The internet brought a shift into the market. People wanting to see something shouldn’t be thrown in jail. Anyone ever wanted to read Action comics #1? Do you really expect to pay the thousands of $ to read it? How many people want to hold and own a comic in paper format? Well, that should cost them, just like owning the Mona Lisa painting. What needs to shift is not human nature of wanting something for free, but figuring out how to charge for a wanted premium or format.

Can you download a song for free? Is it available on iTunes for a charge? Does it still make money? Why? Maybe it’s convenient to find. Maybe it’s a better quality. Maybe it comes with extras you don’t find with a free download. Does a CD still sell because of that song? Maybe people want to hold that form of media, with the extras, how it feels, the convenience, how it adds to a displayed collection. People still go to concerts to see the artist perform, and the atmosphere that comes with it.

The internet brought a shift, just like the radio, just like newspapers, and just like TV. The difference is the access is a broader scale. I’ve seen The Avengers in the movie theater, in a “pirated” digital format, and I will still own it on Blu-Ray. I’ve owned and read Avengers comics, and I have “pirated” Avengers comics. Theaters give atmosphere and large scale. Digital gives the story. DVD/BR give you the commentaries and side content.

All the companies and artists have received a share of money from me, sometimes multiple times. It’s simply a matter of scale and format.

If a company wants to continue making money in this current day and age, stop trying to make your customers out to be the ‘bad guy’ for wanting it. Start figuring ways the make the product worth purchasing over the shared version. People will always want to OWN it, FEEL it, DISPLAY it, and get EXTRAS that are not commonly (or able to be) shared.

SUGGESTION:
The answer to comic “piracy” is easy. Companies need to change the way they make their money, bu keeping up with the times. Who really wants to go into a comic store to buy their first comic in years just to be lost from it being in the middle of the story-line? Don’t you want to see how that story-line started? Maybe you want to know how the Avengers are missing, say Spider-Man since you last read it. Maybe you want to know why the characters themselves are different than they were when you were a kid? Maybe you want to see all the branches of a particular character’s comic life? How does the customer solve these problems? He/she COULD figure out how to get the free “pirated” versions, figure out the software required to display it, figure out how to organize them all, figure out how to store them conveniently. OR the comic companies could provide all that, the service, and the convenience, for a reasonable fee. Make it obvious by printing a web address and maybe even a cell phone scan-able link. Give the customer a selection of back stories from that comic on, or throughout that universe. Show them how and what to do to keep them reading. The comic companies can even make use of the already “pirated” files on the internet for free. Hire someone to go through those old files and make them better. Update the ads, better quality scans in some cases, run them through OCR software, etc. Keep the actual scanned comics free, and maybe sell a simple software that uses them to make common terms hyper-linked. The companies have just saved themselves possibly millions of dollars in employee hours of scanning old issues. Who wouldn’t want to be able to click on “X-23″ (for example) to find the origin, and/or the related stories? Like a particular artist? Click on his name displayed at the beginning to see what he’s done in the past. MAKE A PRINTED COMIC SALE A WINDOW INTO A UNIVERSE OF IMAGINATION AND ENTERTAINMENT! Stop making them feel guilty for wanting more than what is easily available.

[...] is piracy understandable?” I’m sympathetic to this point of view (as can be seen from this essay I wrote a year and a half ago along similar lines, justifying free digital copies when you’ve already [...]

[...] many already have, since that market was killed by ebay). I’ve been a proponent of the double-copy system myself, since it works better in our household, but tacking another dollar onto a four-dollar comic [...]

[...] I thought readers here might be interested in seeing another collection of viewpoints, given the wide-ranging discussion that’s taken place here in the [...]

“…in which a reader asks for the columnist’s opinion on downloading a ‘pirate’ copy of a book he has already purchased in order to avoid lugging a three-and-a-half-pound book on his trip…”

A similar case could be downloading a copy of a book someone already purchased from an online retailer (especially if his or her only brick-and-mortar LCS is still too far away, a place where she or he got treated badly, or whatever) in order to read it on the release date, after she or he pays for it and before his or her print copy arrives.

What if online retailers would provide encrypted access to digital equivalents (no extra features like animation or the ability to search text) of the print copies, and only show you the password/code/cookie/etc. for an issue when you pay for the print copy?

sci-guy-jim Says:

“…In my near-perfect world, a hard copy – be it comic, dvd, whatever, would include a single use code to give you a universal media license.”

Something like this, but with the code included on the receipt instead of in the hard copy, so you don’t have to wait for the print copy to arrive to read the digital copy.

Johanna Says:

“…Perhaps we started out talking about a particular jungle and its inhabitants, and Steven and I were talking about exotic birds and those bigger birds who prey on them, and you want to talk about monkeys? Only we just talked about monkeys last week, and we’re tired of monkeys right now, but you keep insisting we can’t talk about any part of the jungle without talking about monkeys? We’ve acknowledged the monkeys, we just want to talk about birds this time.

“Ooh, animal metaphors are fun. And happier to contemplate…”

You’ve just reminded me of the giant harpy eagles of the Orinoco, Venezuela. Do check out both videos – the 2nd’s in a smaller screen :/ but it’s longer too. :)

Now back to your regularly scheduled monkey discussion. ;)

[...] stepped away from any further discussion on my post about digital copies of comics you’ve already bought, after things got a little heated and I had to dump some comments for violating site policy, but I [...]

Something that explains a lot;

“For those complaining on why Toboso took so long to complain, here’s the thing. In Japan, it’s considered really rude to talk back to someone publicly. Unless it’s something seriously important, then they usually don’t say anything. The culture in Japan is totally different from other countries. I’m sure you understand this if you consider yourself to be a Japanese culture aficionado.”

“Toboso’s speech has a deeper meaning beyond just complaining about scanlations and fansubs. It’s also a harsh reminder of the society we’re currently living in, where we take things for granted and not many people truly appreciate a hard day’s work. Unless society emphasizes a greater need for impulse control, the crazy conflicts & debates will never end & EVERYONE will lose.”

If the first, the really that doesn’t require too much patience as near as I can tell DC and Marvel only have 1 each D&D release. With the occasional exception for a one shot or preview of new direction. (DC put first story of JMS’s Wonder Woman and Superman Grounded up soon after issues hit)

Everything else is months, most time YEARS behind. (Marvel’s Captain America just had the issue where Bucky became Cap)

If Marvel or DC or Viz want to include a coupon or code or something that entitles you to a free download of a comic with purchase, that’s great, but my purchase of an Avengers comic book doesn’t give me license to bypass Marvel’s online sales system to score a pirated digital version of that comic.

That’s akin to buying a movie ticket and going home to download the movie from an online pirate site since I’ve already given money to the studios and it’s too inconvenient for me to go back to the theater every time I want to see the movie again.

The better evidence can be found here in the Comics Alliance discussion with three manga publishing representatives. Check the third paragraph of Ed Chavez’s first statement.
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/08/20/the-manga-industry-speaks-taking-stock-in-tough-times/

For those who don’t want to click the link, the quote is as follows,
“Others have argued that scans can be used to promote lesser known titles. Well in our case when pirates start scanning our books, we immediately see drops in sales. And in two cases where we got scan sites to comply with our cease and desist requests, we have seen sales go up to their previous numbers in the months after the pirated pages were removed from the web.”

Sorry to slightly derail what’s been a very heated debate about the ethics of scanned comics, but I was wondering if you could elaborate on where you heard these ancedotes from. I’d be very interested to hear their responses.

If they’re nothing more than rumors without evidence, it’s hardly a smoking gun. A link or two to someone who supported the closing of OneManga would be appreciated.

Interestingly, when Manga is googled, OneManga is STILL the top ranked choice, even though it’s closed its doors three weeks ago. That’s some devoted loyalty right there.

“Piracy became more widespread, maybe (or did it just become more visible?).”

Prior to March, 2010, One Manga was not in the top 1000 Google world-wide websites. Afterwards, it was, and there is was a chart spread on Twitter today (Yesterday, your time?) that had it rising into the area of the top 100 in the weeks before its closure. This is not a rise? In the case of the Internet, more visible means a rise.

So we have a demonstrable rise in piracy and a demonstrable fall in manga sales. Now, with One Manga closed (thus indicating an, at least temporary, fall in piracy), we have a reported immediate rise in legitimate manga sales.

Under what logic can you assume that these are not connected? Why is assuming a connection here a reach? It seems to me that the most reasonable thing to do is assume that they are indeed connected until there is some greater evidence that they are not, and to act accordingly. In our case, that means making efforts to protect the legitimate industry with our words and support.

To your point that other print media have been falling too, I would state that those other print media have been falling since the early 2000s. In fact, nearly all print media have seen falling sales during that period…except manga. Manga was one of the bright spots in the industry until this confluence of events happened. The drastic U-turn of manga should be evidence that it is, in some way, more effected by the downturn (in other words, had the added push of piracy) than the rest of the print industry.

So to your point that no one’s demonstrated in an effective way to prove that piracy is a significant drag on the industry, my response is, they shouldn’t have to demonstrate it with absolute, irrefutable proof. They simply need to make convincing arguments that take into account the facts that are available and add logical assumptions to come to a reasonable conclusion. I think we’ve done that. And to tell the truth, I’m a little baffled by the resistance to it. I haven’t heard any evidence to the contrary that matches the evidence for.

Personally, I think there’s always some freeloading (people getting copies or otherwise taking in entertainment they don’t pay for, in a variety of fashions). It’s just when an industry is doing well, there’s plenty of profit to make up for that, so people don’t bother with it as much. When times and belts get tight, then every dollar counts, and we get attacks on the free riders as an easy target to blame. (And related cutbacks, like fewer review copies available.) That’s the same attitude that causes companies to attempt to restrict used sales of promo copies, for example. They’re all attempts to stick a finger in the dam to prevent leakage when every drop counts.

Unfortunately, we don’t have many solid facts about this possible connection, because no one wants to accurately study the situation. One indicator we do have is that those who share music widely are also some of the best customers. Does the same apply to print “pirates” or does the different characteristics of the format mean something else? Does the effect of free availability on sales change depending on the age of the target audience? (That is, is Bleach being available similar to or different from reprint works of Tezuka being available?) Who knows? It would be nice to have some independent data, but it’s not going to happen, because people are comfortable relying on their assumptions and don’t want the possibility of the actual answer being different.

Your experience at Viz is very enlightening, but when we’re talking about crappy manga, I’m not sure it’s representative, because Viz has mostly been outside that category. Other publishers, on the other hand…

PS Yes, that is Steven Grant, writer of the Punisher in the 80s, American Flagg, Whisper, and the excellent Permanent Damage column. He knows whereof he speaks regarding the comic industry.

The pirate sites do post my comics, which is a problem. I have succeeded in getting them removed, but only after jumping through their legal hoops. Yes, I suppose it’s a good thing that people ask for my comics on these places (it shows there is demand), but each illegal download is a direct loss, as I don’t sell physical copies.

What is very rewarding is that readers will often notify me of an illegal posting – they understand that if I can’t recoup my costs I can’t continue to make new comics.

I don’t want to be absolutest here, but I do think it’s fair to note that any support given to pirate sites – especially by well-meaning and well-regarded bloggers – can undermine the efforts of legitimate comic makers to combat piracy.