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Originally Posted by Demongod86
Eminem has made billions of dollars, with or without people DLing his music for free. Ditto with any other well-known artists, and ditto with well-known anime.
And how can the companies claim lost sales from people that wouldn't buy the anime anyway? I know I don't have $20 to shell out for every DVD of 3 episodes.
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Comparing the international music distribution industry with a niche market like anime is a misnomer.
And as for cost of anime, people seem to have the strange impression that all the $20/$25/$30 DVD retail price goes to the anime company.
Let's look at a typical American anime DVD, retail cost of $30. Now typically the Retailer will buy the DVD from a Distributor who buys it from the Manufacturer. As a rule of thumb, you can double to cost at each stage, so if the end cost is $30 then the following applies
Manufacturer sells it for
$7.50 (to the Distributor)
Distributor sells it for
$15 (to the Retailer)
Retailer sells it for
$30 (to the Public)
For example, if you take an on-line retailer that offers decent discounts, they typically sell a $30 at discount at around $19 (a 35% discount). They must still make profit even on this so they must be able to purchase it for less (my example above shows the Retailer purchases it for about $15 and so can "afford" to sell it still for profit at $19). On-line shops can offer greater discount than brick and mortar shops due to lower overheads (smaller staff, cheaper rent, etc.).
The point to make here is that the anime company (i.e. the Manufacturer) only gets something like $7/$8 for the "$30" DVD. Out of this they need to pay for the manufacturing costs, the license cost, advertisement, Voice Actors, staff salary, etc., etc. and show a profit! I wonder if they can actually make a $1 profit per DVD, and how many DVDs do you think they sell, it's not that great since it's still a niche market.
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Originally Posted by Mentar
As I pointed out before, TV airings are only stronger forms of fansubs. We're talking about fansubs hurting DVD sales here, meaning people who would have bought a DVD, but did not because of the existence of fansubs.
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I don't think this looks at the entire picture. A point that's missed about such claims concerning TV airings is the fact they generate income for the anime. While they may be considered "free" by many people who watch, the series still generates income via commercials, DVD sales are not the only factor. I think there is a valid argument that fansubs are hurting the TV ratings of anime, and this is directly effecting the perceived "worth" of a series when the rights are purchased by the TV company. If anything, I consider fansubs contributing to this more (in a negative sense) than fansubs have an effect on DVD sales.
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Originally Posted by Mentar
That TV shows tend to sell much better on DVD only underscores _my_ theory which says that free and easy public availability per se helps DVD sales instead of hurting them.
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The reasons people purchase DVDs of series already shown on TV (be it anime or any sort of show) varies, I don't see there is a simple case as to why different people do or do not purchase DVDs. One example of why people purchase DVDs is the ease to watch (or rewatch) such a show when and where they like. It's true that they could tape the show when it was originally shown on TV but it seems most people who do tape such shows do not keep the tape for years ready to watch again and again. Even back before DVDs, why did so may people purchase videos of movies when "all they needed to do" was wait until a TV station broadcast the movie again and tape it then. One reason is that if you own a (purchased) copy you could watch it when you liked without having to rely on noticing the next time it was broadcast.
Plus there are many "problem" with fansubs (from the industry's point of view), more so since they are now digital. It's easier to distribute fansubs (in a digital form) than it is to distribute video tapes. The quality doesn't degrade when you make a copy nor does time effect the quality (unlike tape), storage is in many ways easier. The list goes on.
So yes, while TV shows do increase the sales of DVDs, at least the TV show does generate revenue for the original show. This is not true for fansubs, they generate no such income.
Sorry, this discussion is going round in circles again. Time to close the thread as it drifted far from the original topic.