ADV Films CEO: File Sharing Killing Our UK Business
Neo Magazine reports on ADV Films’ recent closing of it’s UK branch in London and it’s new found partnership with the UK based distributor Lace Digital Media Sales.
In an interview with NEO Magazine regarding these actions, ADV Films CEO, John Ledford had the following to say:
Perhaps if so many fans weren’t getting their anime from illegal file sharing sites or unlicensed streaming sites, we might have expanded our UK catalogue more quickly. As it stands now, however, we have a better shot at growing our business with Lace than maintaining an overseas branch.
Citing File Sharing and Sites which provide anime for downloading and streaming by anime licensing companies is nothing new. Companies such as Odex and FUNimation Entertainment have been previously cited as condemning fansubbing and file sharing.
Source: Neo Magazine [via ANN]
That’s absolutely retarded, Fansubs are _HURTING_ their business??? I say it HELPS them… Because half of those shows, they wouldn’t even know people had an interest in them if someone didn’t fansub them, then when they figure out that people actually like the stuff they go and make a dub version. Bleach, Naruto, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the fansubs are the gateway to the Dub, cuz then the companies see that they have a following here.
Fansubbing is noble, not evil. It gives people a chance to experience the show WITHOUT crappy edits, removal of the J-Pop opening/ending themes, and with special bonuses like phonetic karaoke and translation of the theme music. You don’t usually get that kind of quality and attention to detail in a DUB. A dub takes a long ass time to make, requires the hiring of NEW voice actors, and usually has a time lag between the episodes released in Japan and the episodes released over HERE. With Fansubs it doesn’t take nearly as long, and it looks GREAT.