Over the last few decades, the manga industry has grown tremendously and achieved global recognition. This is quite evident from the ever-growing numbers of major manga series like One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kagurabachi, etc. And while the growth of the manga industry is certainly a good thing, it has not been beneficial because of the illegal channels.
Ever since the manga community has seen a boom in terms of popularity, most of the consumption of the content has been through illegal channels, which is not at all profitable for the publishers or the creators. In fact, according to a recent report, manga was revealed to be the fastest-growing piracy medium in the world.
There are multiple aspects behind this issue, but the biggest ones are the unavailability and overpriced nature of the many manga series published over the years. These aspects have forced fans to rely on illegal mediums to get hold of their favorite series, and the industry really needs to come up with a proper solution for it.
Manga is the fastest-growing piracy medium
Popular American news website Variety recently published a report from the data analytics firm MUSO, which talked about the fastest-growing mediums of piracy in the world in 2024. According to the report, Manga topped the list as it accounted for 70% of piracy in the publishing field, and it has witnessed the quickest rate of growth in 2024.
Not only that, but the report also revealed that the country that helped manga become the fastest-growing piracy medium was America, with 8.2 billion visits. It accounts for about 10.4% of the entire traffic. It was followed by Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and Russia in the same order. Piracy of manga hurts not only the publishing companies but also the manga creators who earn through these companies.
Over the years, many different publishing companies have tried to deal with the growing piracy of the manga community, but none of them have been able to come up with a solution. The problem has reached a completely different level, and now it needs a proper fix that could finally help the publishers and the creators who put their sweat and tears into working on the stories.
The biggest issues that cause the piracy of manga
While pirating a manga series is illegal in all senses, it is the only way for many different people to access their favorite stories. Over the years, the growth of the manga industry has made it extremely difficult for people to access them through proper channels, if there are any. Most of the works are too difficult to find, and even if they are found, the regional restrictions make it impossible.
The second biggest issue with accessing manga through proper channels is the overpriced paywalls that are placed by the publishing companies in order to make a profit.
Comment
byu/Key_Tree_3851 from discussion
inanimenews
Be it hardback or digital copies, buying a manga volume outside of Japan is increasingly expensive and thus makes it difficult for readers to access them periodically.
Thus, the publishers need to figure out some kind of solution that would help with these big issues that manga fans face while accessing manga through proper channels. This solution should provide fans with proper mediums that are universally accessible and within budget, as it is the only way to deal with the humongous problem of piracy.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
