I've been thinking a bit about animatronicswarehouse, Aaron Fetcher, and the ethics of putting rare or lost media behind a paywall. Last month, animatronicwarehouse launched a subscription service in which for $30 a month you can receive rare prints of CEI characters and shows. This is quite similar to Aaron Fetcher's premium video service where for $65 you have access to private videos of Aaron's current projects, old CEI show footage, stories, or just general updates. Aaron's service is pretty notorious for being needlessly complex for subscribers and easy for "thieves" to just screen record.
What really gets me though is the wealth of lost/rare footage sitting there collecting dust. Many of the digitized films from CEI's earliest shows sit behind a paywall. I wouldn't be as frustrated if premium subscribers received videos a month or two earlier than people watching the main channel to make both parties happy, however it seems that many won't be released for quite some time, will only have very short samples posted to lure more people to the premium service, or worst case, not seen at all.
Back to animatronicwarehouse. I'm concerned that this new service will become very similar to Aaron's service, albeit much less bloated. AW already knows Aaron, I mean, they did a good amount of work together to create one of, if not THE best RAE shows. They seem close and I'm worried that he'll start taking cues from Aaron. Yesterday he announced that he's selling posters of rare, high quality images of CEI shows that are presented as a must-have collector's item. Now, I don't really have a problem with this. My and other people's complaints start with the price. Most posters cost $120 with the most expensive costing $195 for a poster of the RAE that looks extremely similar to one that can easily be found on showbizpizza.com. You can also buy a $150 picture of the Hard Luck Bears that can be found online as well.
AW's Poster vs Photo posted by Hourly Rock a-fire Explosion (@HourlyRock) on twitter
As an advocate for archiving all forms of media for future generations, I cringe a little every time I see a rare photo with a huge watermark and blur on it or footage cut off and interrupted with a plug for a subscription service. It feels exploitive to make profit off the rarity of something, especially in a fandom where most people weren't alive when these early animatronics were up and running and can only recapture that magic through photos and video. Part of the reason animatronics are still popular is because new generations can look back at them or find current operating ones. I've seen people in YouTube comment sections from countries that never had Showbiz Pizzas or Chuck E. Cheese and yet they can enjoy it because videos and photos allow them to interact and enjoy these things. If we put the past behind a paywall, what will we have to discuss in the future?