I read back at gordon’s post about a Singaporean otaku (was the correct term, fujoushi?) making it big in Japan in a similar fashion to Danny Choo. (Only, one knew what [s]he wanted to do, and went straight to Tokyo; while the other took some time to figure his/her place in life… and went straight to Tokyo.)
Hence, this post is about how the otaku culture is not only a growing mainstream culture, but it is also attracting entrepreneurs to make a side business for the global audience.
As I draw comparisons between the otaku market and the Western geek market, it seems clear that acquiescence from the original content creators (a.k.a. the studios) in regards to the consumers’ use of intellectual properties, drives and invigorates the otaku industry. As such, budding entrepreneurs take up the opportunity to make business on niches that have potential in providing a service to the consumers.
The cottage industry – the doujin market, the cosplay experience, the figurine merchandising etc. – is what drives the profits for individual intellectual properties. Not only does the fan-driven business raise the profile for content owners’ properties, it also create demand for their properties.
The Internet – master of the long tail – provides an excellent opportunity for not just the entrepreneurs: the proliferation of streaming and download-to-own videos makes a great opportunity for studios and content owners to showcase and raise the profile of their properties.
The reasons why I wrote the above paragraph, was the perplexing question I raised in Omo’s post:
“When you mentioned, omo, of the region-locking procedures, I’m puzzled.
Considering the economy of scales that they can generate simply by making it available globally, I’m thoroughly surprised that they are still heeding to the content owners’ requests for region-locking. It’s absurd.”
Taken from Canned Dogs’ article on the numbers in the anime business, it seems stupid that studios in Japan could not capitalize on the popularity of streaming and download-to-own video (with the exception of GDH and a few independent studios) and make it available for the world.
The little entrepreneurs have successfully earned a lot of money in this otaku side business. Isn’t it time for the content owners to fully harness the power of the Internet? What is your views on the content owners’ inability to harness the Internet fully?
P.S.: I did a little research on the concept of parallel importation, and as Omo countered, it’s a lot more complicated than I thought.
Tags: Anime, anime industry, canned dogs, profits and losses
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