At least here in Finland (the lump of land between Russia and Sweden), digital distribution is still taking baby steps, and the only thing we can buy online is music.

Though, do fansubbers initially sub for themselves or the public?

The public. They're trying to provide a service to the general audience.

"Rather than take up the flag against fansubbing, companies need to rally around digital distrobution. FUNi CEO Gen Fukunaga said that their digital distrobution on iTunes was nearly matched by the downloads on the Xbox 360. If they make a bigger push, they can certainly turn it into a more profitable venture."

I completely agree with you DMV.

Bashing fans with whiny letters is counter-productive. They should instead focus on how they can serve their customers better.

oh damn, no GERMANS can get their anime.

Hey there! Germany Calling...

I can only talk for Germany but i guess there are several Reasons why Anime(manga too) arent selling too well over here.

the first reason applies to both anime and manga

The German public thinks about Anime and Manga as Entertainment for Kids or a Sex/Gorefest.The few Animes that are shown here are either shown in the time slot 13-17 o clock or late night around 1 o clock.
Children have no money to buy DVDs.Parents wont buy cause its weird brutal stuff from Japan.Average Joe wont take notice of them and maybe change his mind because the good Animes run way too late and not by a regular timeslot.

Of course there are the girls over here that are really Japanophile and about13 years old but they only buy YOAI Shit.
The biggest money in germny is made with YAOI Mangas/DVDs way way way way back comes some shonen Jump stuff.

Ergo the Userbase is made up by some "Freaks" that would like to spend some money

Here comes Reason Number 2 Why DVDs arent selling over here:

They cost about 25-30 EURO per DVD!!!!!!!! A Dvd features 2- 4 Episodes of a series,depends on the publisher.
Do they really wonder why people download Subs when they sell DVDs at such a High Price?

well if the DVDs are that expensive maybe they have extra content etc. Nope most of the time they dont! Maybe some trailers and if youre lucky youll even have the Japanese Dub.But thats it....

An Example:
The elfenlied DVDs cost 30 Euro a piece. Now Imagine buying all 4 DVDs.120 Euros! no sane Person would pay ThaT much.

On very rare Occacions are Boxsets released
.They even released one for Elfenlied for 60Euros.It was a very low stock and guess what? It sold like Cut bread.But the stock was so low that the shops raised the price to 100 euros again...

There are some Good Examples out there too.
For Example Gunslinger Girl,FullmetalPanic etc. are released as Boxsets. For about 50-60 euro they become yours.Its a perfect fine price and i bought these.
Please Note that they also sell the DVDs in single volumes for about 25€.

Sure Fansubbers do burn a hole in the wallet of the publishers...But its not their fault alone!
If you sell DVDs at a price for that you could get a Fuck you shouldnt wonder that people are fucking instead of byuing your dvds


They should drop the Prices and see what happens.I believe more people of the already small target audience over here would buy DVDS.
Personally i favor Dvds over digital Downloads but i guess Downloads could be a good alternative if they are cheap enough

Oh yeah sorry for my Bad english but my english class is already a few years back and its already late and im tired


BTW: Elfenlied is getting a re-release by ADV here as Box for 50 Euros.Lets see if i can snatch one of the few this time

Me once again.

I just fetched the Toplist of Tokyopop Germany for this Week:

01. Des Teufels Geheimnis (1)
02. Rockin Heaven 3 (2)
03. Shinshi Doumei Cross 7 (3)
04. Bleach 19 (5)
05. Dämonenjunge Lain (4)
06. High School Nights 1 (7)
07. Dein und mein Geheimnis 2 (WE)
08. Death Note 9 (8)
09. Vernasch mich 1 (14)
10. Honey x Honey Drops 2 (WE)
11. D. Gray-Man 11 (11)
12. Zauberhafte Bibi 2 (6)
13. Die Legenden vom Traumhändler (WE)
14. Rockin Heaven 2 (9)
15. Death Note 8 (10)
16. Utahime (12)
17. Orange Planet 3 (WE)
18. Honey x Honey Drops 1 (WE)
19. Perfect Girl 17 (WE)
20. Orange Planet 2 (WE)

Note that Title in German is either a Manga that someone grown out of puberty wouldnt want to read or a "German Girl Manga"