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NEWS: Gonzo/GDH Contacts Crunchyroll Video Site

... To be honest though, I don't expect that to happen, while GDH has shown some interest in CR, I think most companies aren't going to want to play ball with a website that was stealing their content just a short while before.

To put it another way, I expect CR to be anime's Napster.

-t

Mohawk52 wrote:

You fansubbers really take the piss. You boast how well you can steal from the Japanese and then say "take us on board because we are better at giving away your jobs we stole from you" Yeah I can see them taking you in with open arms of joy. Funny name for a sword that.

Which is very similar to the views expressed by a lot of corporations back in the 70's and 80's regarding computer hackers (the real techs, not the crackers and script kiddies who came later). Of course, this avowed revulsion did not prevent the same corporations from turning right around and hiring a number of those hackers as computer security consultants. Data security conferences in the early 80's were like a mixture of "Revenge of the Nerds" meets "Pirates of the Caribbean". I'm not in a position to know whether or not a similar arrangement would work in the anime industry. But if the corporate bean-counters think they can make money working with fansubbers and executive management thinks they can do it without publicly losing too much face, then I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of deal struck.

It's gonna be like Hollywood (before independent filmmakers made better films than them) all over again.

If the info regarding CR turns out to be factual, it looks like that prediction about corporate behavior is going to be proven correct a lot sooner than I imagined.

superdeformed wrote:

"Traditional" media is dying. We are at about the breaking point. Some companies will either shrink or go under some will adapt, but there will be new companies to take their place. Crunchy Roll along and other sites like Hulu and even iTunes will be leading the charge and many other will be following along. No more one format only, multiple formats and quick turn around time is what people are demanding and the one who will provide that wins, plain and simple. If Gonzo does get in bed with crunchy roll and they profit then the other studios will follow.

Although the topic is extremely different, you sound a lot like hippies did when they were forecasting the age of Aquarius...

If you're a hippy though, I'm probably a hippy too, just a bit more skeptical (and I would like to think a bit more knowledgeable on the subject that the average fan).

I too believe that it's time for a change, and that the companies that don't adapt will be in serious trouble.

While I expect the environment to change in favor of consumers/fans, I don't think it's going to be the paradise that you're hoping for.

iTunes is indeed a good model of what we can expect, along with online-on-demand viewing sites like similar to ADV's TAN online.

However sites like CR, I do not expect to be part of the future. Right now we're in a bit of a "Wild-Wild-West" stage when it comes to online media, and eventually the legitimate businesses are going to push the outlaws out. A few of the outlaws are going to adapt and become legit businesses, but by the time that happens, they won't look anything like they do now.

Turning my metaphor into something a bit more specific, sites like the current CR are going to fade away. If CR is still around in a couple years, it'll only be offering the media that it has been given permission to offer, it won't be the free for all that it is today. To be honest though, I don't expect that to happen, while GDH has shown some interest in CR, I think most companies aren't going to want to play ball with a website that was stealing their content just a short while before.

To put it another way, I expect CR to be anime's Napster.

-t

Furudanuki wrote:

Quote:

If the info regarding CR turns out to be factual, it looks like that prediction about corporate behavior is going to be proven correct a lot sooner than I imagined.

I guess my general question on this is if Japanese companies are finally going to be willing to go the digital distribution route, why do they need a site like Crunchyroll as middle man? This isn't quite like your 'computer hacker' analogy, a 'hacker' is a physical asset that can't be substituted/reproduced by a company. In the case of Crunchyroll, it's not even in the technical sense a 'fansub' site, it's just a compilation of collected 'fansub' material. The value/appeal in this case is the shows/streams, which the industry produces (the raw component of) in the first place.

Why not just open their own digital distribution sites, or in North America's case go with the traditional R1 companies who have already been pushing for this? This also has the added benefit of being able to maximize contract value in having physical and digital distribution contracts through the same entity. Again, in the end if Japan's anime industry wants to jump into the 'stream/digital' game, I don't see why a Crunchyroll is necessary at all, just let your traditional partners do it.

Why is everyone comparing the two news pieces? They are completely opposite ends of the scale.

Funimation and Bandai Ent. are going after CR for copyright infringement of titles they already have licensed for the US, with subs (and dubs in most cases). What Gonzo/GDH is doing is working on getting their shows on CR before they are licensed for R1, probably with subs only. There's nothing wrong with these two going hand-in-hand. Obviously in the long run, then, when titles that are streamed on CR do get licensed, they'd probably not have to take them down, since people who want to download will download and people who want to buy physical media will buy it (like me), regardless of whether they already downloaded it, or if it was available for download and they didn't download it.

There doesn't have to be a group here who did things "wrong", aside from CR doing the initial pirating of already pirated anime for a fee.

xstylus wrote:

I think this is REALLY STUPID of Gonzo. This is like America contacting Al Quaeda and saying, "Hey, can we let bygones be bygones and work together?" Shut those ass hats down.

Except that your analogy is waaayyyy off. Comparing terrorism to copyright infringement is just plain asinine.

It's always best in the world of business to work things out without relating to legal measures. Working together saves money and in the end creates better deals. Litigation is long, expensive, and often achieves nothing.

Sorry, but I find my analogy quite accurate.

You've got one group who is, in effect, extorting an entire industry. "You better make a deal with us, because we're gonna keep distributing it illegally anyway."

Making a deal with these people is like making a deal with terrorists in that it rewards bad behavior. What's pissing me off even more is that I've seen a lot of people in this thread applauding Gonzo's move.

Sorry, but working with fansubbers or copyright terrorists is NOT the solution. The companies should NOT be rewarding such bad, callous, and destructive behavior.

If CR wants the companies to work with them, then CR has the obligation to act in good faith by removing ALL material that is on there illegally -- which, not ironically or surprisingly, would practically empty the site.

Some anime studios DO use BT to distribute anime...