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Selling downloads of your film on your own part 4

So as of now I've heard back from E-Junkie, DPD, and FetchApp.... I just received an email response from Fetchapp... they said this about large file downloads..
That's a large file for anybody to download.  Files of that size are best done over torrents (which make them shareable) or broken into smaller pieces.
Torrents do work great for large files but has anyone figured out how to sell films through them? Not as far as I have seen... Vodo is set up to distribute films via torrent but it just uses public torrents... I mean you could run your own private tracker for you film but doesn't seem viable to me and I've never seen any filmmakers selling access to torrent files.... and not everyone knows how to use torrents so it's not a super easy purchase for all... but it is something to explore... sell a download of a torrent file on a private tracker maybe? Any ideas?

When I asked Fetchapp about excessive bandwith usage which would happen if you sold a couple thousand 3-4gb downloads this is what they had to say...
We'd actually switch you to a metered plan where you pay a flat rate per GB of bandwidth.  Our current rate is $0.25/GB
Their using Amazon S3 which costs $0.12/GB... so if their going to charge double what an individual could pay I asked if I could host the files myself using Amazon S3...
Yes we have a "Pro" plan that you can use with your own storage, it's a flat $25/month per month.  Again, 4.5GB is a lot for most people to download, especially in rural areas or smaller countries. 
So that is a viable option if you want to manage Amazon s3 yourself and pay the $0.12/GB....

What is your experience downloading large files in the 3gb - 4gb range? I've downloaded lots of files that big without a problem besides slow speeds sometimes... If you lost your connection during the download and had to start over or had super slow speeds like 20k/sec I could see how it would suck...

Since DPD seems like the best fit for me so far I'm trying out the 30 day trial right now... It seems pretty awesome so far as you have control over everything and can customize the entire buying experience... the guy from DPD even replied on this blog! ^_^ So thanks for that Jason!

Another thing to consider is which payment options to use? There's paypal...paypal pro...paypal plus... Stripe... I'm going to have to look into this... Since everything I'm going to sell will either be about $5 or $20 I should look into micropayment processing....

Slowly but surely getting everything into place to sell HSM and hopefully these posts will help you if you're looking to sell your film as well.


Comments

  1. very happy day in HSM history ;P getting everything worked out & figured out! excited for this release man! :D

    i think having as many payment options as possible would be awesome. but if you run into extra charges and such for credit cards and all that jazz, just stick with paypal since they incorporate it all into their service anyways.

    as for files, agreed, i DL files that large all the time, only problem is if u get dc'd.
    i think breaking the files up is the better option, buy the bundle and u get a movie file, then extras and such, but on separate links. this will save alot of heartache.

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  2. Good shit man, I'm so glad it's almost done, congratulations!!! :) Maybe I should call Unearthed and see if they'll jump on this digital file stuff too!!

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  3. Yeah I routinely download 2-5gb files directly and don't have a problem with it...most file servers/browsers/whatever support resuming downloads. You could even remedy the problem of people with crappy internet by offering a couple of different encodes for each package...so say someone buys the 5$ version, offer like, 3 different file sizes for them. You could even do a nicely encoded 480p version, just giving them the choice. More encoding on your end, but if people prefer to get the lower rez version because of their bandwidth/machine being able to play it back, that's less $ for you per gb as well.

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  4. I hope you find a way by the 15th.
    I'm quite positive i'll end up impulse downloading it. i mean $5 is a very low price. But i was wondering how you created your DVD set up for WATS. I checked out createspace and they dont seem to give me the freedom you appeared to have in the AMAZINGNESS surrounding the WATS DVD menus and mass amounts of menus at that....
    Also wondering, if (or when) you do make the HSM DVD, would you be posting it on the same site? I'd like to get a little collection going.

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  5. Thanks for sharing this information M! - it's really helpful.

    Best,

    Adam

    ReplyDelete
  6. Really enjoy reading about your process of decided best way to get the film to your fans/audience. I don't think torrents are a good idea as the focus there is on free downloading. Too much work setting it up, too. As far as payment modes are concerned Paypal is your best bet with Google wallet in second place.

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  7. You could send a magnet link (alternative to torrent) to paying customers via email. I know the Humble Bundle indie game guys do this. But it might be a pain to set up and I dunno if you could lock that down. 480p/720p/1080p would be more considerate for people with bandwidth caps and connection issues. It's a tough call.

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  8. how about serializing it into mini episodes sold as a subscription via itunes with a weekly release schedule. price it at 99 cents per episode or 12 bucks for the whole series. this would especially rock if each release was had a song or background music that could be enjoyed on its own. That would give Endika more time with the music and based on sales you could have money coming in early to fund product still be rendered. the length should be about 5 minutes. if the movie is 2 hours that could give 24 episodes over 24 weeks. download size would be small. Make sure it plays well on smart phones and tablets. have an alternative music track, even character track (think rocky horror picture show) where users could submit material for consideration as an alternative track. thinking itunes include a 15 second preview. if it can't be itunes then host it somewhere like itunes... tailored for mobile devices. look into places that stream instead of download. After this plays out.... then do the full movie release as another product.

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  9. i say sell it to netflix /crackle/psn streaming for exclusivity rights (maybe a year or something) with that alone you could fund pressing dvd/bluray for a sales release.


    then you wont have to bother getting slammed on data transfer or whore yourself out to itunes. (in pieces)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i agree with this ideas goodness, its a great way to get the film out in a lot of different ways.

      Delete

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