Piracy Or Promotion

[TaranT]

Out of Technology Review, the official magazine of M.I.T.

Beginning in the early 1990s, large-scale anime conventions brought artists and distributors from Japan, who were astonished to see a thriving culture surrounding content they had never actually marketed here and who went back home motivated to try to commercially tap this interest. Some key players in the Japanese animation industry had been among those who had aided and abetted U.S. grassroots distribution (i.e. fansubs) a decade earlier. ...

Japanese media producers had created a complex set of tie-ins between comics, animated films, television series, toys, and games that allowed them to capitalize quickly on successful content. They are increasingly eager to export this whole apparatus internationally. In this context, the grassroots fan community still plays an important role, helping to educate American viewers to the cultural references and genre traditions defining these products through their websites and newsletters. The fan clubs continue to explore potential niche products that over time can emerge as mainstream successes. ...

Many U.S. media companies might have regarded all of this underground circulation as piracy and shut it down before it reached critical mass. The Japanese media company’s tolerance of these fan efforts is consistent with their similar treatment of fan communities in their local market. ...

Complete article...

[Savia]

Now that was very, very interesting. The author shares the opinion that I've held of fansubs for a long while, and expresses it all very well. I recommend this to anyone.

[bum]

with fansubs, i reckon its ok as long as the sites ban all japanese IP's . the people that distribute and watch anime series which have bein licensed and are localy available are not gona buy legit dvd's if anime companies stop them. thier just gona buy bootlegs.