The Dana Carvey Show was cancelled seven episodes into its first season in 1996. I guess depicting the President of the United States breast-feeding babies and pigs in the opening sketch of the first episode isn’t exactly “playing it safe” for a primetime, major network show. But damn, it was freakin’ hilarious! I watched everything I could find of the show on YouTube, which has become one of my favorite sites. I don’t have cable TV, so there are things I’d never get to see if not for the blatant copyright infringement rampant on the internet. God bless America!
Really though, I don’t understand why people bitch so much about this kind of piracy. It’s free publicity, as far as I’m concerned. My exposure to Dana Carvey via these YouTube broadcasts just makes me hunger for more. If he came to Lexington on a stand-up comedy tour, I’d be first in line. And now I’d love to have the episodes of the show on DVD. It’s on my Christmas list, by golly.
Same goes for music. I’m a firm believer in the “give it away for free” marketing strategy. The folks that aren’t internet savvy will continue to buy CD’s, which is fine. But if some kid gets my songs off the net for nothing, I say “Hot shit!” Whatever it takes to get into their iPods. If they like it, they’ll want more. If I were still in a band, I’d put up a killer website and let folks download select songs for free. Then I’d offer tiers of paid subscription, each offering graded levels of access to bonus stuff, like podcasts or practice-session videos. Hec, the die-hard fans might even go in for Platinum Membership, featuring video conference calls and dibs on my old clothes.