Fansubbing under attack
There is a great thread going on over at slashdot.org about an article that came out on C|Net today. Fansubs under fire! The gist of it is this: Media Factory, an animation studio out of Japan, is the first studio to break ranks and not turn a blind eye to the phenomenon that is known as fansubbing - and the fansub community is apprehensive.
What is fansubbing? Fansubbing is when fans of an anime show get a copy of a title that is not in the US and then subtitle it for free distribution on the net. In the old days, fansubs were done on VHS and the quality of the video was generally pretty bad ... but fansubs were often the only way to see anime titles that would have never made it to the states otherwise. More recently, the shows are done in high-quality DIVX format and released on BitTorrent to a much wider audience. Some of the fansubs are often considered as good, if not better than the subs of the big studio houses.
Why has this gone on for so long without any studio raising a stink? There has always been an is an unwritten rule that fansubs are only done on unlicensed shows. If a show get "picked up" by a US company, the fansub distribution for that title stops and the show all but disappears from the net. Basically, once a legit company can make a buck on it in the states, it goes away. What is different here is that Media Factory is the first company to give cease and desist notifications on unlicensed shows ... shows no one is making any money on in the states yet.
How do I feel about this? Well, it's a double edge sword to be honest - fansubbing seems to walk the line between moral and illegal. It is illegal no doubt, copyright laws transverse national boundaries - but morally, the line is much more gray. While it's not right that the creators are not getting paid for their work, these are shows that no one from Japan can make money off of in the states anyway, they are not licensed and unobtainable by the masses. What's more, once they are licensed, the shows will disappear from fansub distribution. Sure someone will hold on to that rogue copy of thishotnewshow, but one positive aspect is that fansubs often promote titles and build anticipation in advance of an actual licensed release - they can help the studio sales by building a fanbase before the licensed titles are released.
In the past I have watched fansubs from time to time. For instance, I found Battle Athletes Victory, a show I would have never thought to purchase, as a result of the fansub I found on the net a few years ago. But it has been a number of years since I went looking for them. I find that with the rate anime shows are being released in the states, there really is not much need for fansubs anymore ... at least not for me. I have a hard enough time keeping up as it is.
In the end, I don't think this shift will really affect one way or another how much anime is seen in the states - though it may hurt some grassroots efforts for particular shows and the community in general. Sure the industry can get along without them, but is it much better off? I really doubt it, but it is one more sign of the changing times in the digital age.
What is fansubbing? Fansubbing is when fans of an anime show get a copy of a title that is not in the US and then subtitle it for free distribution on the net. In the old days, fansubs were done on VHS and the quality of the video was generally pretty bad ... but fansubs were often the only way to see anime titles that would have never made it to the states otherwise. More recently, the shows are done in high-quality DIVX format and released on BitTorrent to a much wider audience. Some of the fansubs are often considered as good, if not better than the subs of the big studio houses.
Why has this gone on for so long without any studio raising a stink? There has always been an is an unwritten rule that fansubs are only done on unlicensed shows. If a show get "picked up" by a US company, the fansub distribution for that title stops and the show all but disappears from the net. Basically, once a legit company can make a buck on it in the states, it goes away. What is different here is that Media Factory is the first company to give cease and desist notifications on unlicensed shows ... shows no one is making any money on in the states yet.
How do I feel about this? Well, it's a double edge sword to be honest - fansubbing seems to walk the line between moral and illegal. It is illegal no doubt, copyright laws transverse national boundaries - but morally, the line is much more gray. While it's not right that the creators are not getting paid for their work, these are shows that no one from Japan can make money off of in the states anyway, they are not licensed and unobtainable by the masses. What's more, once they are licensed, the shows will disappear from fansub distribution. Sure someone will hold on to that rogue copy of thishotnewshow, but one positive aspect is that fansubs often promote titles and build anticipation in advance of an actual licensed release - they can help the studio sales by building a fanbase before the licensed titles are released.
In the past I have watched fansubs from time to time. For instance, I found Battle Athletes Victory, a show I would have never thought to purchase, as a result of the fansub I found on the net a few years ago. But it has been a number of years since I went looking for them. I find that with the rate anime shows are being released in the states, there really is not much need for fansubs anymore ... at least not for me. I have a hard enough time keeping up as it is.
In the end, I don't think this shift will really affect one way or another how much anime is seen in the states - though it may hurt some grassroots efforts for particular shows and the community in general. Sure the industry can get along without them, but is it much better off? I really doubt it, but it is one more sign of the changing times in the digital age.
