Ok then, I decided to start doing a random article where I randomly lambaste and berate members of the American anime industry or generally just take to task anything I feel like taking to task. It should be fun. No promises on frequency. So let's get right to the first target of my scorn and boredom, Justin Sevakis. Aside from his name, I am mostly annoyed with his terrible lack of insight or usefulness to a community he still feels like writing bitchy articles about. So let's get started with my open letter to Justin Sevakis. tl;dr incoming.
Ok, so if you didn't read the open letter, which I don't recommend, basically Sevakis goes on like a little girl about need for change in the industry without putting forth a single founding idea or useful thought. He also uses his near superhuman abilities for pandering to both call fansub consumers snotty shitheads who take things they don't deserve, and partially justified thieves. Of course, he has to play this angle to keep from pissing off his readers and his industry colleagues at the same time. Why does this bother me aside from the obvious? Well, let's get into that.
First, I'd like to address Japan and their whole thing over there. Sevakis plays the card here as much as anywhere with "you don't offer this, but you guys are totally still right. Hugs and kisses." Basically, the entire article, however, he says Japanese rights holders are getting fucked and then he dances on the line of saying "do what the RIAA did to your own fans and sue the fuck out of them, or at least the fansubbers." Ok, yeah, mostly he says sue the fansubbers, but here's where I get to my point. It's a two part point.
Firstly, Japan is claiming loss and damage for shit they aren't selling to begin with. The shit airs for free (to the consumer) in Japan, and if the number of people watching it in Japan triples, it is not likely that the production company is the one to see the ad revenue. So let's cut the shit. With over 40 shows coming out every season (that is to say, the four anime seasons in a year), often more, you are playing a violin to a deaf crowd man. If the production companies want more money, international fans ain't the crowd to petition. It's the station owners and ad companies. Likewise, this further answers the question about how watching it free online removes the ads. Well, likewise for the ads, we can't fucking buy something they ain't selling to us, so the ads would be about as fun as a punch in the dick while I am trying to see who dies after the eyecatch. Moreover, I hear this bitching, but how many billions of yen do anime tourism dollars bring in every year as well?
Secondly, as he addresses, there is no method for getting new shows to people in an affordable manner. While this STARTS to address the issue of fansubbing, it ignores the same point that I have tried to make on numerous occasions. America is NOT the world. We suddenly noticed Odex was around, but Singapore is a shithole anyway, so we will ignore their existence. Basically, there are fans in tons of countries which these shows, that is to say the new Japanese ones and the fuck-old American licenses, will never see the light of day. Large parts of Europe and South America and all them other inhabited countries won't have the chance to see these shows if you kill off the fansubbers. This brings me to my next point quite nicely.
The anime companies, both in Japan and here, will fuck it up if they're left to do it themselves. This point isn't just limited to anime companies, it's common throughout all industries. People are fuck-all terrified of just letting their IP fly fancy free. That is to say, imagining that there was a cross-platform version of fansubbing that you paid for, it would be set up the following way, I imagine. It would be a low-quality stream, that you wouldn't want to archive and maybe an optional SUPER-DRM version for Windows users. Do I have a solution to this? Yes. It's fairly simple, but scares the shit out of the companies because they are visionless jackasses who can't get past their own greed and fear of having to work to make money anymore. The idea is simple: When people like you and realize you aren't trying to fuck them, they will pay for your shit.
What does this mean specifically in this case? Well, take the music services and pull the DRM and you have a similar concept. Not iTunes. Rhapsody and the like. Basically, you give consumers XviD encoded video, with modest, REALISTIC prices per episode or per series. No DRM, open codec, and you offer them per episode or per series. You also sit down and calculate bandwidth prices and shit like that. Why? So you can figure a good price for a subscription based service. If GameTap can manage for $10 a month, I consider the idea that the anime industry could not to be a disgusting idea. And no I don't mean the American industry. They are all big swinging dicks, so they won't play together to save their lives. Largely the same in Japan. Basically, you work on the principle that people will, by and large, be honest. The people who like you and CAN pay, WILL pay. People are more willing to support things they love than not. The problem here, is the industry is still in the habit of equating one download to one copy sold, Sevakis seems to point out that this is the case with all the gusto of a freshly raped virgin teenager. So, in this system, you could count on the idiots in the expensive suits to expect a report on how many copies were "stolen" rather than focusing on how well the sales were going.
Take the recent Radiohead case as an example. Ignoring the dodgy statistics that were garnered from "a few hundred" users (not enough for a valid scientific study last time I checked. Need a few thousand at least.), they say that most people didn't pay for the record. But here's where that logic gets sort of fucked up. Did Radiohead LOSE money overall? Most likely not. And this still isn't counting purchases from the super fans who will buy the expensive boxed set. Or people who just buy the CD after the fact anyway. I'm willing to bet Radiohead's members don't go filing for bankruptcy any time soon. It'd work the same in the anime industry. People who want to steal can keep on doing it and it'll be fine, because honest people, like I tend to be when I feel I am not getting fucked, will pay them their fair asking price often enough to get by. IF they do it correctly. It has to be easy, extensive, and not a crock of shit.
Moving along from that, I have a few more issues with the whole thing. Sevakis doesn't really address how anime fans are supposed to get a hold of unlicensed shows, regardless of their country. Is that to say that you can't be an anime fan unless you speak Japanese or are content with hacked up edits and years before the show is released in your country? I mean, I know the obstinate assholes in the audience will just say "YEAH! You blah blah blah don't deserve blah blah." And that's a problem I have with how the world has been working of late. For some reason, companies have convinced themselves that the consumer doesn't matter and they it is our SWORN DUTY to just fucking buy what they say and let them have sole control over it even after we pay them good money for it. What companies are clutching to, the same as the American government of late, is this idea that they own the consumers, rather than the consumer dictating what is acceptable. The internet has allowed the age of consumer power to come into being and companies are fighting it with their last gasps. Trying to find ways to weasel their bullshit control schemes into our free world. The problem they're facing is, well aside from that they're doing it to begin with, the internet has infinite possibilities.
As such, those "worthless" fansubs are a real competitor. And as we can see, from Sevakis being a flubbery cunt, that sort of idea still hasn't really sunk in with people even on his level. Trent Reznor has already said this same shit about the music industry. If you have a service that costs WHAT IT SHOULD COST ($10/month) and doesn't make it a point to fuck people over as a matter of practice, then you're probably going to see people turn away from piracy. Basically, if it costs a reasonable amount, if it's faster, easier, and more consistent (which is what companies were made for in the first place), then BitTorrent becomes obsolete. Likewise, if you start this service, don't fucking piggy back BT, man. You're asking for trouble if you do. Just do HQ and LQ streaming and Direct Download. No DRM, no bullshit.
There is your solution, anime industry. Stop counting the money you don't fucking make. Create a proper, one-stop anime shop online with no DRM and good options and ease of use, all that shit. And do your fucking damndest to make it international. Money is money is money. Work with Japanese houses to get new sorts of licensing that allows for immediate subtitling and quicker releases. Take the shit seriously if you want to ever overcome market saturation. The store shelves don't want your fucking DVDs, so go where the kids are already getting it. Sure, keep putting out the best of the best series on DVD, but cut cost by subbing tons of shit and selling it online. It's obvious, man. OBVIOUS! And work together or you will just watch the industry continue to fall over in America. Japan is doing fine, despite Sevakis's assertion. But if FUNi and ADV keep acting like they will be the monopolistic big dicks, the already piss poor, dub-filled world of shit we call an anime industry is going to disappear. I'll be happy about it, personally, but then I don't need the US industry nearly as much as other people do.
