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There's a topic I cover from time to
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time that always seems to ruffle some
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feathers and get people squirming in
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their chairs in anger because I have
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less than kind things to say about the
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some of the biggest players in the
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industry. But I just can't help myself.
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I can't bite my tongue on it. I I'm like
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Winnie the Pooh poking a beehive because
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I'm addicted to the honey inside. And in
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this case, that honey is vindication.
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For a while now, I have ba humbugged
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Vtuber agencies. I've seen a lot of the
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contracts that some of the top talent
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were under locked into with these
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organizations and they are
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extraordinarily corrupt. I think the
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agencies in this space are exploitative
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and they treat their talent more like
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prisoners. I It is unbelievable the
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depths of greed that these agencies in
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the VTuber space have succumbed to. But
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before I dive deeper into the spaghetti
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and the meatballs on my disdain for
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VTuber agencies in the industry, I would
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like to give you the catalyst for why
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I'm talking about it again today. It's
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because Iron Mouse just made a really
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sad video about why she's leaving V
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Showjo. V Showjo being another huge
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player in the VTuber space. They are a
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massive agency that's represented some
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of the top talent. Unfortunately, I
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recently found out that for the past
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couple of months, I have been misled by
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Vishojo. With the information that I
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currently have, I believe that I am owed
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a significant amount of funds which I
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have not been paid. And most
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importantly, the thing that hurts me the
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most is that the Immune Deficiency
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Foundation, which is the most important
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charity to me and also the reason why I
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am here today, is owed over half a
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million dollars from V Showjo.
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For those that don't know who Iron Mouse
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is, she is one of the biggest streamers
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on Twitch in terms of subscribers. She
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even broke the all-time subscriber
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record and she has a primary immuno
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deficiency disease. She has CVID, so she
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does a lot of charitable work for this
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organization. And apparently, she's just
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discovered that V Showjo hasn't fully
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paid what they owed her personally, and
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they haven't paid the money that they
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owe to the charitable foundation that
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she was fundraising for, something that
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she does often. But V Showjo is required
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in this process because they handle her
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money in certain cases, which is not
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uncommon in the space. Like I'm going to
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get deeper into like a lot of things
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with VTuber agencies that I've tiptoed
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around quite a bit in the past, but I
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don't want to like fully go into the
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weeds of it here. But let me just go
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ahead and explain where that number is
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coming from. The half a million owed to
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charity that V Showjo still hasn't paid.
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They promptly sent the payment and the
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subbathon was a huge success. So I
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decided to do it again the next year. My
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last subadon was one of the biggest
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events I've ever done. The support was
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overwhelming and I ended up getting over
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300,000 subscribers and breaking the
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all-time subre. But this also meant that
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we had raised $515,000
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for the immune deficiency foundation. I
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once again asked Vishojo to make the
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donation on my behalf.
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But unfortunately,
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still a year later, Vishojo has not paid
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the charity.
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So, in a nutshell, Iron Mouse ran a
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subathon. It was extremely successful
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and raised a ton of money, hundreds of
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thousands of dollars for the immune
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deficiency foundation. And Vojo did pay
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it out the first time around. But when
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she came back for the second time the
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following year, it was even bigger. It
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broke records and it raised over
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$500,000 that was supposed to go to the
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immune deficiency foundation that has
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still not been paid out to the
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charitable organization to this day
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according to Iron Mouse. Now, I've seen
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a little bit of confusion, people
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wondering why would F vojo even be
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handling that money in the first place?
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Why wouldn't it just come directly from
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Iron Mouse since it's her Twitch? Well,
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that's where you get into the really
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stinky territory where in a lot of cases
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these agencies,
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they handle the finances of the talent.
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Like they put their grubby paws on it
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before the talent does. So, it's not
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uncommon in the space for the agreement
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between talent and agency to have the
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agency directly handle like their Twitch
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subs and their Twitch revenue and their
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Twitch ads, that kind of thing. And in
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the full video, Iron Mouse goes deeper
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into this. So, I highly encourage you to
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check out the full thing for the entire
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scoop, but in her case specifically,
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that was actually kind of appealing to
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her because then she would be able to
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stay even more private because she
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really values her anonymity. So, having
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V Showjo involved in that process was
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actually kind of a big deal to her. And
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for previous fundraising through
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Tiltify, it wasn't a problem, but when
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it came to the subathon money, since it
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was going through Twitch subs and
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everything, it meant the Showjo was
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going to be involved in this process.
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And the first time it was fine. It
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apparently went off without issue. But
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this time when the money was even
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higher, well, uh, some kind of screws
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must have went loose over there at the V
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Showjo headquarters. I guess that [ __ ]
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just [ __ ] burst into flames or
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something and they just haven't got
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around to it. They're still putting out
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some fires and they'll get to it any day
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now. The Showjo would be responsible for
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donating that money on her behalf, an
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obligation that they still haven't
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fulfilled all this time later. According
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to Iron Mouse, it's diabolical.
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withholding over half a million dollars
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to charity and also withholding money
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that Iron Mouse has allegedly owed as
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well. And what's even crazier is how
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unsurprised I am by it. Now, full
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disclosure, I didn't know too much about
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V Showjo's inner workings. That was one
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of the few agencies I wasn't super privy
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to on like the behind the scenes of, but
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I'd always heard good things, but I
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always had skepticism because of how the
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industry functions at the agency level
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from the other ones I know. And this
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kind of dirty, scummy, greedy business
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is just so standard for these agencies
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in the space. It is sickening.
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Now, V Showjo is going through big
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turbulence right now. They're losing
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some of their top talent. Like even
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before Iron Mouse's video about a month
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ago, they made a post about how Giga was
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going to be departing V Showjo. And then
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just 48 hours later, they announced Zen
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would also be leaving Vojo. one of their
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original members. So, there's definitely
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been some, you know, curious Georgees
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out there wondering what's going on at V
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Showjo that's got everyone leaving.
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What's this exodus from V Showjo all
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about? Fun fact, Giga is actually with
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us at Cheeky now. Well, we're not like a
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VTuber agency. That that that's not what
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I'm trying to get across. Our soap, she
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really likes our soap, Cheeky Soap. So,
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she's she's partnered with us at Cheeky
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and she is an absolute sweetheart.
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That's what I was trying to get across.
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The point is some like really good
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people have been leaving V Showjo and
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now Iron Mouse have dropped this video
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about some very alleged scummy practices
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here at the V Showjo corporate level.
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And I don't know how V Showjo recovers
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from it going forward. They haven't made
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a statement yet. It's still a little too
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fresh as of me making this video. I'm
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very curious what they're going to say
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about it. If I had to spitball, I would
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imagine that their next play will be
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donating that money to the charitable
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foundation. I imagine they donate the
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515K to the immune deficiency foundation
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or whatever the exact number was. I bet
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they will do that to desperately try and
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save face. I don't think the community
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will respond well to it because it's
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very clear that they're just doing it
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now because of the public pressure
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that's being exerted on them. I don't
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know how they move forward with a good
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reputation. I don't think all of their
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talents going to leave overnight. I
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imagine a lot of those contract, in
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fact, I'm confident a lot of those
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contracts lock them down for quite a
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while with like some non-disparagement
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clauses in there and everything. Like I
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bet there is a lot of things at play
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where the talent won't be able to leave
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even if they really want to. And I can
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only hope that the community here
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doesn't start attacking the V Showjo
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talent for staying because I imagine in
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a lot of cases they don't have a choice.
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Now, that's kind of the situation in a
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nutshell, but I want to dive deeper into
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agencies as a whole. I've kind of teased
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it a little bit throughout the video,
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and I know people like to talk about
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Vtubing as a whole, like it's some kind
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of niche that's not mainstream. That
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couldn't be further from the truth. It
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is a multi-billion dollar industry and
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it is so lucrative and these agencies
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have swooped in and made sure they are
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the ones getting the lion's share of
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that money and they'll kind of trickle
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down drip feed a little milk from their
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titties to the talent that's under their
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umbrella. And what's even more
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disgusting is they fed people [ __ ] and
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gave them a taste for it, an acquired
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pallet, normalizing their greed. Where
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the talent, the ones that are actually
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gathering the audience, you know, the
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actual VTubers, they don't see most of
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the money that they bring in. The agency
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does. That includes merch. That includes
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their Twitch subs. That includes YouTube
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revenue. Pretty much any piece of the
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pie that has dollars to ballloons in it.
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The agency is the one that's got their
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fingers in it. And the VTuber gets
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pieces of it. Tidly winks. And I think
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it is so ass backwards. It has always
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rubbed me the wrong way. So I've always
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talked very negatively about VTuber
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agencies, much to the chagrin of the
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VTuber audience. The audience that
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watches VTubers is very loyal to their
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favorite creators in the space. So, they
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get very upset when the 5 foot6 Florida
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man Neanderthal shoots spitballs at the
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agency that represents their favorite
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VTuber because the community like the
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relationship between the agency and the
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VTuber is one that's supposed to be
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built on like a tight connection like
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this partnership almost like a family.
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But nothing could be further from the
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truth. It's about as much of a family as
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like the prison warden is to the
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prisoners. I just think it is completely
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unacceptable the way a lot of these
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agencies treat their talent. I also
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think a lot of people have been
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completely misled by them in on the
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industry as a whole where they act like
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there's only one path to success when it
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comes to V tubing or at least they did.
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Not so much these days. It's starting to
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kind of get a little more clear that you
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don't have to sign with them. For the
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longest time, it was as if there was
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only one path to success in the space,
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which was signing with an agency, where
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they basically give you a career. They
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grow you through their network. They
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give you all the tools to grow, but they
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basically own you. And I know the
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argument a lot of people make is, well,
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they gave you your career. You do owe
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them like 90% of the the money that you
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generate. That that makes sense. Without
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them, you were nothing. And I just think
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that is completely delusional. I think
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you've been brainwashed to think that.
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It's a little different nowadays where
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so many people are doing really well
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independent. There are so many
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independent YouTubers that are crushing
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it and a lot of formally contracted
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talent for agencies have left to be
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indie and are still doing really well.
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So, it's being proven that you don't
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need these agencies to succeed as a
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VTuber. And I understand like, you know,
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they do help speed up the growth of the
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career because then they just plug and
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play to like their network and just have
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eyes on you by default, but from
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everything I've seen, it just never
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really seems worth the tradeoff. Like
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you never get a better deal. So like,
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let's say you start with them and then
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you explode and become the biggest
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VTuber in the world. All the ones I've
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seen, the contracts don't scale with
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that success. So you still are locked
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into a bad deal and now the agency just
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makes a killing off of your success and
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you kind of stay in the same spot more
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or less. Like it just doesn't ever
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really feel worth it to do that when you
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can still be very successful without
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these agencies. And it just sucks to see
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that it is still so common that these
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agencies are greedy scumbags like in
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this case here with V Showjo apparently.
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But anyway, just wanted to yap about
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this a bit. That's about it. See you.
