Quote:
Originally Posted by faxxaff
And when they license content they ask for special double pricing for non-Japanese companies .... go figure ... why did they discriminate against foreigners in the first place? It was their own fault things wen't that ugly. You can't put shit back into the horse.
|
You're somewhat wrong here...at least from my experience from working with over 20 studios (and this is with no double-counting or counting labels as unique companies). From what I notice about legit foreign-owned Japanese AV paysites, their content is all pretty much from Dreamroom, the largest producer of uncensored JAV.
I believe the reason is because most foreign webmasters do not speak Japanese and most AV studios in Japan do not speak English. The people who can license out Dreamroom content can speak in English, but of course going through them is going to cost a lot hence the 'double pricing' as you wrote (though in my experience it was the other way around: licensing costing more if you also run a Japanese-language site). The other negative to this is the content that’s usually available is not very new.
Depending on how one showcases this content, it may not be an issue, but it’s something else to consider. Also most uncensored JAV movies (and I’m referring to the non-amateur ones here) do not star top rank actresses. The production values are often not as good as censored movies* (lighting that’s too bright, no sound guy, a camera that lingers way too long on zoomed-in private parts, and little to no storyline). *Overall from what I've seen. Yes, there's always exceptions!
For censored Japanese AV studios, it's totally possible to get licensing deals, but you need to note that there are no 'content market' sites in Japan like Amazing Content and Adult Sex Content (both are great sites!). This means you need to approach whatever studio's content you're interested in and start from step one. Again, from my experience, simply sending an email--even one in Japanese—may be futile. They may check it, they may not, but even with studios run by younger people, the almighty face-to-face meeting is critically important to making a deal. Thus, if censored content is what you want and you’re dead serious about getting it, the best thing to do is to hire an interpreter, contact these studios by phone, book a meeting, and fly out to Tokyo.
I don’t believe studios in Japan are discriminating against foreigners (be it surfers or webmasters). It’s just that the western market is so different than what they’re used to. They don’t know where to start with it. And of course there’s also the issue of royalty-free versus revenue-sharing. The former doesn’t really exist in Japan since most paysites are just VOD (though a few are now testing streaming-only all-you-can-watch plans).
Giving a studio a lowball offer with no revshare/kickback probably won’t work. This means you’re going to have to consider modifying your site’s backend to keep track of downloads and streams and then pay the studios accordingly each month.
TL;DR: for the foreign webmaster who doesn’t speak Japanese, licensing uncensored JAV is a significantly easier than licensing censored JAV. It’s best to know Japanese well when negotiating for the latter (or hire someone who speaks it). Most Japanese aren’t racist though many may shy away when needing to communicate in a foreign language hence the misconception.
PS, DMRC: best of luck with your new site! Please let me know when it's online.