beez_andrew
Great Teacher
trumpster said:
Nice to be here as well actually! It's incredibly challenging keeping track though at times!
Say hi at London Expo if you're going
!- Andrew
Beez Entertainment Discussion
- Thread starter melonpan
- Start date
Nice to be here as well actually! It's incredibly challenging keeping track though at times!
Say hi at London Expo if you're going
!- Andrew
beez_andrew
Great Teacher
BlackWolf said:
Hi BlackWolf!
As it goes - the series you have listed are all pretty good (am a fan of the first two in particular) - though I think at present if we're talking Gundam I have my eyes on a different one...
It's all possible though - just a matter of timing and costs. Also, releasing more than 1 Gundam series at a time could cause considerable confusion to a lot of people...
- Andrew
beez_andrew
Great Teacher
Lelouch said:
Nothing's impossible - but I can't confirm or deny at present outside of the fact it is a Sunrise title and one I've found very interesting one. It has to be an interesting title to knock Gundam off the top rankings in Newtype Japan!
...plus who can ignore a series which has a Mechs named after UK locations ^^?
- Andrew
beez_andrew
Great Teacher
Nyu said:
Hi Nyu.
Not a problem - Nargis should have my email address if not PM me and I'll send it over to you
.Look forward to hearing from you!
- Andrew
Aion
Time-Traveller
I have a question: Why are all Beez DVD's stupidly over-priced, seemingly staying at the same prices forever?
All your DVD's sell for £13.40, even all of the older Beez DVD's I've looked at. Only people with more money than sense will pay that for 3-5 episodes; very stupid people.
Not trying to be rude, but with you distributing so many great animes (.hack//SIGN, Wolf's Rain, Gundam Seed, etc) at retard prices you are stopping people getting into anime. I really do wish I'd imported Cowboy Bebop instead of spending £60 on the Beez box sets.
All your DVD's sell for £13.40, even all of the older Beez DVD's I've looked at. Only people with more money than sense will pay that for 3-5 episodes; very stupid people.
Not trying to be rude, but with you distributing so many great animes (.hack//SIGN, Wolf's Rain, Gundam Seed, etc) at retard prices you are stopping people getting into anime. I really do wish I'd imported Cowboy Bebop instead of spending £60 on the Beez box sets.
beez_andrew
Great Teacher
Aion said:
Hi Aion,
Not being rude at all (though I see you did plenty of that in a previous thread about our boxsets
), in fact it's a sensible question that comes up often!The problem is supply and demand - in the UK sales are considerably lower than that of the USA by difference in population size. This means that to ensure that we can pay production costs, marketing costs, licensing costs etc there is a certain price you need to charge to make back even a fractional profit. If I could guarantee sales of 3000-5000 units per boxset for example on release then I could start to charge a price lower than £30 RRP per boxset akin to what you get with standard US TV releases.
As it is though this is not the case at present, however if you could find said 3000-5000 people who would be willing to place and fuffill preorders of boxsets at a reduced price then I would be happy to make this happen.
I am fully aware and considering the situation. As at present with importing as the dollar is so weak at present it makes it very hard to compete price wise without putting ourselves out of business! Unless 3000+ fans can get together for the above idea this may be hard to change anytime in the near future.
That being said I also draw your attention to the state of the industry a year and a half, or even a year ago. Boxsets were few and far between and people wondered if they would have to be stuck buying individual volumes if they wanted to buy from the UK. Now you virtually have 1 or 2 new boxed releases each month from varying distributors - all at a very much generically "high" price compared to the US. So give it time, if people help support us as we try then given even less time then prices may start to reach parity.
The rate of the US dollar compared to GBP also gives a false impression of value of boxsets as well in the two countries I feel. Just because when converted over to GBP the price seems less doesn't mean that in the US the value isn't basically in parity with the UK.
Take Wolf's Rain in the US - a SRP of $40 for box 1 and 2 in their standard boxed release of the series. That's $10 a DVD for box 1 and for box 2 $13.33. In the UK Box 1 has £11.25 per DVD and box 2 is £13.33 - so include the fact you get very beautiful and unique boxes with those too and you can see there is a sort of parity in pricing there. The fact that conversion rates are as they are at present means that the US version may be cheaper to us - but look at average salaries amongst anime fans in the US and you'll find the street prices aren't so different. Certainly they aren't from a distributors perspective when they must set a cost that will not put them at a loss.
Also: Could you name one of our Beez DVDs in the UK that has less than 4 episodes per DVD that is not in a boxset now?
We have taken steps to release 5 episodes per DVD for a 50 episode series meaning 10. In the US you have 12 DVDs for the same series we are releasing and in Japan very often you can double that number again. So we're at least trying to give you value for money compared to releases elsewhere!
We're also beginning to work even closer with retailers like Play.com and HMV to try and bring down the prices of stand alone volumes for older titles so hang in there.
I'm sorry to hear you feel that paying £10 per DVD for Cowboy Bebop along with 2 very nice boxes sturdy is bad value though. I was rather fond of them myself compared to the M-Lock style boxset releases ^^!
Hope this helps clarify,
- Andrew.
Aion
Time-Traveller
First of all, I apologize for my rather immature original post, I was a tad too direct with you.
The reason for my outburst is the amount of my favourite series you are distributing. It's rather annoying to never see ANY price cuts on your releases, .hack//SIGN and Wolf's Rain volumes/box sets in particular, when ADV have recently been happy to allow HMV MANY of the series they've licensed (including the likes of Elfen Lied and NGE) for £5.99 each, also doing regular monthly sales that include the likes of Madlax 1-7 for £2 each on the ADV UK website.
The vast majority of people in the UK do not respect anime; they view anything animated as childish. I can understand with the demand being so low and you needing make enough £££ to cover yourselves that you need to set the prices high to make sure you make enough, but the high prices are simply stopping people getting new people into anime and ending up only getting your DVD's ordered by the same select few how are happy to support you by paying silly prices.
I know full well how hard it is to sell anime in the UK from my limited experience online posting any and every anime bargain I spot. You either a) get people who think of dubbed Pokemon or b) only get people who are interested at near Poundland prices.
Now, about the styling of your box sets... I'm obviously much happier with having all 6 Cowboy Bebop volumes in two nice looking boxes if it's a straight choice between that or the crappy looking M-lock sets ADV have been doing. However, if it meant cutting the costs in an effort to make anime more affordable in the UK, putting the series you've licensed into those crappy looking M-lock cases would be the better choice.
I view box sets as a chance to get anime series cheaper than you would when buying the volumes separately. ADV and MVM are on *sort of* the right track by pricing 26 episode series at around the £40 area, whereas you're splitting your 26 episode series into two (quite nice looking) sets, both priced at around £30 each.
Nope, I can't - Yukikaze and Gundam aside, most of your series (or at least the ones I'm interested in) are 26 episode series. My "3-5" comment was just a general comment since those are the least and max amount of episodes you'll see on any anime DVD.
The reason for my outburst is the amount of my favourite series you are distributing. It's rather annoying to never see ANY price cuts on your releases, .hack//SIGN and Wolf's Rain volumes/box sets in particular, when ADV have recently been happy to allow HMV MANY of the series they've licensed (including the likes of Elfen Lied and NGE) for £5.99 each, also doing regular monthly sales that include the likes of Madlax 1-7 for £2 each on the ADV UK website.
The vast majority of people in the UK do not respect anime; they view anything animated as childish. I can understand with the demand being so low and you needing make enough £££ to cover yourselves that you need to set the prices high to make sure you make enough, but the high prices are simply stopping people getting new people into anime and ending up only getting your DVD's ordered by the same select few how are happy to support you by paying silly prices.
I know full well how hard it is to sell anime in the UK from my limited experience online posting any and every anime bargain I spot. You either a) get people who think of dubbed Pokemon or b) only get people who are interested at near Poundland prices.
Now, about the styling of your box sets... I'm obviously much happier with having all 6 Cowboy Bebop volumes in two nice looking boxes if it's a straight choice between that or the crappy looking M-lock sets ADV have been doing. However, if it meant cutting the costs in an effort to make anime more affordable in the UK, putting the series you've licensed into those crappy looking M-lock cases would be the better choice.
I view box sets as a chance to get anime series cheaper than you would when buying the volumes separately. ADV and MVM are on *sort of* the right track by pricing 26 episode series at around the £40 area, whereas you're splitting your 26 episode series into two (quite nice looking) sets, both priced at around £30 each.
Andrew said:
Nope, I can't - Yukikaze and Gundam aside, most of your series (or at least the ones I'm interested in) are 26 episode series. My "3-5" comment was just a general comment since those are the least and max amount of episodes you'll see on any anime DVD.
tbf u very rarely see volumes with 3 episodes anymore, if they do, it's because the previous volume had 5 on it.
it's nice and well saying overcharging but if you were to buy the series seperately it would cost you £30 more than in the box sets
£40 for 26 eps, is very generous indeed specially seing that even in america, your lucky to find a 13 epsiode boxset for under £40
and if you think back to a year ago when instead of 6 volume per 26 epiosde season, you'd have 7 volumes mostly of 3 episode which cost £20 each, i can't really see how anyone can complain about the price of dvd's
it's nice and well saying overcharging but if you were to buy the series seperately it would cost you £30 more than in the box sets
£40 for 26 eps, is very generous indeed specially seing that even in america, your lucky to find a 13 epsiode boxset for under £40
and if you think back to a year ago when instead of 6 volume per 26 epiosde season, you'd have 7 volumes mostly of 3 episode which cost £20 each, i can't really see how anyone can complain about the price of dvd's
Aion
Time-Traveller
Beez (26 episode) series are split into 2, costing £30 EACH. ADV and MVM (26 episode series) sets nearly all cost around £40.
And, if you're going to bring American prices into this, I could give a fairly lengthy list of 26 episode Anime Legends M-lock box sets that all cost £17 each at DVD Pacific, including .hack//SIGN. I doubt any of those are lower in quality than the £40 ADV M-lock box sets.
Chrno Crusade complete Collection ADV £55.99
Full Metal panic ADV £55.99
How is £5 less a major issue? browsed the big titles on the ADV site and yet to see 1 series near £40
Infact the closest i saw was Last Exile at £49.99 and even then u can pick that up brand new from america for £30
so it's not like Beez are chargin over the top money, if you have this much trouble check out HMV, they're still charging £20 for a £14.99 DVD
Full Metal panic ADV £55.99
How is £5 less a major issue? browsed the big titles on the ADV site and yet to see 1 series near £40
Infact the closest i saw was Last Exile at £49.99 and even then u can pick that up brand new from america for £30
so it's not like Beez are chargin over the top money, if you have this much trouble check out HMV, they're still charging £20 for a £14.99 DVD
beez_andrew
Great Teacher
Aion said:
No problems with direct-ness - just no need to verge on appearing abusive ^^.
Aion said:
It is an issue I have been aware of lately and have been doing my best to attend to - but these kinds of things take time sadly and the firsts fruits of it are only about to take shape sadly. I apologize for the time this has taken relative to other companies but there a few other (boring) factors that make changes in pricing more difficult for us than others.
As point stands though it is an understandable worry and hopefully with the help of fans as well we can make this better
.Aion said:
This is true - at present anime is still growing into its own right as something separate from children's animation and closer to something for teenagers up for certain genres. However with the arrival of both Anime Network from ADV and Anime Central from CSC things can only get better. At last the UK has a platform that will allow people who have never watched anime before to get their teeth in before buying more that suits their interests better.
In a way the above will hopefully begin to cut-around the problem of DVD prices putting some people off series.
Aion said:
Both are slightly problematic - but in the case of a) they'll either discover otherwise for themselves or not often and sadly the case of b) you can never really cater to unless you do a deal like MVM did with The Works last year or such.
Aion said:
I'm not sure cost would differ that greatly for us - as we have to release boxed sets over Europe when we do them often so while doing so we usually fork out that little more to have a whole new design done. This adds value to the set for a minimum extra cost really - so I suspect if we moved to M-Lock you'd get a similar price sadly. But I'll take a look into it at the very least.
Aion said:
This is true - we split ours in two - meaning amongst other things we can use more artwork and such. I'm afraid there's not much else that can be said about it other than we are looking at this - as overall our aim is the same. We just have a different style with much more in common with other releases over Europe.
Aion said:
And both of those come in boxset form really now outwith the second bunch of Gundam Movies at least too now!
Hope this helps too,
- Andrew
Aion
Time-Traveller
@Ryo:
Chrono Crusade - £48.00
Full Metal Panic - £48.00
Last Exile - £48.99
Trigun - £44.99
Azumanga Daioh - £42.99
Samurai 7 - £42.99
Gantz - £41.99
Gungrave - £41.99
Samurai Champloo - £41.99
Chobits - £37.75
Love Hina - £37.25
Otogi Zoshi - £28.75
Zone of the Enders - £27.97
Excel Saga - £26.97
Noien - £26.00
Tokko - £26.00
Gad Guard - £25.97
Ghost in the Shell: 1st Gig - £21.99
Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig - £22.97
Chrono Crusade - £48.00
Full Metal Panic - £48.00
Last Exile - £48.99
Trigun - £44.99
Azumanga Daioh - £42.99
Samurai 7 - £42.99
Gantz - £41.99
Gungrave - £41.99
Samurai Champloo - £41.99
Chobits - £37.75
Love Hina - £37.25
Otogi Zoshi - £28.75
Zone of the Enders - £27.97
Excel Saga - £26.97
Noien - £26.00
Tokko - £26.00
Gad Guard - £25.97
Ghost in the Shell: 1st Gig - £21.99
Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig - £22.97
Aion
Time-Traveller
Retailers are given discounts; they don't just sell new box sets for lower than the RRP (only the distributor will sell at the RRP) for the fun of it. The only time they sell stuff cheaper without discounts is when no-one is buying anything, and that doesn't come into it when we're talking about box sets just released or not yet released.
ADV recently gave HMV discounts, allowing them to sell nearly all the ADV volumes for £5.99for a set amount of time.
ADV recently gave HMV discounts, allowing them to sell nearly all the ADV volumes for £5.99for a set amount of time.
Aion said:
that's all very well saying, but now u've got me wondering exactly where you're quoting prices from
i'm yet to find a place in the uk that sell anime cheaper and play.com and even then
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3437597/ ... oduct.html
I'd be a bit worryed that there is a cheaper place for anime when most people buy from play.com in the uk
btw i'm not trying to start a fight here
i'm just interested where you're getting your prices from
Aion
Time-Traveller
hehe see this is my point i'd never of gone near one of those sites sept for virgin
i think it's a case of, the big company's are selling it and making a profit at £59.99, we'll sell it at £49.99, make little profit, but hopefully pull people away.
It's not a case that ADV are cheaper that beez, but the smaller business are taking a bigger risk and going for gold.
I think the fact that mostly only ADV titles are cheaper, is because they're a better known name to outsider anime fans and so are more likely to go for hence why company's are a bit more willing to take a chance
i think it's a case of, the big company's are selling it and making a profit at £59.99, we'll sell it at £49.99, make little profit, but hopefully pull people away.
It's not a case that ADV are cheaper that beez, but the smaller business are taking a bigger risk and going for gold.
I think the fact that mostly only ADV titles are cheaper, is because they're a better known name to outsider anime fans and so are more likely to go for hence why company's are a bit more willing to take a chance