To give one example, there's Brad Sucks http://www.bradsucks.net/about/ , who has always distributed his music online for free. Over ten years, he's built a following and been able to switch from having a day job to being mostly a full-time musician.

Right now, it may well work out better for creators who are not as famous as Coelho and C.K.

Exposure is always the biggest problem when starting out, and even when talking about someone like Coehlo, he is certainly going to be read by people who would otherwise never even have heard of him... Which must almost certainly translate into increased sales.