Does piracy hurts the comics' industry?

[chongjasmine]

Do you think that the comic's industry is hurt by online piracy?
If piracy hurts comic's industry, what do you think can be done to lessen piracy's impact on the comic's industry.
If piracy is not hurting the comic industry, then what is hurting the industry?

[Sailor Moon]

I mean, piracy always hurts any industry, but the question is always really 'how much?' Personally, I don't think it does very much. Most of the people who download illegally would probably just not buy the stuff if they couldn't get it free. I'm sure there's exceptions to that, but overall, I think it's not a huge number.

[Paul Render]

Jim McCann recently brought this up on his Facebook page. He's the writer of various Marvel and indy comics. Was the sales marketer or some such for years at Marvel and he says it kills the bottom tier books. Especially on indy books.

Personally I agree there is some effect, but I really dont think indy books are as affected as much as the Big Two. Most indies aren't even available at torrent sites. Only the bigger ones from say Image or Dark Horse, the rest don't ever show up on torrent sites or if they do its long after the initial publication date.

[MRP]

Yes it does hurt the industry, but many don't care because industry is impersonal. Moreso, it hurts the people in the industry who make this their livelihood. In music piracy there is a sense well these guys have a lot of money, so missing a little won't hurt. That is not the case at all in comics. It hurts creators-success margins are so narrow a few hundred copies could be the difference between a book being cancelled or continuing to be published, or an editorial decision to remove a creative team or people getting to keep their jobs. A handful of copies could be the difference of turning a profit or losing money on a book for a local retailer. A book that loses money my not get carried which has a snowball effect on the viability of the book and possibly the employment future of the creators.

The bottom line is piracy hurts people directly and indirectly, and that is something that is lost sight of when people try to justify piracy. The "it's not hurting anybody" line is just total bs. It is. If you still want to engage in piracy, that's your business, but it is not a victimless crime.

-M

[finfangfool]

Most bands had to go to touring and selling merchandise to make money after piracy became widespread, or at least to try and approach the money they were used to. I can't see a way comic creators could duplicate that. Even the most popular artists can't make a living off of selling original art, and comic book writers have no options other than changing careers (well, writing for something other than comics). Maybe once digital becomes the standard (assuming the change doesn't chase off the hardcore collector fanbase), individual creators/teams can just give free content and try an ad-based revenue approach. Or ask for donations, charge for premiums, etc. Still, that's probably at least 10 years off. Anyway, yes it does hurt the industry. Not a lot now, but as has been said it's worse for lower selling books (usually my favorites, as they tend not to be tied into the BS event du jour) and as it gets easier it'll probably become more popular (as it was for music).

[GozertheGozarian]

Most bands had to go to touring and selling merchandise to make money after piracy became widespread, or at least to try and approach the money they were used to. I can't see a way comic creators could duplicate that. Even the most popular artists can't make a living off of selling original art, and comic book writers have no options other than changing careers (well, writing for something other than comics). Maybe once digital becomes the standard (assuming the change doesn't chase off the hardcore collector fanbase), individual creators/teams can just give free content and try an ad-based revenue approach. Or ask for donations, charge for premiums, etc. Still, that's probably at least 10 years off. Anyway, yes it does hurt the industry. Not a lot now, but as has been said it's worse for lower selling books (usually my favorites, as they tend not to be tied into the BS event du jour) and as it gets easier it'll probably become more popular (as it was for music).

Bands went on tour to make money long before piracy became an issue. It was the only way to turn a profit after the label took its cut.

[DonC]

Do you think that the comic's industry is hurt by online piracy?

Yes.

If piracy hurts comic's industry, what do you think can be done to lessen piracy's impact on the comic's industry.

Work with other industries like music, television and movies to shut down pirate sites. Send thieves to jail.

More importantly, you need to shift people's way of thinking. Too many people believe that online stealing isn't "stealing" because you aren't actually taking physical property.

No, it's still stealing.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Piracy hurts every entertainment industry. However, the comic book industry LETS it hurt more than others. Movies still break records, video games too. And they are WAY bigger targets.

Instead of trying to destroy every uploading, and shame every downloader, how about the comic book industry adapt to the times. Get people within the IT and Comp Sci fields and revolutionize how security and distribution is done. And maybe decrease the cost.

Improve your industry, instead of going on stupid crusades. That's my plan.


And I'll ignore the "corporate greed" part of this debate for now.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Most bands had to go to touring and selling merchandise to make money after piracy became widespread, or at least to try and approach the money they were used to. I can't see a way comic creators could duplicate that. Even the most popular artists can't make a living off of selling original art, and comic book writers have no options other than changing careers (well, writing for something other than comics). Maybe once digital becomes the standard (assuming the change doesn't chase off the hardcore collector fanbase), individual creators/teams can just give free content and try an ad-based revenue approach. Or ask for donations, charge for premiums, etc. Still, that's probably at least 10 years off. Anyway, yes it does hurt the industry. Not a lot now, but as has been said it's worse for lower selling books (usually my favorites, as they tend not to be tied into the BS event du jour) and as it gets easier it'll probably become more popular (as it was for music).

Bands went on tour to make money long before piracy became an issue. It was the only way to turn a profit after the label took its cut.

Pretty much and its been that way before internet piracy became huge.

If anyone remembers an old Behind the Music with Billy Joel. In it Joel claims his former manager had invested all his money in such horrible ventures he was in the RED. Joel didn't even have enough to pay to gas a tour bus. After the release of an album he wanted to tour and CBS (I believe that was the company) and its president knew Joel needed money to tour on and loaned it to him. Joel claims that he paid CBS the money back and after the tour was at least back in good shape financially.

[Addams]

If piracy is not hurting the comic industry, what is the cause for the decline of readers from the comic's industry?

Price, format, writing...maybe a bit of all that. And maybe piracy has some impact too but come on, to blame the whole decline of this industry on that is silly.

And dangerous, cause if you focusing too much on only a part of the problem you never going to resolve it.

[passer-by]

Price, format, writing...maybe a bit of all that. And maybe piracy has some impact too but come on, to blame the whole decline of this industry on that is silly.

And dangerous, cause if you focusing too much on only a part of the problem you never going to resolve it.

I was going to say something like that.


And I think that if one day piracy somehow ceased to exist, comics sales wouldn't go up significantly. For some titles they might even go down - I've collected quite a few titles over the years that I wouldn't have bought blindly.

To give specific examples - I started buying the trades of Saga and Morning Glories (and even the HC for the latter, looking forward to the same for the former) only after I read the first few issues online. (And no, a couple of pages of previews wouldn't have been enough for me.)

[The Angry Comic Book Critic]

I'm gonna say no because yeah I can read the comic online but I still want to own the issue for my collection or else what's the point of being a comic collector and besides the industry is making more money than it ever has before so even with piracy they're loosing next to nothing in the grad scheme of things

[Shikidum]

OP posted:

If piracy is not hurting the comic industry, what is the cause for the decline of readers from the comic's industry?

Could you back this up with some numbers?

[DonC]

I'm gonna say no because yeah I can read the comic online but I still want to own the issue for my collection or else what's the point of being a comic collector

Most admitted thieves say the stuff they read online is stuff they had interest in buying. That's one of the reasons why it isn't stealing. They weren't going to buy it anyway.

and besides the industry is making more money than it ever has before so even with piracy they're loosing next to nothing in the grad scheme of things

The average bank robber gets maybe $1500 a pop. Banks are worth billions. Does that make bank robbery a minor thing in the grand scheme of things?

[carabas]

I'm with Neil Gaiman. I've probably spent thousands of euros on comics and DVD sets I would never have even considered without illegal downloads.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...od-thing.shtml
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/0...lending-books/