After looking at the popularity of One Piece, it is easy to see why it is such a cash cow. The franchise has been around for decades at this point and earned the title of Japan’s highest-selling manga to date. When you factor in the anime, One Piece and its creator are making bank, and fans will be able to glean a little profit from the anime soon thanks to a brief copyright hiatus.
Recently, Eiichiro Oda released a statement along with LINE that announced the copyright hiatus. The creator of One Piece is allowing fans to sell reaction stamps on the LINE messaging app and keep their earnings for themselves.
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“Hey, did you hear? It’s OK for you to draw and sell you own One Piece character line stamps,” the artist confirmed. “Of course all the money is yours to keep!! Ordinarily this is something you can’t do, because the copyright won’t allow it.”
Of course, this is a big deal for fans as LINE is one of the biggest apps in Japan. Its messaging app has been universally adopted by locals, and it has gained popularity in other countries as well. By allowing fans to sell their own reaction illustrations, they can make money while spreading the love around for One Piece.
There are restrictions for fans posting their own stamps for sale. The most important thing to remember is that this copyright hiatus will last one year, so fans have a limited time to profit off these stamps. The emotes cannot be traced either, and users can only sell them in packs of eight.
Oda admits he is thrilled to see all of the One Piece stamps go live, and he promises to buy those he likes. I’m looking forward to your pictures too. This is a rare opportunity, so whether or not you’re an artistic person, please participate, maybe with your parents, kids, or friends!… I’ll be buying your stamps!”
Will you be looking into any of these fan-made stamps? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
