Fansubbing and the Anime Industry
One big topic in the anime scene right now is the impact of fansubbing on the industry. Justin Sevakis, who has been working in the industry for years, today posted an editorial about the topic on Anime News Network. It’s a good read, and for the most part, I agree with him, but there are a few things I’d like to touch upon.
First of all, I disagree with one of the basic premises of the editorial. Justin writes:
Now, if this was something new, perhaps I’d have a little more sympathy when the rights holders cry victim. However, the fansub scene is approaching voting age at this point, and digitally transmitted fansubs started circulating about a decade ago. Every year they’ve gotten more and more widespread (with the historic popularity of Naruto pushing them into complete prominence). And to date, those rights holders have done very little to stop them. There is now an entire generation of anime fans who have never been forced to pay a single dime to get their anime fix.
I do not blame the fans who download with impunity and don’t buy a thing. Their attitudes, while damaging, are simply a reflection of the value of anime, which these days, is about $0.00.
That’s right. Anime that has been fansubbed is effectively worthless. It’s being given away for free. In terms of supply and demand, there is an infinite supply, and therefore the product is worthless regardless of how many people want it – it’s like trying to sell buckets of sea water to people on a beach. The only people who would pay for it are either older fans who are attached to the old ways of consuming media, or worse, are doing so out of charity.
That is the state of this industry. And the companies who depend on anime for their livelihood let this happen.
A little later, he says:
Legal rights, such as copyright to an anime, must be defended if they’re to be recognized. Anime has not been defended to any effective degree.
Now, while I agree with him that the anime industry hasn’t really been effectively trying to protect copyrights (and as he says, has been trying to “guilt people into buying something they don’t want”), his argument is ultimately misleading. The way it’s written, combined with his placing blame on the anime companies, makes it seem that he’s arguing that the industry wouldn’t be in its current state if they had cracked down on copyright earlier. And that is just patently wrong.
To make a statement like that is to ignore everything that other industries have learned in this digital age (as well as in the past). The truth is this: the consumer population, as a whole, does not care about copyright. A consumer is only concerned with getting a functional product at a reasonable price. We’ve seen this in all forms of media, from TV to movies to video games to software to books to art, etc. Even with more physical merchandise, such as in apparel, consumers will often turn to imitations. Whenever people (remember, as a whole) can obtain an equivalent copy of something for a lower price, they will do so.
Did attempting to enforce copyright help the music industry? They thought shutting down Napster would help them monopolize supply again, but it failed horribly. They continue to try to monopolize, rather than realizing that they need to compete, like Apple did with iTunes. Trying to use copyright law to protect outdated business models is the real problem.
The industry isn’t to blame for current consumer attitudes about copyright. There’s nothing the companies could’ve done to stop the growing social trend towards open content. Yes, they could’ve realized sooner that they needed to compete rather than monopolize, but we can’t really fault them for that given that almost every media industry is still coming to grips with that fact.
Although Justin’s argument is wrong in this regard, he does recognize that further attempts to futilely enforce copyright is not the correct solution for the industry. He states:
Before legal action will be effective, fansubs must be replaced. THERE HAS TO BE A LEGAL, INEXPENSIVE WAY TO WATCH NEW ANIME IN ENGLISH. Not necessarily own, but at least watch.
I have long been in agreement with this statement (except the part about whether legal action will be effective). The current system of sending anime straight to DVD, with no legal way for potential consumers to watch it first (other than maybe at conventions), and expecting it to miraculously sell is hopelessly optimistic. Especially when DVD releases are typically at least a year behind the fansub scene, meaning that any hype has largely died, except for popular long-running series or for insane meme-spawning phenomena (such as Haruhi).
DVD sets of American shows sell well because people have seen the shows before and loved them. And those are profitable because of volume. However, the anime industry doesn’t enjoy the luxury of a large consumer base in the U.S., as anime is still a niche market and very few properties (such as Pokemon) can ever hope to come close to reaching a mainstream scale.
But even then, the industry really shouldn’t be primarily aiming to bring DVD sales back to what they once were. Given the continuing trend away from packaged media and the current oversaturation of the market, the industry should focus less on DVD numbers and constantly look at how to expand monetization. Simply selling DVDs is not likely to remain a feasible business for very long.
The industry also needs to recognize that a lot of shows are simply not worth bringing over. I think that in the past there has been some belief that increasing the number of licenses somehow translates into the growth of the market, and that’s the common mistake of confusing quantity for quality. Rather than trying to give consumers more things to buy, the companies should be giving consumers more reasons to buy.
Ultimately, though, the overall business model needs to adapt. Justin points out that one of the major obstacles to finding a new solution is the Japanese industry, unfortunately. Many industries in Japan tend to resist strongly to change, and endangering domestic sales (their primary revenue) is a real concern. In addition, the possibility of internet broadcasts is heavily complicated by the networks’ relationships with their advertising sponsors. The companies can’t simply decide to put shows online as it ultimately conflicts with the value of television commercial time, and negotiating that is going to be tricky.
Fortunately, there appear to be some Japanese media companies venturing into online content distribution, and this will likely become more common as Japan phases out analog broadcasting (which is set to be completed in 2011) and technology like 1seg becomes more widespread. The real challenge is in making these systems affordable and accessible to the international market.
A lot of ideas have been floated about, such as subscription services or online broadcast channels that include commercials just as in television. To be honest, though, I don’t see a subscription service working well unless all the networks were involved - I don’t see many people willing to pay subscriptions for multiple sites that each only carries a handful of shows that they want to watch.
So will the industry find a solution before it’s too late? I certainly hope so. And this extends beyond just anime - there appears to be huge potential for Japanese media companies to expand their operations and reach the rest of the world with all kinds of content. It’s all up to them if they want to capitalize on the opportunity.