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Largest US Anime Distributor Goes BitTorrent

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the step-in-the-right-direction dept.

securitas writes "The New York Times' Charles Solomon reports that 'ADV Films, the largest distributor of anime in the United States is releasing promotional packages via the BitTorrent.' The use of BitTorrent is already extremely popular among anime fans who trade films that are unavailable outside of Japan as well as their own subtitled versions, known as fansubs. The company's first experiment with a Madlax torrent in July was so well-received that ADV is launching the bonus promotional packages for upcoming releases Gilgamesh and Goddanar. The question is will other distributors and studios follow ADV's example or stick to their current distribution models?"

9 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Nice Biased Article by Zelucifer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So am I the only one annoyed by the extremely negative connotations used by the "reporter"? Apparently World of Warcraft's use of bit torrent was illegal, or just plain unknown! Or perhaps those who distribute anime truly are the bane of good.

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    The corner of a round room
    1. Re:Nice Biased Article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The "reporter" is still under the assumption that copyright enfringement is "theft", and thus all fansubbers must be raping, pillaging pirates who go around killing the American Dream. Even though more than half the series that come out through BitTorrent download sites by "illegitimate" fansubbers are never, ever picked up by American distributors, because they aren't "popular" enough or may have "anti-American" values, or cant be twisted into an American cartoon through careful photoshopping and editing - Cardcaptor Sakura is a good example of a cute series turned into a marketing ploy.

      I personally don't buy a single damn DVD or CD of anything before I at least watch it through a downloaded copy these days. Too much crap to sift through to find the good stuff. I would not have bought any of the DVD's I own if I had not had the option to watch it through fansubbing.

    2. Re:Nice Biased Article by Tx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So am I the only one annoyed by the extremely negative connotations used by the "reporter"? Apparently World of Warcraft's use of bit torrent was illegal, or just plain unknown! Or perhaps those who distribute anime truly are the bane of good.

      Probably. I mean, well done, you managed to think of one example of BT being used for a legal purpose, and if pressed you could probably think of a few more. But the vast majority of BT traffic is pirated content, and the reporters tone is pretty justified. I'm a fan of BT, and I hope it continues to find more mainstream legal uses, but let's not delude ourselves about the current state of play.

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
    3. Re:Nice Biased Article by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No.

      Copyright infringement is copyright infringement.

      Theft is theft.

      They are two diferent things.

  2. Hmm? by Agret · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The question is will other distributors and studios follow ADV's example or stick to their current distribution models?

    Well it's not really a distribution model. They are just releasing promo material. You can already get promo material from most distributors just not over BitTorrent. This is really nothing new.

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    Have you metaroderated recently?
  3. If you can't beat 'em... by frostman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know much about Anime culture per se, but I think this is a pretty enlightened move.

    With promotional freebies, distributing via BitTorrent gets you free publicity and lowers your distribution costs to practically nothing. Furthermore, doing it through your own trackers is likely to give you realistic download statistics, which are very valuable in themselves. (And why go to, say, Pirate Bay if the publisher itself is seeding?)

    For commercial products you'd rather sell, there's also something to be said for BitTorrent distribution. If you know that a significant portion of your customers are going to trade the files on P2P anyway, and you realize there's *nothing* you can do to stop it, why not get some love by seeding the things yourself?

    Of course that doesn't get you to the magic "3. Profit!" all by itself, but at least you get something back from a process that's inevitable anyway.

    That leaves the question of how to turn that good will into a buck (or Yen), which I admit is not easy. But as it stands Hollywood isn't even interested in trying, so it's nice to see someone inching down a new path.

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    This Like That - fun with words!

  4. Their Business Model by Gaspo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So basically what they're doing is using BitTorrent as their distribution system, ok. BitTorrent can perhaps now be shown as a legitimate tool used not just for illegal file sharing. Oh wait, the media would never allow themselves to be wrong. Ah, there was a glimmer of hope...

  5. Re:When will BT be webbased? by Norgus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The more idiot friendly a peer to peer protocol is made, the more idiots you get. Yay now we get more people who care nothing about seeding and all about the getting!

  6. So how will they feel? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How will this Anime distributor feel when, rather than promos, outsiders start distributing the full legnth versions of their products on BitTorrent?

    I don't think this question is being addressed. In fact, some seem to want to pretend ADV is distributing more than promos.

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    resigned