4 ms·

Silly that the anime studios have not learned anything from the recording industry's last 10+ years battle with internet piracy and the success of online music

Silly that the anime studios have not learned anything from the recording industry's last 10+ years battle with internet piracy and the success of online music stores. But I suppose it is difficult to accept that your business strategy, which has worked for many years, is now no longer working.

michaelpinto 15y ago
Actually America is a secondary market for anime — it's only recently that the Japanese have started selling here directly (in fact companies like FUNi are licensing anime not producing it). Most anime is broadcast TV so they make their real money from advertising and the marketing of merchandise, it's only in America where the DVDs were a primary point of consumption. So they have different issues (and blind spots) than the recorded music biz.
- tsotha 15y ago
  This is a key point. Part of the reason they have such a piracy problem with anime is until very recently only a handful of series were released in the US. For most titles a fansub was your only option if you wanted to watch at all.
  - michaelpinto 15y ago
    Well in the old days we traded VHS tapes that weren't even subbed! ; )
    - tsotha 15y ago
      Heh. I remember watching the laserdisk version of Laputa at a friend's house circa 1990. Took me almost ten years to secure my own copy.
dangrossman 15y ago
I don't think the studios treat piracy anything like the recording industry does. Many studios turn a blind eye to, or even openly support, fansubbing -- pirating their series with fan-written subtitles. As another commenter said, countries where they're not airing the series on TV are secondary markets, and many studios seem very aware that people in those markets getting access to their material even in illegal ways is a good way to build up enough demand to actually license the series in that country. Piracy builds demand for international anime DVD sales and those that sell well sometimes end up licensed by Cartoon Network, Hulu, etc.

michaelpinto 15y ago

Actually America is a secondary market for anime — it's only recently that the Japanese have started selling here directly (in fact companies like FUNi are licensing anime not producing it). Most anime is broadcast TV so they make their real money from advertising and the marketing of merchandise, it's only in America where the DVDs were a primary point of consumption. So they have different issues (and blind spots) than the recorded music biz.

tsotha 15y ago
This is a key point. Part of the reason they have such a piracy problem with anime is until very recently only a handful of series were released in the US. For most titles a fansub was your only option if you wanted to watch at all.
- michaelpinto 15y ago
  Well in the old days we traded VHS tapes that weren't even subbed! ; )
  - tsotha 15y ago
    Heh. I remember watching the laserdisk version of Laputa at a friend's house circa 1990. Took me almost ten years to secure my own copy.

dangrossman 15y ago

I don't think the studios treat piracy anything like the recording industry does. Many studios turn a blind eye to, or even openly support, fansubbing -- pirating their series with fan-written subtitles. As another commenter said, countries where they're not airing the series on TV are secondary markets, and many studios seem very aware that people in those markets getting access to their material even in illegal ways is a good way to build up enough demand to actually license the series in that country. Piracy builds demand for international anime DVD sales and those that sell well sometimes end up licensed by Cartoon Network, Hulu, etc.