I’m not too keen on the idea of paying for downloads. Never have been. Ultimately, if I’m shelling out money for media, be it music or video, I care more about quality than convenience. Why would I pay $10 for a compressed, DRM’d version of a music album via the iTunes Music Store when I can purchase the same album in high fidelity on CD for just a couple dollars more? I don’t have anything against compressed music - I download my fair share of anime OP/ED singles, after all - but I’m enough of an audiophile to recognize the difference between MP3s and CDs, and I just can’t bring myself to shell out actual money for compressed music, especially when the uncompressed alternative is reasonably affordable.
What about anime? Would I pay to download anime? Only if I got DVD quality video and a new hard drive as part of the deal. Chances of that happening? Zilch.
Let’s get real for a moment: if Hollywood can’t figure out how to make online digital distribution work, what makes people think the domestic anime industry can pull it off? There seems to be a consensus that ADV should be the torchbearer for this new distribution method, but, last I checked, ADV’s track record when it comes to new business ventures is pretty poor. They fail at pretty much everything they do. And it’s not like the rest of the industry is in a position to make it work. They’re having a hard enough time selling DVDs.
And, of course, how does the industry compete with fansubs? I don’t see how online digital distribution and fansubs can coexist. Furthermore, fansubs have a natural advantage in the market, given that they’re free and fast. All the anime industry can offer is slightly better quality and perhaps better translations. Then again, could a domestic distributor obtain a license for a show, procure high quality masters, and put together a competent translation in the time it takes the average fansub group to release a show in its entirety? Doubtful. And if you’re a dub fan… well, might as well ask for a pony while you’re at it.
Honestly, if the domestic industry decides to give online digital distribution a try, fansubbers are in deep shit. There’s no way the industry will continue to tolerate fansubs with the entire online distribution market at stake. One reason I don’t buy into the “fansubs are killing DVDs” argument is that, if it were truly the case, the industry would be doing a hell of a lot more to actually rectify the situation. Fansubs will kill online distribution, however. I wouldn’t expect the anime industry to sit around and let that happen.
Then, when the whole thing comes crashing down… well, you get the picture.
So, what’s the ailing North American anime industry to do? I don’t know. Really, I don’t. If you ask me, the industry’s current troubles are mostly the result of overexpansion and poor business decisions across the board. Central Park Media’s teetering on the edge of bankruptcy doesn’t surprise me. The company’s presence in the marketplace has been lacking these past few years. But what of, say, ADV? A couple of years ago, ADV ruled the marketplace. What happened? Well, they licensed a bunch of crap shows, for one. Then, they wasted a bucketload of money on a number of failed ventures: ADV manga, ADV toys, and the Anime Network. No wonder they’re hurting.
A year or so ago, I was interviewing for a public relations position with the Right Stuf, and the question of why I was such a particular fan of the company came up. My feeling was that the company’s close relationship with the fan community was key. The fact that the Right Stuf was essentially managed by fans made a big impression on me. And, for all basic purposes, the Right Stuf has milked this close relationship for all its worth, surviving on inexpensive niche shows that appeal most to dedicated anime fans.
But, I fear the Right Stuf is the exception to the rule. Because, if you look at the state of the domestic anime industry today, the companies that appear to be weathering the storm best are those with good business sense and serious financial backing. Perhaps “fan-oriented” ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Is it time for the domestic anime industry to grow up?
All that procrastinating about the image and we get the giant frozen fish from Ever17? I’m not sure I get the relevance ^^;
I’ve nothing particular constructive to acutally say on the whole matter. I’m not entirely convinced that ADV are in quite the dire straights some people seem to think (lack of new licenses doesn’t mean much when they still have a half-dozen new releases every month on top of stuff like Kurau they’ve been sitting on), though if they are I can’t help but think Funimation are making exactly the same mistakes all over again…
I caught you a delicious bass?
Some Domistic anime industry would be good, if only for competition sake.
That might be the most wonderful image I’ve ever seen…
But Hollywood has figured out on-line distribution (maybe). Look at videos-via-iTunes. $2/show (I think — unfortunately, they’re not shows I’m that interested in).
You kind-of have the wrong business model. License-holders want to be able to treat the internet like a giant pay-per-view cable channel. They’re also looking at cellphones (an independent film-maker friend of mine tells me that one of the largest markets for (short, presumably) independent films is cellphone companies). It’s really just another form of broadcast or video-rental, in a way. But it has a much broader reach than even video rental.
DVDs are for the after-market. They’re for after you’ve cleaned up on episode sales.
But then, I’m not an audiophile. I only listen to mp3 encoded music (I’m still old-fashioned enough to prefer buying the disks and then ripping them, but my computer and iPod are my only means of playing music). Same goes for video. I’d pay a dollar for fansub quality.
I don’t think FUNimation is making the same mistake ADV made (unless we’re talking “The FUNimation Channel”). After all, FUNimation doesn’t license boatloads of mediocre at best anime with maybe a worthwhile series or two. Sure I questioned their recent idea to pick up a bunch of GONZO shows for name’s sake, but even despite huge failures like Conan, they’ve still got a boistorous catalog of series to fall back on, so I think they can afford to take more risks, and excluding “TFC,” I haven’t really seen one that I would consider a mistake like mini-DVDs.
The problem I see is that companies are acting too individually. I understand they’re clearly in competition with each other, but if they were to work together to find a solution for their lukewarm sales, we could have some far more interesting results than ADV putting up downloadable episodes for some backwater media player that no I know has (probably even heard of).
I don’t think download is the answer, nor do I have an answer, but I do think more collaborative effort on the companies’ behalves could yield one.
//Why would I pay $10 for a compressed, DRM’d version of a music album via the iTunes Music Store when I can purchase the same album in high fidelity on CD for just a couple dollars more?//
Well, for many new cd releases, saying that cds are ‘just a couple dollars more’ is a rather large understatement. 10 dollars for an entire album doesn’t seem to be all that bad of a deal, even if it is compressed.
//Honestly, if the domestic industry decides to give online digital distribution a try, fansubbers are in deep shit. //
Uh oh,
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/pressrelease.php?id=1741
But why the heck ZVUE?
//But Hollywood has figured out on-line distribution (maybe). Look at videos-via-iTunes. $2/show (I think — unfortunately, they’re not shows I’m that interested in).//
Not really, that 2 bucks gets you a show with a resolution much smaller than most fansub encodes.
Actually I’d give the US Anime Industry better odds at finding a way to make on-line distribution work than Hollywood. Hollywood’s still trying to hold onto their current business model, just slightly modifying it and actually attempting to take MORE control away from consumers while they’re at it. People aren’t responding overly well to the DRM or the low quality episodes put out but Hollywood doesn’t seem to get why they don’t. (Or they don’t care because they can say “look, we tried to do it legitimately and it didn’t work, people are pirating our product and refuse to buy!” and try to get more restrictive laws passed.)
I think legitimate downloadable Anime can compete with fansubs. There are a fair number of fans (and fansubbing groups) that abide by the fansubbing ethics of stopping distribution when a work is licensed (or at least released). A fair number of that group would buy either the downloads or DVDs. Also there are people like yourself who notice the quality difference and want something better. If the legit version is much higher quality people like you would be willing to buy it even with fansubs available. I could also see the fansub community moving to offering only lower quality fansubs so as to not interfere with the legit releases. Yes there would be exceptions, there are groups now that just rip the legit releases and distribute them but a fair number of groups would abide by this.
I do think that ADV’s announcement isn’t going to amount to much though, I think they probably saw it as an opportunity to make some money (I’m betting the other company is doing all the distribution/DRM encoding/etc. work and paying ADV for the rights to use their titles along with a percentage of each sale of one of their titles). I also feel that ADV’s not in horribly dire straits right now, they’ll bounce back. They’re just having to cut back on new licensing for a while to get back into the black after the losses of some of their (mostly failed) new ventures. CPM didn’t have a very strong catalog and that’s likely what hurt them the most.
I don’t know if portable video can succeed in the American market. You have the failure of the UMD format, for example. And only those with Video iPods can take full advantage of video via iTunes. Japan, on the other hand, has found a way to make portable video work, thanks to their advanced cell phone technology and “on the go” population. A big chunk of my job there was producing wireless video content, and on more than one occasion, I did live interviews on broadcast television from the middle of nowhere using nothing but a couple of cell phones. It’s big business in Japan.
The American market, though… I don’t know. The average American spends most of their time either at home, at work, or in the car. If you’re at home, why bother with portable video? If you’re at work, you’re working. If you’re driving… well, I should hope you’re not watching an episode of Initial D on your cell phone. I can see portable video working in certain urban markets, where people spend more time commuting via public transportation and the like, but that’s about it.
BUT, I’ll admit to not being a portable technology junkie. My cell phone is pretty bare bones (and I use it as little as possible), my iPod only comes out on long plane rides, and I have zero interest in Blackberrys and Palm Pilots. I don’t like the idea of constantly being “plugged in”.
Honestly, if the domestic anime industry is looking for new distribution options, I think TV is the way to go. Granted, launching a new cable network is no easy task (just ask ADV), but the success of Adult Swim is evidence that anime on TV can work. And, of course, TV has been the first line of distribution in the Japanese market since the very beginning. It seems like the next logical step, if you ask me.
“The success of Adult Swim” — is it successful? I keep hearing that they are cutting back on the amount of anime they show. Internet distribution is like a nation-wide cable channel. With anime still somewhat outside the mainstream, having the internet’s ability to aggregate sparsely-distributed demand is pretty useful.
Anime companies have been chasing after the broadcast TV market — there are some Japanese titles I can’t imagine getting licensed in any other way (most of the infinite-episode shounen things like [i]One Piece, Naruto, Inu Yasha…[/i]) — things that are popular enough in Japan to command high licensing fees. However, outside of a national market (such as that of Adult Swim), it’s hard to find a concentration of people to create adequate demand to put anime onto a channel. As I said, the Internet’s ability to create a nationwide distribution network is useful in that respect.
iTunes video, I think, can be played in Quicktime as well on a computer, though I haven’t investigated it.
//but the success of Adult Swim is evidence that anime on TV can work.//
If being able to show a few good/great sci-fi/action anime titles during the graveyard slots can truely be considered a success. And honestly with the television censor spree going on it’s a bit unlikely that anything more offensive than Yu-Gi-Oh! would really likely be shown during the times when a normal person is usually awake, much less wanting to watch anime on a normal cable channel.
//iTunes video, I think, can be played in Quicktime as well on a computer, though I haven’t investigated it.//
That much is obvious, the true question is, who would really want to?
Sure, Adult Swim ain’t MTV, but consider: many American fans got their start watching shows on Adult Swim and most of the top-selling anime DVD titles are shows that air on Adult Swim. So, yeah, I think anime on Adult Swim has been a success, and I think the industry has benefited as a result. (I don’t watch Adult Swim, by the way… I’m not even sure what channel Cartoon Network is on my cable system)
There are cable networks for everything nowadays, and given the growing popularity of anime among American youth these past couple of years, I don’t see how a anime-themed cable network couldn’t succeed if placed in the right hands. It may be a few years down the road yet, but I think it’ll happen eventually. Will it be Funimation’s new venture? The Anime Network resurrected? I don’t know.
Back to the Mavs vs. Suns…
Television could be a key solution, but what needs to be done is some some more risks taken at what gets put on national TV. The Fruits Basket manga is the most popular manga in America with Naruto. However, there’s still no possiblity that its extremely good and high quality anime adaptation will ever get a television air and Naruto’s massive manga success is because of its TV airing. Networks claim shoujo doesn’t sell, but I can’t think of a clear example of shoujo even getting a chance that doesn’t fall back on magical girl.
Cowboy Bebop worked for adults, but there’s no television attempt to market mature anime series like PLANETES for them. Adult Swim is a good start, but it can’t stop there. Other networks could get things going with anime catered to their network.
A 24/7 anime network wouldn’t work either as far as I’m concerned. Personally, I tend not to keep it tuned in for networks that cover things I’m not interested in, and I don’t expect someone else to just because it’s anime. It gives anime fans something to look out for, but I can’t see it kickstarting the industry.
dm pretty much said all I have to say…
1) Music and anime and movies are not physical things like bread that you “buy.” It’s licensed to you when you pay for it. Obviously when you buy a piece of bread it’s 100% yours. But when you buy a copy of Higurashi, you don’t actually own Higurashi. It’s not a fraud or anything, and quite frankly anyone still think they “own” it is just an idiot by today’s standard. I can see this is a valid point in 1986, but it’s a long time since then. Why are we even talking about this? IMO the discussion about price is really the only place this point comes in–there is no reason why record companies are charging so much money for old titles, for example.
2) Fansubs v. Commercial product. I think internet distribution is difficult. For one, no matter it’s on DVD or on VHS, licensees had to work under legal and commercial restrictions of the foreign licensors. In other words, they just couldn’t do everything fansubbers do to their product, and invariably people will still consider fansubs a superior thing, even if in reality the difference is small enough that most people can live with. And remember, that’s all on top of a DRM. The same limitation also applies to pricing–Japan itself is mad scared about reverse importing. The Japanese anime DVD market is niche enough as is, every sale lost there is big bucks. It’ll be hard to find a way to stop reverse importing over the internet.
3) The business model itself is tricky as well. iTunes music store is smart to go for a per-song model, but at its blooming days it had plenty of competitors which charged monthly fees for near-unlimited use. Of course it can probably be said that iTunes music store is only successful because iPods are successful, and it isn’t really anything special about the way it sold music. Basically, it’s wholesale transporting an old business model into the digital: people selling CDs to people with CD players… now we have Apple selling DRM songs to people with iPods.
Which goes to what Jal said about cell phones. It’s actually a very important thing. Portable-to-go content for phones are HUUUUEG in Japan; from ringtones to the nightly news it’s HUUUEG licensing business. I mean, imagine you’re the sole maker of Vaseline in the world, but they just discovered Vaseline cures cancer on top of making your skin baby smooth! That’s HUUUEG.
Which is to say, the real problem boils down to that there are technology bandwagons and new ways to sell the same old thing. Let’s separate the two. What we want is the latter, not the former.
I agree that portable video isn’t going to be that big in the US. It’ll be popular in big cities that have good mass transport systems like New York City, Chicago, etc., but not in the mainstream. It’ll also likely be popular with college students who tend to have more freetime and aren’t always at their PC/TV when they want to watch something. To be fair to the PSP, I think they’re used for video quite a bit but not from UMDs. UMDs run the battery down faster than video encoded onto a memory stick and a lot of people already own the titles on DVD and don’t want to pay full price twice. If UMDs were priced a lot cheaper they’d probably do better. I also think they should consider some package deals, get the DVD and UMD for a title for $5-$10 more than the DVD or UMD alone. That would probably go over fairly well. :)
I’m really not sure that an Anime Cable/TV Channel could succeed unless it’s backed by one of the big media companies. If a big media company does it they could tie it in as part of one of the bundles they offer cable companies. For those that aren’t aware of it, that’s how a lot of the less popular channels end up being part of the normal channel lineup on cable. To get the popular channels the cables companies have to agree to provide all the other channels in the bundle. I don’t think an Anime Cable/TV Channel can make it as a premium channel, at least not yet.
Jeff, you’re definitely right about Adult Swim helping pull in more fans. Never discount dubbed Anime (even butchered and dubbed) for doing that. I know I ended up the Anime fan I am now thanks to Sailor Moon. (First fansub I ever watched was VKLL’s version of Sailor Moon R Movie.) From there I found out about fansubs of the later seasons, then found out there were other series fansubbed and decided to try one (Magic Knight Rayearth was the first) and I was hooked. ^_^
Korean TV broadcasters made available all their shows to be watched over the internet, either free ( recent shows ), or for fee around 50 cents. The catch is that it is something like TV broadcast over internet which means you have to sit through some commercials and the quality is bit lower than what you can get off internet, but many do use this feature especially if they don’t want to wait until someone post the high quality stuff on some place dark. Enough people use them for the companies to report tidy profits.
>>>And honestly with the television censor spree going on it’s a bit unlikely that anything more offensive than Yu-Gi-Oh! would really likely be shown during the times when a normal person is usually awake, much less wanting to watch anime on a normal cable channel.
But even in Japan, most of these animes are broadcast around midnight.
>>>As I said, the Internet’s ability to create a nationwide distribution network is useful in that respect.
There is a catch. Soon, Korean networks will be making available even higher quality shows over the internet, because almost every computer in Korea is connected to the server by latest available communication cables. Download speed of 10 Megabytes/second is common, provided the sender and receivers are both within Korea. Why? It is because Korea is a small country and for large portion of population, only escape from dreariness of life is through the internet. The Korea like internet communication infrastructure is possible in small nations like Taiwan amd Singapore, but not internationally nor in a large country like USA.
>>>Honestly, if the domestic anime industry is looking for new distribution options, I think TV is the way to go.
In end, you can’t beat TV for live promptness and quality if your TV and cable is good enough. The trouble is, you have to change those unflexible minds of our political leaders and business people, and they really don’t want to change.
>>>But why the heck ZVUE?
I can see that many company want to make sure that whatever gets downloaded can’t be stored or copied in the normal computer hard drive. They are wasting lots of money. They have to find a way to generate revenue while allowing high quality downloads, for people will always find sneaky ways to get those files. In end, there is only two way of generating revenue: Collecting from downloaders, and advertisements. IF price is low enough and quality is high enough, people will come, even though there are some free illegal files around. If some people do download those shows, advertisers would gladly arrange a way to get their messages out.
Throughout the history of humanity, all attempts to suppress exchange of informations have ultimately failed. Whoever find a way to make their revenue making boat float along with the flow will ultimately comeout much richer for their pain and effort. Whoever trys to hinder the flow will ultimately be broken and sink out of the view. It isn’t prophecy: It is how things always were. Just look what happened to the Communist and facist regimes.
>>>IMO the discussion about price is really the only place this point comes in–there is no reason why record companies are charging so much money for old titles, for example.
I agree. What is even more maddening, especially in Classical market, is that they are promoting inferior new products as if it is best thing ever! Hello! There is a reason why some of the recording are titled Great Recordings Of The Century, and none of it is recorded by Simon Rattle nore John Elliott Gardiner. Why do I have to pay so much for such inferior performance while not being able to find some of the legendary performance? Why can’t the Radio stations pay proper tributes to any recording made more than 20 years ago? In fact, why deny the existence of any recording more than 20 years ago? And you charge $15 for that which I could find better performace on $5 Naxos label? Please!
Amazon link
The best interpretation of Beethoven 9th EVER! Try finding any radio program that even mentiones this recording. you will be lucky if they even mention the name of Georg Solti when discussingBeethoven’s Symphonies.
To often companies want to make easy money by forcing customers to buy newer models which may even be inferior to older models. The internet is making it easier for people to find what is best for them, instead of what is shoved onto them at local stores. Sooner or later, companies will have to adjust to this or they will go out of business, when everyone is forced to conserve and save, instead of spend, what little resources left on this planet.
Wontaek, please try to stay on topic.
I’d gladly pay a pittance for anime, believe it or not. If it is available online and of a decent enough quality.
Too bad it ain’t taking off here… The companies bringing over anime has more or less given up on bringing over anime from Japan and conceeding to the fansubbers.
I’ll have to agree that it’s bad business decisions that might doom companies, but since Apple apparently has a bunch of idiots willing to waste their Social Security Checks for their ‘musics’, I say they’re doing pretty well.
I’m not fond of DRM meself(I COINED ME NAME BEFORE YE BASTICHES FINISHED THE NAPSTER TRIAL, FOO!). It’s a horrible porkbarrel technology made to ramp up sales.
//But even in Japan, most of these animes are broadcast around midnight.//
I heard that the reason why anime airs late in Japan was more because of established tradition instead of a true need to put it in graveyard, still some of the more popular anime have ended up on Japanese prime time, which American networks are very unlikely to do with ANY animation now a days.
Seeing that CN seems to be significantly branching off a bit now a days with it’s Adult Swim block (with of all things, Saved by the Bell…..on Cartoon Network….right) one has to wonder how much longer anime would continue to a be a focus for Turner.
//I don’t see how a anime-themed cable network couldn’t succeed if placed in the right hands.//
It would largely depend on what your average joe would make of a Anime-centric network more than enthusiasm from otakus and the type of series they show. Your typical Sci-Fi/Action anime series probably wouldn’t be a problem (although it would get dull if that’s ALL they showed), though one would have to wonder how the average Joe would take; Somewhat serious shows that use ridiculous plot devices (at least a lot more ridiculous than usual) (Etc. Mi-Hime, Mi-Otome), not really all the focused on the male consumer (Ouran Host Club), use a lot of material that most Americans would not understand (Pani Poni Dash!) excessively ranchy (Girls Bravo) and so forth.
> And, of course, how does the industry compete with fansubs? I don’t see how online digital distribution and fansubs can coexist.
The same way that iTunes and music being distributed over eMule/Kazaa can co-exist. Fansubs of shows being distributed online by companies will have to go more and more “underground.” Personally, I’d be willing to pay a dollar or two per episode for high quality, professionally done digital episodes, if they were done at near fansub speeds (availible no more than a week after the episode airs in Japan).
> Omo
> 1) Music and anime and movies are not physical things like bread that you “buy.” It’s licensed to you when you pay for it.
That would be a lie that media companies are trying to get you to believe.
The doctrine of the first purchase drives the stake through the heart of Omo’s argument, fortunately for us all. Or else we would really live in his fantasy world where “it’s licensed to you when you pay for it.”
By the way, does anyone remember DivX? Not the DivX the codec, the DivX-rape-the-customer system by Circuit City. There may be a few lessons in that.
Just to follow up on the original post, I bought a few tracks on iTunes. They key here is, you do not have to buy albums - only tracks! This is where real savings are. Most CDs only contain a few tracks in which any given listener is interested. Basically, 80% of any CD is of no value. It does not mean it’s crap, it’s just how tastes are. For example, I have a Furuba soundtrack CD. About half of it is instrumental pieces, wheres I only want to listen to Ritsuko Okazaki. Of her songs, I do not like Sky-blue. The CD was $16 in Suncoast. Her 4 tracks would be $4 at iTunes, if Apple had a semblance of selection. Savings!
Let’s see, the image you used is because you planned to use the headline, “Fish or cut bait” and then changed it to the somewhat similar “Grow up or belly up?”?
(Though I misread “belly up” here as in the imperative form of “belly up to the bar” vs. what fish do when they die. Which I guess is what the picture’s really all about.)
With regard to the fish… your guess is as good as mine.
I’ll just pop in to say that I applaud you for using the Tuna picture.
Anyway back to buisness, do carry on chaps!
Sorry, but this thought keep popping up: Tuna ( from the picture ) Belly ( from the title ) = Toro
Maybe we have to go through some dark times in order for successful USA based Anime companies to make its presence felt to general consumers. As long as there are dedicated fans and companies willing to try something new ( ADV and Right Stuf are trying, or are they not? ), we still have hope.
>> The doctrine of the first purchase drives the stake through the heart of Omo’s argument, fortunately for us all. Or else we would really live in his fantasy world where “it’s licensed to you when you pay for it.”
Ah, but is that is what is exactly at stake, to reuse the analogy. With DRM, there is nothing the first purchaser from an online source can do that a traditional purchaser could. You are a licensee. Forget about trying to make a copy for a friend or even sell it to someone else (unless you also sell the appropriate PC hardware), because you can’t. Try to crack the DRM? That’s criminal under the DMCA (if you’re in America). I guess linux folks can work some loophole through the interoperability clause, but that’s not going to fly in a straight-faced lawsuit about p2p file sharing. With iTunes Music Store you have a bit of leeway by burning it onto a CD, but in the end you are getting an inferior product.
And all this works against the internet distribution model as a potential source to get anime.
The doctrine of first sale is awfully narrow, at any rate. It certainly doesn’t cover anything a digisubber does today (lol they have to buy something). And sadly it is probably not going to fly (I’m not aware of any case law on it, who knows) in terms of internet distribution either.
This is the kind of battle where the consumers have to do all the work by spending their money in the right place. Write to their legislators. Bitch at Apple. Or even better, be entrepreneurs with great ideas that steal the heart of the marketplace with a more ethically sound business model.
As far as the whole “you buy a license” thing goes, you’re free to believe what you want to believe, but only people who know the truth knows why it’s important to fight and which battle to fight. I’m no lawyer yet, but I can say that the reason why the media cartel has gotten so far today is because most people are still deluded about licensing like several of you have demonstrated. It’s time to stop them.
It won’t be Hollywood or the anime companies who make online distribution of video work commercially. It’s going to be the porn industry.
But that’s not really surprising; the porn industry has been in the forefront of successful commercialization of the internet for years, and has pioneered a lot of things which “legitimate” companies then later copied.
Of course. The porn industry singlehandedly made home video a viable business model until legit stuff caught on. We’re seeing a replay of the same 20 some odd years later. But that’s a slightly different issue. Popularizing the platform always comes first.
The problem is that the kids of this generation are trained not to be qualityphiles. I use MP3 and I can’t tell the difference. As long as it doesn’t look like complete crap, kids might jump for the chance to buy things online. People download AAC.
Nonsense, Blaming fansubbers is fairly idiotic. Everyone is responsible for himself. It’s your/my decision whether you/I download fansubs and never buy the DVDs. Since I’m not American anyway and the USA hasn’t invented English either I don’t feel to bad for ADV or whomever. If I have a bad conscience then it would be because of the creators i.e., the Japanese anime artists. What’s truly beautiful about Japan with respect to this, they don’t believe in lawyers like the US Americans. They don’t go around and try behave like disgusting pimps squeezing the last cent out of some poor bastards. I believe the Japanese industry isn’t concerned at all.
>>>They don’t go around and try behave like disgusting pimps squeezing the last cent out of some poor bastards.
I think you are very wrong here. They don’t worry about fansubs for most Japanese would have seen the anime on TV and Japanese account for more than 60% of their revenues.
As far as I know, most satellite is free to air. They don’t get any money through contracts with customers or whatever. It’s all about commercials. Well, if that’s all, then fuck the satellite dish and keep the goddamn commercials with the fansubs. I’m immune against commercials anyway and need to technical measures to get around it.
They don’t go around and try behave like disgusting pimps squeezing the last cent out of some poor bastards. I believe the Japanese industry isn’t concerned at all.
Hogwash.
Japanese media companies are very proactive when it comes to protecting their intellectual property. You can whine about greedy American lawyers all you want, but in Japan, you’re more likely to suffer criminal charges for violating copyright law. People have been arrested in Japan for distributing copyrighted material without permission… and “innocent until proven guilty” isn’t exactly a cornerstone of the Japanese criminal justice system.
Let me rephrase, they understand that country xyz isn’t a colony of Japan.
>>> and “innocent until proven guilty” isn’t exactly a cornerstone of the Japanese criminal justice system.
It is more pragmatic to think ” Guilty until proven innocent ” in most Asian Countries.
>>>Let me rephrase, they understand that country xyz isn’t a colony of Japan.
I am not sure of this as well.
I never had the feeling that Japan’s moral standards are below those of the United States. I can only imagine you’re referring to Asian piracy. I don’t have a problem if anyone goes after commercial pirates. Fansubs and P2P have nothing to do with piracy. Regarding Winny, I understand they’re more concerned about spionage than copyright violations. China and Japan don’t like each other for historical reasons, if you mean that, which has nothing to do with the topic at all either.
I get the feeling that piracy as we know it isn’t the key here. The problem is still about taming the userbase. I’m sure we all can agree that’s the most serious kind of revenue loss/copyright infringement going on today, but it usually doesn’t directly apply to us.
I’m not sure how many of you follow eroge/bishoujo gaming in English, but that has been the longest, #1 excuse for the lack of any good titles in the US. Just an example.
Japanese media companies are very proactive when it comes to protecting their intellectual property.
True but then why haven’t all the raw providers been arrested? They live in Japan.
I personally don’t want to know about it. Americans are like: “aghhh I don’t want to know where my bacon comes from.” And anime fans are like: “aghhh I don’t want to know where my anime comes from.” Every culture has a guilty pleasure. :)
Two words:
Madhouse (an australian company that is making SHITLOADS [well they are making quite a bit of money] of cash selling anime related merchandise)
Shareware (after reading a book about John Carmack and John Romero, I believe the shareware model is the way of the future, I cant remember the name of a recent game that was apparently doing HUGE sales at walmart, but they promoted themselves under a shareware model. Yes, thats right, PLZ SHARE OUR GAME. IF YOU LIKE IT SEND $X AND YOU SHALL GAIN ACCESS TO CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND PATCHES! Cut out the publishers and the game producers actually can make enough to survive on their own)
I hope you are right about shareware model. I would like to see some numbers about it.
Just wanted to add, in a panel with Matt Greenfield, he said it was possible to get an episode translated, subbed and dubbed all within a week. That example was with Grrl Power (Makasete Ikura!) where they got the masters as soon as it was finish and had to get it out at the same time as the Japanese DVD release.