My new project...
 

Although this isn't exactly the proper subforum considering my history I'm posting this here...

I was the guest on ANNCast this week where I talk about the new project I'm starting, which is like a combination of Kickstarter+Youtube for classic and other anime that doesn't work under the usual licensing model.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2012-03-09

Come a long way since I first started posting here...

Sadly, you mentioned it will be US and Canada only. You will lose a decent amount of money from people who watched anime in Europe when they were small, and won't be able to sponsor the old shows they loved. Still, it's a very good idea. Hope you succeed.

Yeah... from the looks of youtube and whatnot... I don't know what country it is but there's a bunch of anime dubbed in arabic. They seemed to have gotten the chance to see anime that people in Canada/america didn't get. There's also Greece and more probably. I'm sure that european countries have way more anime exposure than american people did as far as TV goes (90's 80s stuff). So from that, obviously they're more interested than american/canadians...

But anyways I too hope it succeeds. It sounds exciting.

Are you seriously trying to imply that it would be a good idea to start a niche entertainment business in Greece, of all places, right now?

Also, if by "Europe" you mean Italy and France, then yes, those may have had about the same amount of exposure to anime as the US did in the 80's and 90's. The problem is that those two countries basically require translation into their respective languages; they won't buy shit in English.

Pretty much what Fluff said. I'd say we got quite a bit of exposure to anime back then here in Spain, but the general level of English here is absolutely laughable (not to mention we're not that much better off than Greece in economic terms :V).

Actually the exposure makes things MORE difficult, because there are local companies that might well still have rights to things (or claim to).
At the very least old contracts need to be carefully reviewed to make sure anything that the Japanese companies do doesn't end up being litigatable.

That's a very interesting concept, and I think it has a lot of potential. Good luck with it!

You forgot Spain.

Your new project sounds interesting. It just might work out in the end, if everything goes smoothly. I wish you the best of luck.

Hey Sam, anything new to report on this project? I'm really excited about it, especially the possibility of collecting classic shows on DVD.

Also, I heard Bakemonogatari is finally get an US release. I recall you saying that you'd love to work on the series. Are you getting your wish, will you be involved with the translation?

Aniplex chose someone else to handle it.

And my project is now 3 weeks into development. The crucial thing holding us back from more announcements is the parent company of one of the partner companies, who is skittish about putting out any press releases prior to every contract being signed and dotted.

Thanks for the quick response. Really glad to hear that things are still progressing. I look forward to hearing more when the time comes. :)

502 Bad Gateway.

Hmm.

I'm assuming whatever it is though is a good idea but obviously would prefer something that did reach out to the UK.

Are you guessing at urls or something?

Nope just clicking the URL in your opening post.

Edit: Seems to be working now.

Interesting programme.

It was interesting to hear the background of how simulcasting has evolved and in honesty the surprise at the state of the industry (HDCAM tapes!).

Based on your description of the new project it sounds closer to a Humble Bundle / Indie Bundle sort of model as Kickstarter would be funding prior to the work taking place. Although you do then go on to talk about almost a sample being available and the kickstarter-esque model kicking in to continue. Be interesting to see how that works out and avoid the standard pitfall of a 'pay wall'.

It's definitely a good move and could help get some shows out there that are traditionally too expensive to licence for various reason - I'm thinking Macross 7 etc.

The LLP model seems to be a good idea although be interesting to see how the revenue splits are being put into the contracts. I suspect very similar to consulting LLPs with partners heading up specific divisions with their own properties and using the single name as a show of force more than anything.

Interesting you are talking about DVDs and Blu-rays rather than considering digital distribution routes such as iTunes. Obviously DRM free would be a nightmare but where there is somewhat proven DRM it may make sense to utilise it.

My only additions would be to exploit a social element to capitalise on how the markets tend to be working at the moment. Obvious pitfalls with user contributions around translations but it could be a consideration with the right control mechanisms.

In my experience (and I HAVE experience), the only time user translations are viable (and by that, I mean enough people willing that you can get decent quality), is when the property is popular enough that it could afford to pay for translation.

So it's a catch 22: The things you'd want to crowd source translation with are too unpopular to get enough interest to crowd translate decently.

There are some exceptions to this in niche genres that have extremely dedicated fans, like yaoi or giant robot shows.

Absolutely understand that - it was more a thought than an action that could actively be jumped on.

I just find it interesting how these projects work and how some of the problems are so very similar in nature to other completely different types of projects. I'm a portfolio manager working in biometrics and I think the majority of my time is dealing with the personalities involved rather than the technology just to make sure my project managers can get on with things.

I was interested by your comments around turnaround times being linked to 'if people are awake', which tends to suggest the same sort of global distribution as per your fansub days rather than a 'traditional' office based environment.

All that being said, you're clearly in the right place to be making these waves.

so this is anime sols ? and no love for those outside the states ?

Yes it's Anime Sols, and there's really nothing much we can do about region restrictions for a site based on classic anime.

Even if we could allow streaming in some extra countries, we would still have to restrict various series pledging to various territories due to existing contracts for europe and asia for some series. Basically the site wouldn't exist at all unless we restricted it to the US for now.