About a week after I wrote a post on the Odex incident in Singapore, there was a leak of MangaHelpers' (an online scanlation site) attempt to commercialise/monetise their website.* Apparently, the owners of MangaHelpers drafted a business plan which they had planned to send to Viz Media, an American publisher/distributor of manga. Apparently, an e-mail by one of MangaHelpers' key personnel was also sent to someone within Viz. MangaHelpers' founder Taylor Matthews has since come forward to explain the MangaHelpers team's stance.
However, it appears from the flood of comments that has come in that the majority of the fans are not convinced that MangaHelpers is not selling out the translators and the fan community. I think one fan articulates the concerns fans have regarding a possible collaboration between Viz and MangaHelpers to use MangaHelpers as a commercial distribution channel most aptly here:
#30 by arslan (上級員 / Jyoukuuin / Sr. Member)
Posted on Sep 24, 2009
The problem is simple. Once manga companies are involved in the scenario, the community loses control. Either scanlation groups work with the companies or they leave and find a new place. The question of fans being reimbursed for their translations and scanlations is answered rather vaguely. The companies on the other hand, can use this media to make profit. The people who choose not to get along with the model, are suspicious, or simply reluctant get weeded out. Most of the people do scanlations because they like it, and not for commercial reasons. Making things commercial puts pressure on them, limits their control of their work and they work as 'cheap labor' in essence. This, obviously, offends the fans. Then their is the feeling of being used for profit if they are paid little to no money compared to what professional translators or scanlators get paid, even though the fans do a job just as good and closer to the original material. So, I hope you can see what the problem is.
On the flip side, there are a few who think there is nothing wrong with MangaHelpers becoming the "iTunes of manga" probably because it makes the downloads legitimate and might be a step to improving fan-producers relations and might not be a sellout altogether. As one fan points out:
#15. by Finestela (RAW Providers)
[Permalink]
Posted on Sep 24, 2009
Seriously... has anyone actually READ over the whole thing?
I read it three times now, and no where did it mention anything about selling out scanlation products or whatever. This thing is merely a plan to use MH as a distribution center for commercial digital copies of various series. While it did mention the possibility of becoming a bridge between freelance groups and copyright holders, it it not the main focus of this proposal.
So seriously, read before you start running your mouth. If you have something constructive to say, then go ahead, please. Otherwise, pure ranting is just silly and unproductive.
It appears that MangaHelpers would be putting the brakes on this business plan as Taylor noted that the leak has changed the whole situation and essentially suggest that distribution is going to be the same for now. I think this reinforces how powerful the fan community is and that to be part of this community (whether to service it or just being a fan), you have to abide by the unspoken rules of this community which is something observed by various researchers such as Henry Jenkins and Amber Davisson in their research on fan culture.
Aspects of respecting the fan community and unspoken rules pervades lots of fan activities from fanfiction writing (responding to reviews) to well this example. But how does one know where the boundaries are when fans themselves within the community appear to have differing views? How does one juggle that tension then when engaging in fan activities? Hopefully, that is something I can figure out more about as I continue in my research.
*Please note that the term 'commercialise/monetise' used here is rather subjective and might not necessarily reflect the MangaHelpers owners' intent. However, this is how I understand the situation.*
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Odex Incident
Those familiar with the anime scene in Singapore would probably have heard of the "Odex saga" (I think the Wikipedia entry is a pretty good summary of the incident, hence the link to that entry).
There are various interesting issues involved in here. Some of them have been raised in the wikipedia entry itself such as the issue of possibly citing fair use as a defence for downloaders who are not heavy downloaders. The part where it is mentioned that one of the conditions for citing that defence would be to prove that the download subsequently boosted the commercial viability of the anime industry. This reminded me of something that I read recently about Toby Miller's suggestion that perhaps the pirated DVDs/VCDs (of Hollywood films) industry in China is actually helping to boost the commercial viability of Hollywood by creating an sense of anticipation in the market and indirectly creating demand for film-related merchandise. This is especially the case in China because there's a quota on the number of foreign films allowed in China which means that not every single Hollywood blockbuster gets to be screened in China. So ironically the pirated DVDs market allows the audience in China to view those films that aren't screened in China (cheaply) and can help create buzz for it.
Interestingly, this might be the case in Singapore considering that anime series usually get aired in Singapore quite a while after they have been first aired in Japan (and the US), especially on free-to-air television.By then, most avid anime fans would have caught their favourite series from the fansubs that they've downloaded from the Internet. I've personally noticed that merchandise for an anime series hit stores before the series get aired in Singapore (or even if the series doesn't get aired in Singapore). To be fair, I do notice more buzz for a particular series and its related merchandise after it gets officially aired in Singapore but I would think that's simply because it has now reached a wider audience who wouldn't have bothered to make the effort to source for the anime online.
I was actually mildly surprised by the legal action taken by the anime studios, considering how tolerant they are of the doujin market in Japan (where fairs are held to openly hawk these items) and how some mangakas (manga artists) like Clamp started out producing doujinshi. I wonder if this means they will take further action in other non-Japanese markets where there's quite a bit of anime downloading activity going on and what this entails for media producers-consumers relations.
In Singapore's case, I suppose we can wait and see how the court case of anime studios vs anime downloaders will pan out when hearing begins...
There are various interesting issues involved in here. Some of them have been raised in the wikipedia entry itself such as the issue of possibly citing fair use as a defence for downloaders who are not heavy downloaders. The part where it is mentioned that one of the conditions for citing that defence would be to prove that the download subsequently boosted the commercial viability of the anime industry. This reminded me of something that I read recently about Toby Miller's suggestion that perhaps the pirated DVDs/VCDs (of Hollywood films) industry in China is actually helping to boost the commercial viability of Hollywood by creating an sense of anticipation in the market and indirectly creating demand for film-related merchandise. This is especially the case in China because there's a quota on the number of foreign films allowed in China which means that not every single Hollywood blockbuster gets to be screened in China. So ironically the pirated DVDs market allows the audience in China to view those films that aren't screened in China (cheaply) and can help create buzz for it.
Interestingly, this might be the case in Singapore considering that anime series usually get aired in Singapore quite a while after they have been first aired in Japan (and the US), especially on free-to-air television.By then, most avid anime fans would have caught their favourite series from the fansubs that they've downloaded from the Internet. I've personally noticed that merchandise for an anime series hit stores before the series get aired in Singapore (or even if the series doesn't get aired in Singapore). To be fair, I do notice more buzz for a particular series and its related merchandise after it gets officially aired in Singapore but I would think that's simply because it has now reached a wider audience who wouldn't have bothered to make the effort to source for the anime online.
I was actually mildly surprised by the legal action taken by the anime studios, considering how tolerant they are of the doujin market in Japan (where fairs are held to openly hawk these items) and how some mangakas (manga artists) like Clamp started out producing doujinshi. I wonder if this means they will take further action in other non-Japanese markets where there's quite a bit of anime downloading activity going on and what this entails for media producers-consumers relations.
In Singapore's case, I suppose we can wait and see how the court case of anime studios vs anime downloaders will pan out when hearing begins...
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