[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

1. DVDs are a lot more common in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, than elsewhere. A lot of people want to have physical copies, which still drives various physical forms of recorders/players.
2. Quite a few people buy the boxes just to keep it. I happen to be one of those (I usually buy three copies, one for backup, one for permanent display, one for use).

1. Less DVDs were sold in Japan 5 years ago then in the USA (per capita), hence the higher prices. Now the Japanese DVD market has proven to be less fickle then the US, but I don't know how long it will last. It's difficult to predict the future, but my hunch is that optical disks will become more and more irrelevant. I say this based on the fact that alternatives (like downloaded soft copies, or streaming) are more convenient, cheaper to deliver and take up less space. They don't satisfy the collector urge, but then you can always replace Disks with figurines, artbooks or concept art.
2. And people still buy records too. But they're an extreme minority, and not enough to build a business model around. At best it's a supplementary source of income. Depending on disc sales will limit the potential size of the Anime industry, as it fails to take account of all the consumers(like me) uninterested in buying disks, but still interested in putting money into it.

Originally Posted by hyl

You said it yourself, it's in it's infancy. So how is everything what i said "nonsense" seeing that crowdfunding has existed for god knows how many years, while the first crowdfunded anime , the socalled kickheart project , has only started less than few weeks ago?
Are you denying that the world does not work this way , just because there are one or more of these incidental cases compared to everything else?

It works as you said right now. But I'm talking about the future. This is how I see the wind blowing for niche products like Anime. And it will be a superior way of doing things too. Companies will either flow with it and prosper(like the game industry), or go against it and fail (like the music industry).

Interesting. Care to explain how people in japan can earn back projects costing a few millions dollars by streaming technology?

You don't earn it back. It's entirely prefunded by the audience. All the expenses will already be paid for before the anime is even made.

That, and they could use some alternative revenue streams. Things like Art Books, Concept art etc. Sell off some of the production materials to enthusiasts.

But the truth is, the industry doesn't really have a choice. It's not a matter of if disk media will die. It's when. Disks are an outdated business model unsuited to the new digital marketplace. They'll be selling things that people simply aren't interested in buying. Most people don't think disks are worth anything anymore. Love it or hate it, but people view the content as "free". People don't like putting a price tag on ideas. So instead of charging for ideas after the fact, the only way forward I can see is to ask for money to develop those ideas in the first place. It will spur greater audience participation, by in some sense putting them in direct control of what is made, and what isn't.