I’ve tried to block out any more AMS rumors, but now there’s some actual news… yesterday PW reported that Perseus has officially made a bid for PGW, offering to pay $.70 to the dollar to publishers for monies owed. ICv2 also covers the move, noting that it may benefit publishers like Broccoli and Dark Horse.
There’s also an editorial up on economies of scale in book distribution, but the real interesting stuff comes from a reply from Soft Skull publisher Richard Nash that is decidedly against the consolidation that’s been happening in the wake of the bankruptcy:
Perseus, up until three years ago, knew so little about distribution, they didn’t even do it themselves–Harper did it. They acquired a bare-bones operation, CDS with a bookseller-facing customer service operation widely considered to be well below industry average. They then acquired another distributor 18 months later, and now they’re acquiring another one again. So here we have two instances of a company simply because of access to capital, acquiring two strong companies with suitable economies of scale and dismantling the carefully constructed infrastructure that permitted those economies of scale.
There’s still much unease and debate on whether Perseus would be a good or bad thing for PGW, although at the moment it seems to be the only option with promise of any compensation at all for publishers stiffed by AMS. And, while I’m not sure the comparison is apt, if we took a look at what has happened in the comics industry since its distributor consolidation, we can see that while there may be plenty of benefits to be had, it is the few large publishers who would receive a disproportionate majority of those benefits, not the indies.
Edit: And just as I finish typing this, PW has two more articles which make the Perseus offer seem even more attractive as AMS’ prognosis become ever more grim.
+++
From Monday’s Speed Bump. (Link history: Comics Worth Reading–>Journalista)
Saved, printed, sticky-posted on my comp.
+++
From T Campbell–>The Beat, in the big news that I didn’t quite care so much about department, micropayment processor BitPass is shutting down. Not that I don’t think this is important, but because I never became a BitPass user. With regard to webcomics, without a unified storefront a’la Apple’s iPod music store, the concept felt a lot like going to different stores to buy individual grapes. I guess the process just never felt easy and transparent enough for its intended function.
[/end smug hindsight from peanut gallery]
+++
From Anime News Service, an unsourced news item on licensing/contract issues facing Japanese anime producers:
Following up on some fairly widespread sentiment (see our November 1st, 2006 entry) we found among Tokyo’s anime buisnesses in October, recent events (companies losing money by not getting paid in a timely manner or at all, due on part to lack of knowledge of the language of their own contracts and binding agreements) are prompting legal matters and education to take center stage in the overall national promotion strategy. The contents special investigation committee of the Japanese government proposed on Monday the promotion of fielding and retianing well informed attorneys, highly knowledgeable in international laws and practices related to the entertainment copyright business.
So, who’s been getting screwed (lately)?
The tone of ANS’s article suggests problems between Japanese producers and North American anime licensors… the most recent incident which I can recall is the fallout between Ken Groove and Nutech Digital over some ero anime. But might this not be related to the Harmony Gold/Robotech/Macross debacle as well?
Recent Comments