Last Monday, we were teased with the above image, not quite knowing what this meant for “LP.” A sequel? Something new, something more?
Well, as it turns out, “LP” is now making its way into the digital realm with a pay-what-you-want scheme for those who’ve wanted to check it out but haven’t had the opportunity. After a recent foray into 4chan and talking with people pirating “Theremin,” writer Curt Pires’ new book from Monkeybrain, the decision was made to offer up a DRM free digital copy of the book which you can pay whatever you want for it; welcome to the comic future, kiddos.
Curt’s official statement on the matter is as follows:
Hey everybody, Curt here. You maybe saw that teaser we ran a while ago which teased something “LP?MP3” . Well first off it’s not a sequel, sorry for that. But this is a good news press thing! LP is now available for digital download, officially, for the first time EVER. That’s right; you can download a DRM free, digital copy, and pay whatever you want. That’s cool right? For those of you who are new to my stuff via THEREMIN, LP was a book I did with Ramon Villalobos and Ryan Ferrier. It was a self-distributed and published one-shot, run across some of the finest stores in North America. It’s been sold out for a while now, so we’re happy to get it back where people can read it.
Readers can download a copy of “LP” online now right here. For more, we chatted with Curt about the recent digital decision.
So, that teaser: was that LP? Or LP2?
CP: It’s sort of a troll, because I know people are going to think LP2 , but it’s just a comment on digital –MP3 = digital LP.
Is this inspired at all by your foray into 4chan?
CP: Sort of. I was thinking about it, but that pushed me over the edge. People seem eager to support DRM free content, and doing it this way lets us not have to worry about censorship or age ratings, and lets us keep a greater chunk of what people send. Digital for this book has always been a total clusterfuck, so I figure I might as well just say fuck it and try this out.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you had sold PDFs of LP before, right? Besides the “pay what you want” aspect, is there any major difference between then and how you’re selling it now?
CP: I had actually only ran the digital for a little while before pulling it off the site. It was problematic and uncomfortable to be selling digital PDFs on a Big Cartel. I’ve been waiting since I pulled them off to try and figure it out, and after seeing the positive response to THE PRIVATE EYE I figured, lets do it. Lets try it.
What did you learn — or do you think you learned — about comic readers thanks to your foray on 4chan?
CP: It’s hard to say I really learned a particular lot, because my interaction was cut short by the moving of the thread due to relentless trolling of a couple people, at the hands of others. BUT the people who engaged me were pretty cool and actually interested in talking about the hard stuff. There seemed to be a desire for DRM-free pay what you want content. In this case, for some of them, it seems greater control over their media is a big desire.
It’s interesting to me to see how people react to digital, essentially wanting it to become more like an item they physically own. But do you think that DRM files have any benefits over non-DRM ones that you yourself are sending out, or are you more pro-DRM-free digital media in general?
CP: Well technically speaking, the only real benefit to DRM I see is that it’s used by services, or distributors that typically have access to a larger audience than those utilizing non-DRM files, right? But on just an insular level, no, I don’t really see any appeal to DRM. It actually seems sort of naive to me. I see the world moving towards a more open source way of being, and the culture of torrenting is a pretty good example. I think we just need to figure out a way to give people freedom to consume and purchase digital media in a way that is inspiring and liberating rather than, say, like buying groceries. I think it’s also up to people to realize that if you take everything for free, especially independent content, the people who make that content lose vital funding to create more of said content. That’s not a commentary on the ethics of piracy, but rather the reality of creation.
So essentially: I’m a big believer in DRM-free and a move to a more open digital culture, but there are some services that utilize DRM that I think are effective.
