Comedian Louie C.K. has made more than $4.5 million in 45 hours by selling tickets to his upcoming tour directly through his website.
C.K. is embarking on a 25-city stand-up tour in October with ticket prices set at $45 with no other fees or taxes. Since posting his tickets online Monday, C.K. has sold 100,000 tickets.
“I guess it was a good idea,” he wrote on his Twitter page.
The goal was to avoid over-priced tickets through websites such as Ticketmaster and StubHub so that fans can pay fair prices. Those services usually charge an additional 20 to 40 percent to the price to pay for venues and promoters.
“Making my shows affordable has always been my goal but two things have always worked against that,” C.K. said on his website. “High ticket charges and ticket re-sellers marking up the prices.”
“By selling the tickets exclusively on my site, I’ve cut the ticket charges way down and absorbed them into the ticket price,” he added. “To buy a ticket, you join NOTHING. Just use your credit card and buy the damn thing.”
According to The New York Times, Ticketmaster sells tickets for more than 80 percent of the major concert venues.
In an effort to cut out the middleman, other artists and comedians such as Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari have adopted this similar business model of selling their services directly to the fans through the Internet.
C.K. previously experimented with the direct-to-consumer business model by uploading his stand-up special Live from the Beacon Theater last year on his website for $5, making more than $1 million in 12 days.
The third season of the comedian’s television show, Louie, premiers on FX Thursday at 10:30 p.m. Tickets for Louie C.K. can be purchased at his website.
