Originally I was hoping to launch the site this previous weekend, but making the site completely cross-browser compatible is taking slightly longer than I had intended. I'm hoping to finish everything up and finally launch the site in the next day or two. In the meantime, I thought I'd take the time to explain the site in all its glory.
The idea for the site started many years ago, when I attended a panel at Anime Boston run by Greg Ayres, where I heard him speak about the damage piracy was causing the industry. Since then, it's been a dream of mine to do something to help the industry. Since then, I've kept a close watch on the anime industry, and watched with dismay as the US anime market has dwindled from it's $550 million high in 2003 to its current value of approximately $180 million. With the recent distress the anime industry has been in, I decided that I would be one of the fans to step up to the plate and actually do something. As a result, the idea for KeepAnimeAlive came about.
KeepAnimeAlive is an non-profit online center and community for news, interviews, and other resources regarding piracy involving the anime industry. The site seeks to inform anime fans of the damaging effect piracy has on the industry, provide information on where to legal online streaming sits, and provide a community for fans who want to help the industry. In addition, it will feature many entertaining, yet informative podcasts, as well as interviews with industry professionals.
KeepAnimeAlive is meant to be more than just a news site. It's a place where anime fans can gather and work to support the industry they love.
Having my idea firmly in mind, I began to plan out the project.
Having a background in web design and programming, I knew that I could handle the creation and maintenance of the website myself. Web hosting is insanely cheap currently, so I could easily pay the projects initial startup cost out of pocket. However, for the project to succeed and to grow into what I intend it to be, a lot more planning was needed, in order to fully flush out the scope of the project.
One of the most important assets KeepAnimeAlive has is the planed association with Sustain the Industry. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been in talks with theRAofEdwardElric about incorporating Sustain the Industry directly into the site, providing a place for members to keep track of their monthly purchases and post their YouTube videos.
Another of the big assets to the site will be the interviews with industry professionals and experts. We currently have two interviews that we're waiting on confirmation for. I won't name any names in case the interview falls through, but one of them is a very big name in the anime industry.
Additionaly, KeepAnimeAlive will have various videos and podcasts that are related to the combat of piracy, as well as being entertaining. One such show is the Bootleg Bomber. Similar to the Chibi Project, Bootleg Bomber is a monthly podcast involving the violent and highly entertaining destruction of bootleg DVDs and merchandise.
We've also planned out many ways to draw visitors to the site. We hope that our interviews with some of the big name's in the anime industry, especially ones that speak out against piracy themselves, will draw visitors to the website. In addition, we are going to attempt to create several viral marketing videos for KeepAnimeAlive.
As the site grows and more elaborate videos and projects are planned, it will become much harder for myself and the others involved to pay for the sits budget out of pocket. It's our hope that, as KeepAnimeAlive grows, we will eventually be able to get sponsored by major players in the anime industry, like Funimation.
One thing we've had to take into a account while planning out the site is the vulnerability to hacking and internet attacks. This is always a problem on the internet, however the topic of piracy and anime is such a controversial one, that the sites very existence is assured to draw the attention of many people who wish to undermine the site. As such, we been planning out strategies to confront the threat, such as daily backing up the site's database.
So. That is KeepAnimeAlive. Look forward to its launch later this week!
As always, don't be a parasite.
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