Today I’m honored to share a guest post from longtime friend and inspiration Charles Dunbar. Charles is an academic who writes and speaks on anthropological topics in anime fandom. Like a lot of us, Charles has been thinking considerably about anime’s piracy problem. He decided to weigh in on the discussion taking place on Otaku Journalist recently. It’s a long story, but one I think is very timely and significant.
Talk about piracy and IP protection has been a part of my life for a very long time.
I worked in the music industry from 2000-2009, and was part of both late Napster and the rise of iTunes. I remember the moral and legal debates being thrown around while I sat behind my desk at a music promotions firm, and a lot of the hopeful dialog about how P2P sharing would save the music industry as we knew it.
This was, of course, before all the record stores started closing, thereby ruining my Friday night browsing binges after work, and completely removing any need for me to visit Times Square ever again. Piracy, at least from my standpoint, did eventually save music for the artist, but completely crippled the business model for major labels, and cost me my job when the indie label I worked for moved to California to set up a music placement firm when sales dried up.
Piracy in anime follows a lot of those same lines I was privy to way back when. Fearing lost revenues, companies are downsizing and less willing to take risks. This bothers the fan in me.
Hearing how sales of 1000-3000 box sets is the benchmark for a successful release bothers me as well —1000 was also the benchmark my former label set for a successful album, right before the end. And yet, sometimes, when I’m sitting in on discussions and panels relating to anime and new media, I can’t help but compare the ideas and concerns voiced by both sides in this never-ending debate.
I like to frequently relate a tale of a con long ago, when I witnessed an industry person rip into a fan who downloaded anime. Said fan was stating that he downloaded early episodes to verify that he would like the series, and therefore be more comfortable spending $60-80 on the full release. Rational, if it bit morally gray.
It was an argument I heard quite frequently back in the Napster days. “Why spend upwards of $20 on an album with a single good song and 11 tracks of filler meant to justify it? Downloading was so much easier, cheaper, and instantly gratifying.” That was the argument that ended up spurring on digital singles, and would eventually force bands and labels to seriously scrutinize their product, limit filler tracks, and provide quality albums for a discerning consumer.
It would eventually elevate the quality of the product, and create an entirely new revenue stream. All because people decided to “try before you buy” and make educated, informed purchases. Still morally gray, but even more rational given the state of the current economy. Box sets are far more expensive than albums were, and therefore require more investment, more capital, and often fan’s higher standards of entertainment attached to them. So this would hardly have been considered a “big deal” to the average attendee in the room, probably leaning more toward “better safe than sorry” than a massive violation of IP laws, especially if said fan was using it to screen his future purchases.
But it was the industry rep’s reply that shocked an entire room of people. The rep proceeded to yell at him that he was the problem with anime fans, that he was why anime was dying and companies were closing, that he should buy series regardless of whether he liked them or not to support the industry, and that if he could not afford to, then he should stop watching anime or calling himself a fan.
His reply: “Okay, then I guess I won’t.” And he walked out of the room, muttering under his breath.
The panel essentially ended at that point. The uncomfortable atmosphere sent a lot of people outside very quickly, though a few of us stayed behind to talk with the panelists. The industry rep was still fuming, but some of the staff and attendees were pointing out the flaws in the rep’s reaction. Not the rep’s message, but how it was conveyed:
- Attacking a consumer for exercising caution in making large purchases.
- Blaming the entire mess of piracy and IP violations on a single person.
- Demonizing him for being frugal, despite the fact that he did purchase releases when he could afford to, and being careful about where he spent his money.
- Dictating when and how someone can call themselves a fan, and excluding them for violating said arbitrary “rules.”
It was quickly pointed out that the rep’s reaction likely just cost the industry a customer, who would now choose to stop purchasing entirely because of being singled out and blamed, rather than starting a dialogue on how to better sample series legally. Bear in mind, this was before legal streaming was a thing, before Funimation and Hulu posted entire series for consumers to experience absolutely free, and before fans had multiple ways to discover new shows they might eventually fall in love with.
This fan wasn’t a bootlegger or someone who takes advantage of the community for profit. He was a fan looking to get the most value for his dollar. And he was excoriated for it.
The reason I bring this story up now is because since then a lot has changed with regards to viewing anime legally online. Funimation’s SAVE program has allowed for cost-conscious viewers to acquire series for a fraction of the cost, requiring only a bit of patience in exchange for dollars. Fansubbing still exists, but it is not the only option available. Like Lauren said in her recent post, fans do want to support creators, especially new fans or fans with strong ties to the fandom.
I also bring this up because such antagonistic tendencies might have caused more harm than good. Obviously the industry works hard, and they deserve compensation for their efforts. But at the same time, the old adage of luring flies with honey has an application here—if you attack your consumer base, and blame them for the greater problems with piracy, how often will that fan consider your words and decide to go legit?
Or consider the following: how many consumers who download anime do so simply because they can, and wouldn’t watch the series otherwise? Talk of lost sales and stolen properties can get very muddied at times. Every download does not equal a lost sale, but driving off a consumer because they were verbally berated at a con does.
But what if that industry rep had chosen a different tactic? What if they had addressed the fan’s comment with concern, but also explained how they disagreed and why? What if they started a dialogue with the room, asking about how many people exercised those practices when choosing which shows to watch, then talked about alternative options? That would not only have prevented the uncomfortable fallout, but also kept customers in the fold. We know that one person walked out, but how many others kept silent only to decide it wasn’t worth buying because they did the same thing as well?
I will confess that at the time I also downloaded episodes of prospective series for the same reasons as that one fan did: limited funds, and a desire to make educated purchases. Because I had worked in entertainment for so long, I could see the rep’s point of view and even respect it to a degree. This was their livelihood and the future of their career, so of course they wanted to protect and defend it.
It’s just that the tactic used, and the resulting climate in the room, might have been more dangerous than simply acknowledging the practice and talking about it. Because that one fan was made out to be the enemy, and in return the industry lost a customer.
I’ve been sitting on this story for a long time, mostly out of fear and concern. When I got back to my hotel room following the panel, I actually “walked into” an online discussion about scanlations, and I relayed what I had just witnessed to those on the forum about it. All of them expressed shock and concern that such a heavy-handed approach thrown at the fan, along with some comments about “biting the hand that feeds.” So I wrote this instance down for future reference, and promptly forgot about it.
The main reason is because I have strong positive emotions about fandom and participatory culture. Readers of my own site, and attendees at cons know how much I love this community, and I try my hardest to avoid talking about topics like this. I still am wondering if it was even a good idea to send this to Lauren in the first place, mostly because I don’t like “rocking the piracy boat” when there are so many other topics worth broaching.
But at the same time, I think this is worth at least talking about. Education and dialogue are more effective means of regulating behaviors than antagonization. At least, I would like to think so.
Instances like this are rare, but what cost would it be to the industry if even a single one happened? Serial pirates are unlikely to ever stop what they do, regardless of whether or not they are yelled at. But the average fan, if made to feel like a victim or scapegoat, has the potential to go elsewhere for his passions, which harms everyone involved, from the industry to the fans themselves.
Photo of Charles Dunbar via himself.
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I think some of the people behind the VIZ Shonen Jump sometimes come across as angry towards people who read scans. One of them was so vigilant on saying that there are so many options and that scans are evil. He came across like that rep, like if you read scans, you are the devil (which might be true for some readers).
Now, of course, you can’t blame SJ USA for thinking that way. Viz is run by Shueisha/Shokakugan. I wonder if the Japanese mentality plays a huge factor in all of this. From the manga perspective, I remember Shueisha issuing a cease-and-desist on raw manga scans years back and they sounded extremely angry when issuing it.
No one listened, obviously. However, we may have to take in consideration how the Japanese do things. Yet it’s freaking ironic because the Japanese are always about pleasing the customers in whatever they do.
Considering I believe they still have a lingering fear of reverse imports, yea.
Education and dialogue are really the best tools, re industry and fans. I remember awhile back, when some fandoms (mostly SJ ones) got upset that a creator was on break (because of illness) – and instead of just making things worse, a handful of fans/translators/industry knowledgeable folks pulled up statistics and stories of what an SJ creator goes through each week, schedule-wise. Many fans did not know. (Even American comics creators have harsh schedules, though weekly-chapter, popular mangaka are another tier altogether.) This applies to translation too, or wanting to see a couple of episodes before buying the boxset, etc.
I really appreciate Charles’ balanced take on piracy, because far too often, anti-piracy advocates come across like the industry rep that blamed the customer for all the ills of the industry. It’s hard to have a discussion on any topic when one side automatically starts with the premise that the other side is wrong and evil.
That said, I think the reason piracy is so pervasive in anime fandom harkens back to Gabe Newell’s quote that piracy is a service problem. And to be honest, Japan has done such a godawful job of getting its content out there to the people who want it that I feel like the companies publishing the content deserve it (if I could give the actual content creators money directly, I’d do it). When the options for obtaining content often boil down to paying absurd prices (before things like shipping and taxes) and possibly slow release rates or pirating it quickly for free, it shouldn’t be surprising that people are choosing the free option.
I will say that anime and manga are the best in availability and price respectively. The amount of legit free streaming services for anime has definitely cut down my rate of piracy, although 2014 has been utterly terrible when it comes to legally sidestepping Crunchyroll. Manga is usually priced really well, but it has massive problems in terms of speed of availability (most manga get picked up after a few years of scanlations being the only option) and ways to access it. For example, I want to buy the Arpeggio of Blue Steel manga volumes Seven Seas will be releasing, but since I’m shifting to digital copies for non-collector’s editions, I can’t buy Arpeggio, because Seven Seas doesn’t have the digital release license. And for services like ComicWalker, which has stuff like Gundam: the Origin, there tend to be quality problems like this, where you can’t read the content on laptops because there is no way to zoom in the picture itself. I hear ComicWalker will release downloadable versions of their manga, which I plan to buy if they’re quality product, but if there’s bad DRM that can’t be easily stripped off, I might have to pirate that to get a product that works properly. But I think the biggest problem facing manga is the fact that scanlations are literally the only way to sample new content in a coherent, timely manner, which makes it hard to wean people off of manga piracy.
Games and other ancillary products like soundtracks and drama CDs are hit the worst by a general lack of legal availability in the west. There’s just so much stuff that never gets released here and is too expensive to justify buying at Japanese prices that piracy is the only option for those people to experience that stuff. For instance, I would’ve bought the Gundam Build Fighters soundtrack immediately on release if it was on Amazon for around $14-15 dollars. But it wasn’t, so I had to resort to illegal means to get it.
I think piracy is unfortunately going to be a natural part of the fandom until we get to the point where most of the content people want is easily discoverable, easily accessible at sane prices for local markets, and is released as close to Japanese release date as possible. Right now, even the best legal options are closer to mediocre to pretty good than being definitively the best options for getting content anime fans want. I’m not sure that things will change unless the Japanese side of the business equation catches up to the realities of the global market. They’re the ones who are generally behind the most baffling/piracy inducing decisions about how content can be handled.
I don’t think Japan cares, until they can’t make money off of their home markets anymore.
I’ve been watching anime since the days when fansubs were the only way to get most series. During that time I’ve felt a lot of sympathy towards anime companies because I believed that it was only right for them to get paid for their efforts.
Since taking a Masters of Business program and studying business strategy, I have lost any sympathy I’ve had for anime companies. Every industry will go through some “shake up” like a new invention or sudden shift in popular perception and it’s up to companies to adapt or die. There are plenty of examples including the rail industry, typewriter industry, oil industry, and music industry. Any company that can rely on the same business model for more than 5 years can consider themselves lucky that they’re not bankrupt.
The problem for anime companies wasn’t piracy, but the fact that they didn’t recognize that they were using a dead business model. Taking years to release an anime series was all fine and dandy back when the only way to get anime was through a mail-order system with random university students who manually subbed each VHS tape. Back then anime companies provided several advantages: shorter wait times (ironically), a high quality product, and greater variety/access; it made sense to buy anime. Fast forward to the rise of internet use and higher bandwidth. At this point, fansubs offered much shorter wait times, high quality, and greater variety. According to economic theory, many anime companies shouldn’t have even existed at this point.
So what should have been done? The moment that anime companies realized that someone (ie: fansubbers) were providing a better product, faster, and at lower costs, it should have raised alarm bells that they needed to change their processes and/or business model or else die. Instead, companies like ADV Films and Central Park Media just kept on trucking and we know what happened to them. At a minimum, they should have looked at what fansubbers were doing and either replicated it themselves or buy them out. In fact, that’s exactly what Crunchyroll did; they copied the fansubber business model and brought a number of them into their company. In order to gain an advantage and tip the scales in their favour, they went a step further by providing same-day streams and a massive library of anime that’s available all the time.
Crunchyroll and to some extent, Funimation, are examples of business done right and goes to show that piracy was never the problem, but a spotlight that highlighted the real issue: strategic apathy. You wouldn’t think so, but companies like Coca Cola spend massive amounts of money on business strategy. It’s not to compete against Pepsi, but to pre-empt industry shake-ups that could knock them out of business. Anime companies need to do the same thing in order to survive. Any company that publically criticizes fans/piracy for lost sales is a sign telling me that they don’t have strategies for the future and would have gone under anyways.
If you’ve listened to ANNCast, specifically episodes 33 and 101 and read some articles on Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, you’d see that 60+% of the problems with the anime industry’s business strategy come from Japan. The guys at the top of the anime publishing/distribution chains don’t really get any of the modern tech and market needs, so the anime companies in the rest of the world have to do their jobs with a ball and chain on their ankles, which is why fansubs still have an edge when it comes to things like translating onscreen text.
I know this is about anime, but I thought I’d share some similar thoughts about gaming.
To a certain degree this also applies to the gaming industry as well. In some places like Brazil, its not the lack of funds that prevent people from buying games, its the Brazilian government’s import tax policy. The tax is in place to discourage buying import products and encouraging to by domestic. And since the gaming industry is a billion dollar industry, the Brazilian government sees that as a way to make a quick buck off gamers. This causes games and hardware to be inflated to ridiculous prices, such as the R$3999($2000 USD)price point of the PS4 and R$135 ($59.99 USD)games.
Then you have China. Gamers in China pirate games not because they can’t afford them, its because the government has a ban on them, specifically console games. Unless its Chinese, made by Chinese or catered to the Chinese, the government wants no part of it. This is also why we see a lot of pirated/clone versions of popular games, clones of popular hardware and even anime.
Let’s not forget about Australia, one of the most Western countries in the Eastern Hemisphere. Gamers there resort to piracy because the government is incompetent when it comes to rating games base on the intended audience. Even with a ratings board in place the government still has manage to screw with gamers, pushing them towards piracy.
As for us American gamers, piracy has evolved due to the fact that most gaming companies do not release demos any more and the decline of brick & mortar rental stores. How else can judge if we are going to enjoy the game or decide to buy it if we can’t demo or rent it. Can we really trust previews that gaming journalist put out or for that matter can we trust the developer? Aliens Colonial Marines proves that demos still have an important place in gaming.
Getting back to anime, the industry in this generation has gotten better about releasing shows on DVD/Blue rays in a timely matter. Services like Neon Alley, Cruchyroll and other legal ways of watching anime are popping up. Even Toonami is back exposing new viewers to shows that they might have not even considered watching. Funimation has been stepping up their game this generation: filling Toonami with a bunch of their shows, their online on demand service, their premium TV channel that shows anime 24/7, and something that fans should appreciate English trailers. These one to 3 minuet snippets give an idea how the show will sound in English. If that’s not long enough for them to get a feel, then as mentioned before there’s Toonami.
Be it anime or games, piracy in some parts of the world will be a necessary evil due to circumstances out of fans control. And sorry for the long post lol.
I never did download anime except once or twice as a curiosity, and I suspect that’s because I had a markedly different attitude towards my consumption of it than many of the people who did download. For one, I was pretty conscious of just how much stuff there was legitimately available; for another, I had the wherewithal to do research and import rare titles (and it was those rarities I was most interested in anyway); and for third, I was pretty conscious from the beginning about how what seems innocent enough becomes harmful when you’re far from the only one innocently indulging in it.