Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Spiffy merchandise = End of anime DVD sales decline. No, really.
Just wanted to throw in a possibly new perspective on the whole "fansubbing is ruining the industry" issue that's cropped up on the news page. It seems that there's a way for anime companies to bypass any conflicts with the fansubbing community and the legal issues that come with it, all while still managing to sell DVDs--and strangely enough (although probably unsurprisingly), I thought of it while considering the workings of my current fandom.

Because the hard truth is, us DBSK fans never really need to buy anything either. Like in every other music fandom, high quality CD and DVD rips are usually leaked all over the internet well before any product's release. The fandom even has multiple large-scale fansubbing groups dedicated to subbing every single TV show, concert, or interview the boys have ever done, never mind the many individual subbers on Youtube.

But instead, we buy like crazy. To put things in perspective, all the merch I've ever mentioned on this myO, even off-hand, is only about ten percent (or less) of what is actually released. Seriously. These boys have a shitload of products, and it is not uncommon to see fans buy more than one thing per month. (Mind you, this isn't even taking the phenomenal shipping costs into account.)

The secret to all this revenue is actually very simple: companies only need to entice fans with shiny, tangible merchandise.

Because all us fangirls will be willing to buy the album if it comes with a "free" photobook or two posters that we would totally spend an extra $10 on to ensure they are tubed and not folded. Or that limited edition DVD set that we all must own because we'll never have the chance to buy it again. And it comes with two group photos, my GOD.

Which brings me to another point: limited edition. The real meaning of this phrase is MUST BUY. Even the cheapass Korean fangirls eat up limited edition merch because it is the special, elite version loaded with extras that the poor regulars will never be able to touch once its gone--and from personal experience, I know that this is one of the most tempting reasons to impulsively buy something.

I guess what I'm trying to get at through all this ramble is, fans need to want to buy this stuff. One of my biggest complaints of anime DVDs is that they're just episodes slapped on to a disc; most came with virtually no extras. My God, would it really be so hard to throw in couple of actual featurettes? Or if they want to be truly clever, freebies. Fit cellphone charms into the DVD case if you have to. Because us DBSKers don't horde merch for the content, but rather for the packaging, pictures, and everything else we get that those who don't officially buy the product will completely miss out on.

One final point: most K-Pop/J-Pop merch doesn't at all cater to the international fanbase (which means no English subtitles on the DVDs, and mind you, some of the DVDs can be conversation heavy). Yet we buy it anyway. That is how good these companies are at marketing, and perhaps how good the anime companies need to be.
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