Variety/Tech-On report that Kadokawa Group, the company that owns the rights to popular anime such as Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, will be putting some of its content up on YouTube for free viewing:
Starting in June, when Kadokawa finds its toons on YouTube, it will check to see if the person/company that posted the content is legit rather than immediately ordering YouTube to take it down.
If the person/company is OK’ed, Kadokawa will run ads on the poster’s Web page and divide the revenue with YouTube and the poster. This business model is a first for the Japanese biz.
Until now, Japanese visual contents rights holders, including TV nets and pic producers, have policed YouTube and similar sites for illegal use of their content and notified the site owners when they spot what they consider a pirate.
Kadokawa, however, wants to encourage legit uses of its toons, while spreading the international word about them on YouTube and reaping profits in the bargain.
The YouTube channel can be viewed here.
jprobe
Recent Comments