Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are Anime Companies Cutting Back On Convention Appearances?
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
Author | Message | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TarsTarkas
Posts: 5839 Location: Virginia, United States |
|
|||||
I go to Otakon to see an anime spectacle. The industry booths are one of the draws. Not that they are selling their titles there, but the actual booth decorations and industry cosplay. Years ago the industry booths were something to see. Still are to some degree, but not much industry comes now, as years before.
For large cons, the dealer's room is still the place to be for people that want to actually see things before buying, the sheer size is great for grazing around, and yes, you can still find things that you cannot find online or stuff you don't want mailed to your house. It is still nice to wander around the gaming room, artist's alley, and see the art on display in the gallery. I will probably visit Otakon again, when they move to DC. |
||||||
dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
|
|||||
This is probably more due to the fact that they use Universal for distribution now. Now only do the major studios not send titles out as early, but they also require retailers to sign agreements stating they won't release titles before the street date. The penalties for violating the street date agreement can range from fines, to being forced to wait for releases, to not being allowed to sell their titles at all. AnimeNation made some comments a few years ago when Viz went with Warner Brothers for distribution. They had to sign one of the street date agreements, and said they would still try to ship titles early but couldn't make any guarantees. It's likely that since it only affects certain retailers, as broader content companies like Amazon still follow the street date for all titles, that they simply don't take the time to crack down much on Right Stuf and others. |
||||||
Loveless100
Posts: 82 |
|
|||||
Frankly speaking I don't think it's a bad thing that companies are cutting back. With the technology that's out there I feel that communication with anime industry reps is better than ever. I believe that if a person wanted to talk to an industry rep, they already know how to. From what I can see regarding conventions I see a split in convention theme: for fans and for industry. I would say that arguably all conventions besides Anime Expo are considered fan based conventions. No matter what you say about Anime Expo, industry reps are having meeting after meeting through the con and some rarely make it to the convention at all. I know of many industry reps that come to Anime Expo just to have meetings and don't even have a booth there. It's a showcase and a trade show versus a fan convention.
Thinking about it, I think it's good that industry is cutting back on industry appearance. It allows the fan-centered curation of content rather than a promotional environment, which I feel is more welcoming to the newer generation of fans. Of course, industry supporting conventions with screeners and "swag" are always welcome for conventions, but I feel like there's a bit of a weight on the freedom when the "big companies" are involved. If we were to compare major events here versus ones in Japan, you can see that the major events (Anime Japan/Wonder Festival) are considered more like trade shows rather than the more numerous fan-focused events (Comiket, Haru Comic City, etc.) You might have industry at the fan events, but in Comiket's example, they have their own area and the doujinshi fan artists are in their own area. I really only have one thought regarding the "people spend money at conventions vs. online argument. We as a community could discuss buying trends of fans all we want, but fundamentally fans buy things at conventions if they don't have a credit card and online if they do. |
||||||
reanimator
|
|
|||||
As fellow veteran, I agree with you. I think current generation of young fans take things for granted. I want to add that their parents raised them wrong by giving them everything they want. When I was teenager in 90's, I bought a $500 Laserdisc player and few anime LDs with money I saved from summer job. |
||||||
leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
|||||
That's quite a sweeping generalization there. I have a credit card, but I still get more anime and manga merchandise at Anime Expo (and Frank & Son Collectible Show) than the rest of the year combined. |
||||||
Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6868 Location: Kazune City |
|
|||||
|
||||||
Heishi
Posts: 1323 |
|
|||||
Kinda sucks knowing many of these companies don't come to local conventions a lot these days.
But that's a given I suppose, given the cost. |
||||||
TarsTarkas
Posts: 5839 Location: Virginia, United States |
|
|||||
I think this is a generalization too. If the vendors or dealers weren't making a profit at conventions, they wouldn't be there, plain and simple. People do buy at conventions, whether they have a credit card or not. Sometimes even if you have a credit card some smaller vendors only take cash. My local comic book/anime store makes most of his profit off of conventions. Conventions are what is keeping his business afloat.
True, but some local conventions make up for that with other things. Neko Con in Newport News had a Hatsune Miku concert, but I haven't heard about Otakon ever having one. |
||||||
vision33r
Posts: 90 |
|
|||||
That's because we are ruled by plutocrats that controls the government, media, business, and jobs are too expensive to provide while technology is automating and purging jobs at a faster rate than ever. You walk to many retailers like Starbucks you can order your stuff with an App or kiosk this means they don't need to hire more summer college kids to work. Of course the millenials love all these cool automation at the expense of jobs meant for younger folks. Back to the subject at one point I was a young broke college kid but I worked hard and payed my bills and scraped up enough money to buy my anime when there wasn't any torrents or streaming sites to watch. I do go to Blockbusters and other video rental places that had small section of anime but that was it. Nothing like today you can download terabytes worth of anime easily. |
||||||
dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
|
|||||
I'm sorry, but I can't stand when I hear people saying that the younger generation is lazy or doesn't know what hard work is. I work with 19 and 20 year olds that busy their ass every day, and 40 year olds who are the laziest most worthless people I've ever worked with. It's not about the generation, or the age bracket. It's about the individual and their work ethic. Plus, every generation says this about the generation that came after them.
There a couple of things to remember about teenagers these days. First of all, there just aren't as many jobs for 16 and 17 year olds these days. A lot of companies don't want to deal with the child labor law restrictions, and even more have restrictions on their insurance policies. Our local McDonalds won't hire anyone under 18 because of the increased insurance costs. And a lot of companies expect completely open availability, even for minimum wage jobs. So students, or anyone working another job, are unlikely to get hired. You have to love when a company like Walmart encourages its employees to get a second job to make ends meet, but then refuses to work with them on their availability. I was a paid EMT at 16. Today in Pennsylvania, you can't even take the EMT exam until you're 18. Many places now won't hire you until you're 21, due to insurance costs. So you spend several hundred dollars to get a certification that won't even earn you a paycheck for 3 years, and then it's only a few bucks an hour more than you would make at Target. Cars cost more. Insurance costs are higher. Gas is still more expensive than in years past. The world changes. Jobs change. You can't always judge the younger crowd by how things worked for you when you were their age. As for the illegal streaming, I see just as many people in their 30's, 40's, and 50's doing it, as I do people 20 and under. Once again, this isn't just a generational thing. In the age of Netflix, everything thinks they are entitled to TV for free with no commercials. I've seen a ton of people in the 50's and 60's complaining about having to pay for the new Star Trek series, because it was "always free before". Never mind many of us had to pay for cable to watch the older shows. If you're too cheap to spend $7 a month, or less in the case of CBS All Access, then that doesn't mean you just get to download whatever you want for free. |
||||||
invalidname
Contributor
Posts: 2450 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
|
|||||
Turning this around… if it's not too indelicate to ask… what guides ANN's approach to appearing at conventions? I assume it's pretty ad hoc -- you go to AX every year because Zac, Jacob, and Justin are all in Southern California and it's by far the biggest. But beyond that? Sometimes you guys have a panel at Otakon (Christophe this year, joined by some of the writers), and we get reports from writers who attend other cons, but that's about it. I assume that if, for example, you rented a table in the dealer room and tried to get attendees to sign up for subscriptions to the site, it likely wouldn't pay for itself? And there isn't some other business case for attending?
|
||||||
nobahn
Subscriber
Posts: 5120 |
|
|||||
What are we going to do about the other generation? Also, this. |
||||||
relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
|
|||||
Yeah, I doubt that would be worth it for them. I would love to have them at more East Coast conventions, since I would have more opportunities to meet and talk with them, but other than interacting with fans, I don't know how much it would be worth it for them financially. Other than that one ANN panel at Otakon(which was super unfortunately placed alongside the UTD screening with Q&A), they had a banner in the dealer room, and Mike Toole was all over the place, as usual, but that was the extent of it. |
||||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group