I wondered when these things would come about, but hey if its money and fans, its all about donations.
I know I’ve said it before, but open up the industry! Open up the fansubbing! Why restrict fansubs, why not make use of them? Yes, the companies own the material. No, I don’t know the details or laws behind this sort of copyrighting gimmick. Is there really anyway to give money to the people we want to? Purchasing stuff just doesn’t feel like it helps because its royalties here and minute percentages there. It isn’t soley a problem with anime, it’s distributable media which is seeking compensation in general. Seeking compensation is a good thing, but who the hell is seeking it? How many people are getting the largest cuts but are basically null-involved in the experience provided?
I have 100USD (not much these days I know) to a single title, doesn’t matter the title, but what matters is that I’m going to donate this to the experience, and in that way I want the cuts like so:
- 20% to the creator
- 20% to the direction, screenplay, etc
- 40% to the animators
- and the rest to god knows what else; funding for lawyers I guess
That last one is a funny. I get this concept in my mind that the copyright holders pay these lawyers to send out letters and stuff to fansubbers, etc. This cost can be eliminated IMO. Make use of the fansubbers and there’s no reason to prosecute. What use are the subbers? Well, use the subs, tweak the subs, get all the details about why viewers like or dislike the subs, take a hint from the awesome karaoke. Finally, make a product that is the sweetest combination of the amassed resources, strip it of RAWs and stick it to some serious HD, not the blocky mpeg2 DVD things we are used to. I’d buy that. Contract the hell out of stuff and make these productions a global thing… kinda like open soure. Hell, why even rush to finalize the product, release a few versions.
dyk: Blade Runner took its final cut sometime early in the century? Nearly two decades after it’s debut.
Another point about donations. I’d feel sort of guilty if I found myself donating to fansubbers and then not liking a series, and therefore not going in for the kill; I don’t donate to them usually. On the other hand, I wouldn’t feel a so guilty if I donated, assuredly, to the experience, but it turned out to be a bitter little pill and then didn’t make a purchase. I know it sounds like I’m saying something along the lines of….
You’re at an expo, and see some doujins that look interesting, but then don’t look very interesting after a quick flip. While walking away, the poor little table has an empty tin on it that says donations, and it comes to light… “I didn’t feel like buying, but feel worse about the preview, hey I’ll donate a bit.”
Oh that’s wretchedly cheap, yet would make good conversation with a character like Izumi Konata! There are too many risks involved early in the game, and it isn’t like disc-media is returnable ANYWHERE! It can only be resold, or if it is definite trash, given away. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it seem a bit cold for companies to be selling something that has very little feedback, at an alarming cost, and it turn out to be rubbish? Sorry, no returns…. sorry, everyone doesn’t want it either…
Lose-Lose. At least with donations there is a sort of (I hate to say) democracy; driven by money! Wait what…? Yea, these are risky things, like who is going to handle donations. I suggest a web-based solution, where people can donate to just about anyone in the media world (actors, musical artists, mangaka, etc)… but it may be difficult to verify the authenticity of who signed up as who to get those donations. This isn’t a permanent solution, because it requires a lot of change, but its an idea.
Anyway, all those companies think they’re taking risks when it comes to what they’ll produce in the season, if you ask me, they’re still waddling in the kiddie pool, and the first few that wander to the deep end may drown, find their way back, or simply break into an unexplored business model that has yet to be tried and manage to stay afloat. Hell if these companies are losing money, they aren’t innovating. Innovate in the concept and production, but also innovate in the model; thats life.
Traditional business based on licensing is only going to last so long, and while it may work for some companies, many will crumble with the awesomeness of p2p. It’s up to them if they want to change for the better.
Ryan A
This was inspired by the posts of Jeff and Demian. Jeff’s comment thread is truly extensive on this one, lots of input, and much more detailed thoughts and ideas than what I threw up.
note: I’m actually about 1000% less enthused than this post shows.
