Kelly Hutalent. The purpose of the joint release is to strengthen the collective power of the team in its
mobilization of fan labor and the establishment of TSKS’s brand image. Winning public recog-
nition for their speed of release and translation quality is important, as fansubs “depend highly
on their reputation to thrive in fandom” ( Jenkins 2013).
XB indicated that the flow of talent in and out of TSKS is quite fluid. She said, “after all, there
are no formal contracts between fansubbers and TSKS.” The constantly changing and unsteady
labor force at TSKS is not unusual among subtitle groups. A 2014 news story about American
TV drama subtitle groups reports that on average the group of actively contributing fansubbers
changes approximately every three to five months (Tencent Entertainment 2014). It appears that
large subtitle groups do not rely on fansubbers’ long-term commitment to the group. Instead,
their strategy depends on the flexible accumulation of contingent labor by broadly networking
with multiple online flows of fans, which are viewed as assets that can reduce the risk inherent
in an uncertain labor market. What makes major Chinese subtitle groups function well is their
well-developed ability to manage this kind of organization.
Lan-Bi-Tou is one of the fansubbers for Love from the Star at TSKS. Having been involved in
making Chinese subtitles at TSKS for six years, she admitted that working with iQIYI caused
her stress, as she worried about the quality of the Chinese subtitles while working under extreme
time pressure (Dong 2014). TSKS was contractually required to finish the subtitles three hours
after each episode was released in Korea. For a video website like iQIYI, every minute is pre-
cious as the click counts of online viewers determines the amount of money to be earned from
advertisers. This commodification of time is profit-seeking for the commercial video website,
while for a subtitle group it is a way of branding itself and raising its profile. For each episode of
Love from the Star, the average income for each fansubber was around RMB16, about US$2.50
(Zhao 2014). Outsiders might think that TSKS makes huge profits, but this is not the case.
Fansubbers see themselves “at the very low end of the production chain” who work only for
“interest and a sense of achievement” (Zhu 2014). This positioning allows SBS to regard TSKS,
despite its quickness and competence, as a source of cheap labor, especially in comparison to its
own local translation team, which is slower and charges more (Chen 2014). SBS exploits this
global division of labor, which is facilitated by Chinese fans who volunteer with TSKS to do
effective, underpaid work.
In fact, it is not only TSKS but also other top subtitle groups such as YYeTs and YTET that
have developed partnerships with video websites. Those two groups specialize in American TV
dramas and movies, and are eager to work with major video sites like Sohu and Youku, which
are keen on obtaining copyrighted American TV dramas. According to a TSKS public statement,
the group wants “to march forward on a legal path. Without legality, it’s hard to survive ... our
little wish is to thrive and keep sharing wonderful Korean audio-visual content with everyone”
(TSKS 2010). The group first secured its primary status among other subtitle groups without
seeking any kind of official authorization, which was a strategy designed to protect itself from
harassment by the government and possible lawsuits from copyright owners. Later, when local
video websites were forced to acquire broadcast rights, TSKS and other subtitle groups changed
their strategy accordingly.
TSKS has urged other subtitle groups to stop the “illegal” production of SBS TV programs.
This exclusionary reaction aims to safeguard and consolidate TSKS’s current authority. Chen
Yi, a fansubber with seven years’ experience with YTET, has another viewpoint (Jin 2014).
He thinks it is no longer necessary to compete with other subtitle groups before being par-
tially incorporated into the official cultural economy. He feels that the burden of copyright
infringement has been removed and the rivalry among various groups to be the first to release
its subtitles is also a thing of the past. To him, this means that the quality of the translations can