they will) there is a way to monetize sufficiently to maintain a human presence.

[rsbrown]

I don't consider a lead generator (i.e., sales affiliate) to be a middleman.