So, I have been thinking about comics (you know those things that these movies are based on). Most comics make their money via a monthly (or so) serial release. If they are lucky they get collected into a trade paper back. Some companies have a form of digital service as well. Do you see where I am going here? No? Okay, I’ll try to explain a little better. Above is three different sales opportunities for the same product. Like movies you can take a comic and offer it to wider audiences this way. Mean more opportunity for more sales. There are some differences as other than the digital services which could be a monthly fee for unlimited reading or just individual comic sales that you can then read via their service. Right now though much of this is in flux for multiple reasons. Diamond Distributors (a major comic distributor) recently filed for bankruptcy protection which has mucked up the physical copy sales at your local shops as they have had to switch to other distributors. Add on to that the fact that Dark Horse Comics has shuttered it’s own digital service and stated that all sales through it are in essence lost as what you bought was the right to read the comics through that service.
Why am I bringing up these bad things for an industry that does not need more bad press? Because these events have cost people, many people, money. Some have lost their investment and access to purchases. Some companies are having a hard time surviving. Some people have lost their jobs/livelihood. All of this for an industry that has been the bulk of the creative stories for many of the movies over the last two decades. This bring me to my point. If the comic industry is going to survive it needs to find a way to continue to make money off the same product much like the movie industry. Maybe that time has past already too. Look at the snack industry. They offer multiple sizes for bags for chips or soda. It is the same product you are just paying for the sample size of it. The smaller the size the higher the cost for what you get so buying in a bigger bulk size gets you a better price for what you get. This is how comics have been done with their physical product for quite a while now. The problem is they are stuck with monthly comics and trade/ collected volumes and that is it for physical product. All while sales have been falling as people are not happy with the rising price of the physical product. I have a few friends who have stopped collecting the physical product all together and now rely on the digital services as their source for stories of the characters they love. As I have stated about how Dark Horse handled things I thing the same can be said for other companies as well. We are only buying access to read meaning we do not own any actual product. So we are in essence paying for a streaming service.
Music went to streaming a while back and most of the time you have to go really searching to find new music from older artists. Sometimes even when you follow them via your streaming services. Which is very annoying as one would think that was the purpose of following them. Then the artists (or the music publisher) have complained about compensation or royalty payments from the streaming services. Movies have done something similar in recent years with the various streaming services. Since COVID movie theaters have been struggling to stay open as movie goers just do not go to theaters as much. Add on to this that stores have almost stopped physical copy sales of music and movies and now you have to wonder how much money have they lost due to streaming taking over.
If streaming services are how we are going to consume our music, movies and comics then how long before the traditional ways of consuming them disappear? Music stores are mostly gone. Movie theaters are also having a hard time staying open. The same can be said for Comic Shops. If these places fall to the wayside then how do the people making the products make money?
