Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Does downloading hurt comic book sales?
The news that Marvel and DC Comics were finally taking an interest in BitTorrent networks such as Z-Cult FM got me wondering just what effect peer-to-peer file sharing did to their financial well being. Do peer-to-peer networks such as Z-Cult FM actually hurt the comic book industry? Are comic book publishers losing money because of Z-Cult FM?
We’ve seen what file sharing has done to the music industry. It’s been losing a lot of money because it it. Lots of money. What has it done to comic book publishers?
I found sales charts for the last ten years on Comics Buyer’s Guide. If you look at the overall sales numbers for the North American comic book direct market, you will notice that sales have actually been steadily increasing since 2004.
- 2004 - $328.25 million (5.68% increase)
- 2005 - $352.33 million (7.34% increase)
- 2006 - $395.55 million (12.27% increase)
- 2007 - $429.90 million (8.68% increase)
Z-Cult FM began in 2004. I honestly don’t know when people started downloading comic book scans. I know I first heard of it in 2004. I first learned about it from an article on Ninth Art.
There seems to be a parallel between downloading comics and buying comics. It would seem the more people download comics, the more people buy comics. That’s something not seen in the music industry. Record sales have plummeted with the popularity of peer-to-peer music sharing networks. Record sales continue to decline.
Why isn’t this true with comic books?
Updated (7 February 2008): I’ve added the 2007 figures.
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Even though the numbers appear to be related, they may not be.
I think there’s probably a lot of downloading of stuff that people would never buy anyway.
For instance, I might download the new White Stripes album even though I don’t like the band enough to purchase any CDs.
If it comes down to a matter of conscience, I have a lot less of a problem with contributing to the collapse of a record company than I have with causing harm to a comic publisher. This is because comic publishers don’t over-price their products while screwing the content generators (at least not to the extent that record companies do). Maybe the comic book industry s protected by the goodwill of people who feel the same way I do.
I would have to disagree. Ten or fifteen years ago, the average CD price was about 17 bucks. Nowadays, most are in the ten dollar range. Comics, on the other hand, average three dollars for a ten second read. I would say they are drastically overpriced.
Rick, we went over a similar topic on our podcast a few months ago. I also researched “the numbers” and discussed them. I forget what episode it was, but I came to pretty much the same conclusion as you: comic sales are actually going up; not down.
Sorry, I strayed from my central point, which is that record labels seem to have gone out of their way to create a reputation of greed. Comic book companies have not yet done so to such an extent (although it’s perceivable that any company that gets in position to shit on its creative sources while laughing all the way to bank would do so by default). And I do strongly believe that the average person, when asked how they feel about the music industry vs. how they feel about comic books, would be a great deal more cynical about the music industry.
I actually think downloading helps comic book publishers. People are a lot more likely to go out and purchase new comics if they can read a story from the beginning instead of jumping in to the middle of things. Back issues aren’t always easy to come by, especially for the more obscure stuff. I think the success of THE WALKING DEAD is due partially to the fact that Robert Kirkman has had a very aggressive trade paperback strategy with the series. Unlike books by Marvel and DC, he releases the trades fairly quickly and at a reasonable price. Readers can easily catch up with what has happened in the story so far and then go to their local comic book shop and buy the monthly comic book. Coincidently, THE WALKING DEAD is on of the few monthly books that enjoys an increase in sales numbers each and every month. Marvel and DC seem to look at trades as competition for the monthly books. They purposely delay the publication of trades so they have no effect to the monthly comic book.
Take a book like DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #3. It comes out today. For someone to buy this and read it, they have to have first read the two books that preceded this one. Maybe their local comic book shop has some sitting on the shelf. Maybe they don’t. In theory, someone could read the first two issues by downloading them and then go to their local comic book shop today and buy the comic.
But at the same time, you don’t see many kids in comic shops. So, are old readers just buying more? Or are there new readers that are old?
Hopefully my opinion’s worth something here.
I started reading comics in the fall of 2004 (if you don’t count reading Sandman in trade in 2003). I discovered comics torrents in the fall of 2005. In that first year, I read 3 ongoing titles and picked up 0 trades. Since discovering torrents, I read 20 ongoing titles and now own more than 100 trades; most of these books I downloaded and read before I bought them. So, yeah, real smart move, Marvel and DC.
Alexa:
They want you to buy it twice. The singles and then the trades. Also, variant covers. And the hardcover that comes out a year later.
Reading a comic book on screen is just not fun. It is not like music. The CD is only the medium where the music is saved on. You need a CD Player to play it.
A comic book is both!