Marvel Comics goes after BitTorrent users in a short sighted move
The comic book industry has been in a slump for years, and while the companies should be happy for any acknowledgement of their existence, Marvel Comics and DC Comics have decided to declare war on the fans.
Z-Cultfm.com was the first target of the comic publishing houses. They received letters from both Marvel and DC stating that the site was to remove all torrent trackers for their copyrighted works. As of November 28th, Top Cow Comics has also joined in with this request.
Now, ComicSearch.co.uk has also received the Marvel notice. In a very detailed account of ComicSearch’s interaction with “The House of Ideas”, TorrentFreak has posted all of the emails from the exchange between the torrent tracker and the comics company.
While I am not endorsing illegal activities such as copyright infringement, I am disappointed with how the comics companies are handling this situation. Before my days as a tech blogger, I spent 20 years working in and around the comic book industry; 16 of those years were spent managing a comic book shop amongst jobs writing at comics magazines and serving as a submissions editor at a small publisher.
Over the years in the industry, I saw sales constantly decline as prices continued to increase, and there was one thing I always felt would doom the industry: No new readers. As the prices crept higher and higher, it became harder to introduce new readers in to the market because they didn’t want to take a gamble on a title they may not like. With prices now at a median average of $2.99, it’s even harder.
Many of the people downloading the torrents are either 1) using them to sample so they can know what to buy or 2) they have bought the book and they are downloading a digital copy to actually read. Many people would love to read their comics, but never open them so they can just put them in a comics bag immediately, never having to crack them open.
The reason I call this action by the comics companies short sighted is that they could be teaming up with these sites to help spread the word of their works and bring in new readers. I highly doubt that people are only downloading these digital comics because they want a free ride. Comics fans are nothing if not a passionate crowd that believe in the medium they love.
Again, I am not endorsing privacy, but instead the idea that comics publishers could be teaming up with these communities to help boost their sales. One publisher to follow this idea is Slave Labor Graphics (SLG), even after they initially placed a ban on their books being shared on torrents. After a small misunderstanding of the ban, SLG has lifted the ban on the majority of their titles with the understanding to see if they see an increase in sales.
The 21st century is here, and the comic book, as we know it, is in a fight for its survival. Speaking as a life-long comic book fan, I would love to see them embrace any venue that could possibly save the art form I love and endorsed for so many years.
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