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There was just a study that was being surpressed saying how people who downloaded music were more likely to buy the CD, and were actually contributing to the increased sales of certain music. I don't know if that would be the case with anime and DVDs. But I think there is something to what Hoshi said. It feels good to own a series. I do allot of renting, but if I like a series and would watch it again, I buy it. Sometimes I may not know for sure I'll watch it again, but feel it was that good of series it deserves my support, and then I buy it.

I really think it may work out for Gonzo. I think the folks who like the series will be moved to purchase it. I think perhaps they will have to keep in mind that they'll want their audience to be adult customers with an income, people who are able to purchase.

Freeloaders will be freeloaders. But I think the idea that folks should support their favorite series/artists with a purchase is still fundamental. The battles may have been lost, but maybe the war is in the process of being won.

Someone pointed out that this model has not worked well with pornography. I think the difference there is that no one wants to purchase porn. There's a difference between buying even a mature but artistically sound movie and porn. In the first case, one may feel the artist is making a valid statement, even if it isn't necessarily for children, and in the other one thinks that this is just to get a person's rocks off. Yes, still, there would be an audience for porn, but people just may not be willing to pay for it, especially if they got it for free. Hence, that model could kill off the porn industry because someone's got to be paid in order for it to be worth it.

But my hope is that that porn study may not hold true in the case where anime is offered to be streamed for free. I hope instead that the offering will be more akin to a TV show being broadcast over the airwaves, and then people like it and decide they want to have it, and want to showcase the nice box set in their collection.

Even though music and media can be shrinked down to the most minute of proportions, I think people will still like to have collections. Such is the magic of marketing. Sometimes the packaging is really worth it to the customer. It says, I did it. I bought the package deal. I bought the ticket and here it is displayed very nicely.

Just some random thoughts.

Yusaku Godai wrote:

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Just when the anime companies seemed to be uniting to really start preparing to crack down on sites posting up anime, Gonzo does this. *sighs*

If it's all in an effort to promote the viability and marketability of a product, I don't see what the issue is that you should have with this. I think we all agree here that illicit freeloading is a vice, but like murder, under-age sex, drugs, and abortion its here to stay. And no amount of moralizing or preaching will turn that tide. And an ineffective campaign of lawsuits will likely have done less than good in the long run.

So I think what Gonzo is doing is taking a chance that they will attract an audience, an audience that becomes interested in their product, and wants to purchase it. They are merely replacing otherwise legitimate fansub groups, and making it easier for people to take an interest in their product. Some people will simply watch the program from the internet vantage point. I say, fine. Like VCRs in days gone by, some persons will record the program in digital form, and perhaps store, or maybe even re-watch it from their computers. Once again, fine. All that was happening anyway. But some people who would not have watched the program, or would have waited a while to watch the program, will take immediate interest in it, and like it, and want to buy it, and at the first offering, will lay down the bucks or yen to do so. As Hoshi said, it's good to own something. And the folks with the means to buy it should, and I think, in most cases, will. It's just a hunch or a feeling, but I think the well meant exposition of the moral imperative to support artists and makers of products with your purchase money has won the day with most well meaning persons. Hence we see the results of the study that those who download music were more apt to buy it, and actually created economic gain for the makers of the music that was downloaded.

I understand that it's a risk to some extent. But I don't see why it should harm Gonzo or any other company to attempt to try to cash in on it. What they likely receive from such a venture, is, instead of nothing from a fansub group taking liberty with their product, a certain amount of revenue from advertising in the streaming. At least I should hope that's the case. In that fashion it should be more like the model I understood when growing up. One did not pay to watch anything. It was all "free" off the airwaves. And if one wished to tape it, it was kosher to do so. All one had to do was sit and listen to commercials. It was the commercials that brought the product to you.

I think we're all on the same page here from the perspective of right and wrong. I just think that there are differences in opinion as to what may actually help the industry. For my part, I wish the industry well. Since I rent, I don't see where this is likely to affect me too much. But if it comes to it that I see a series that has been streamlined, and I like it, I will likewise like to support it with a purchase, as I support series that I've rented that I've liked.

A study of "The Effects of File Sharing on Record Sales, An Empirical Analysis" can be found here.

The key sentence, at the bottom of Page 5 of this study, is "While downloads occur on a vast scale, most users are likely individuals who in the absence of file sharing would not have bought the music they downloaded." The study found statistically zero relationship between file sharing and decrease in records sales. It allows for the potential that there actually may be a benefit to over all sales due to the availability of file sharing.

This study, of course, is for records, not movies, or anime or manga. But I would not be surprised, if one would do a similar study of anime and manga, one would find about the same results. (Edit - correcting a double negative present in the last sentence. GMH) The economic woes experienced by the industry can be attributed to other causations aside from the boogieman of file sharing. I would reckon that the same statement would hold, that most users who download anime and manga are likely individuals who in the absence of file sharing would not have bought the anime or manga. So the basic economic impact of file-sharing upon the companies who produce and license them may be close to zero. I won't say that definitely is the case until such a reliable study should be performed and published. However, I would challenge another person's equally unsupported statement that downloading is "hurting the industry".

I personally think that anime and manga appeals to a wide paying demographic, and that paying demographic can be found represented at this board and others. The paying public is an age group that has both the interest in a product and the means to buy it. If anything, amongst that public, I would likely say, at least in my own circles, the ability to share files has brought a greater impetus to purchase (through greater exposure), and not less. I know that my own circles does not make a scientific sample. But for me it is indicative. To those who have no ability to pay, but are benefiting from the free ride that the file sharing is allowing (high school and college age students), I agree they SHOULD pay. But if the case can be made to them, I think, they will buy what they liked over time, when they have the ability to afford it. For this reason, I would recommend to make the case softly and not strongly, because if one can draw a person into our circles here at Rumic World, if they hang on and stick with us, they will likely come to the same conclusion. It's the value of positive peer pressure on a peer to peer user group.

Ultimately, people become proud of their collections. And there's no one who could be proud of what they didn't pay for, or otherwise received legitimately. Such is the value of marketing. We like to have the display case. We may never watch the DVD or listen to the CD, or read the book (because it's all in digital form on our computer or ipod) but darnit, there it is on our shelf and we're proud to own it, because we bought it with our own money.