💡VShojo Proved That Vtubers Can't Depend on Agencies
We need to be independent of them.
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It's been a few months after the event regarding VShojo, and it's now ex-talents, so I want to share something that was going through my mind as this whole situation was unraveling.
But before that.
In case you forgot about what VShojo did, they stole half a million dollars from a charity subathon done my Ironmouse, didn't pay their talents for months, threaten ex-talents with lawsuits, and gave hush money to vtubers that auditioned but were later dropped to do a despot hire.
They did WAY more awful things, but this post isn't meant to be a list of their crimes.
By the way, if you want to know VShojo's entire history from its rise to fame to this atrocious end, I recommend watching this video by Mujin, it covers everything you need to know.
What I want to do is to talk about something that I think vtubers need to keep in mind from now.
You cannot completely depend on agencies to build a brand
I'm not saying this because I believe all agencies are evil or anything like that, I still like Hololive and Phase Connect... Socks Agency also looks pretty nice.
But after seeing the one agency almost everyone saw as a save haven for vtubers being exposed as one of the worst companies in the industry, I just can't fully place my trust on any corporate entity again.
Instead, I will fully support the idea of building something you own and not giving it away to anyone.
Even more so when there are new vtuber agencies every few months and most don't make it past a couple of years.
I mean, in 2024 alone, 20 vtuber agencies shut down.
Most of these cases were either due to controversies that made the talents leave, the agency running out of funds to keep going, or management having no idea how to run a business.
It was so bad that indie vtuber Bao the Whale talked about it on one of her streams, after a specific case that affected some of her friends.
It is because VShojo didn't seem to have any of these issues that it stood out as a trustworthy company.
Its CEO used to work on Twitch and was a live streamer himself so he was seen as someone who understood the industry and was passionate about it.
That's also why we all thought VShojo was a place where you could pursue your passion without restrictions while receiving the support you needed. Nobody expected things to turn out this way and when it did, many people started saying that vtubing is dying and I can't blame them.
I don't think that's the case, though.
I believe the space is evolving into something more centered on indie vtubers and them owning the brands they build because now everyone knows that agencies are not as reliable as we thought.
With that being said, I think that from now on, vtubers (myself included) should approach to vtubing as we do with video games nowadays.
Indie is the way to go
With the only difference that you are not buying an indie vtuber, but instead you will become one.
I'm not saying any of this lightly.
I know it can be intimidating to think about being a full-time vtuber/streamer in an industry that feels extremely uncertain at times. Like now, with the recent Twitch update to combat view bots, that is affecting lurkers instead.
However, after this incident, I think it's clear that we can't blindly trust agencies to always have our best interest in mind.
I know that not all companies are like VShojo, but it's better to be cautious than to later be stuck with a corporation that promised you the world only to squeeze you and throw you away once they are done.
💭Final Thoughts
Indie is the safest option for a vtubing carrier, but it is definitely not the easiest.
However, after seen everything VShojo did, I can't help but to be glad most of the talents were already well known before joining because even though they went through a lot mentally and emotionally, they were still able to bounce back once everything was said and done.
But that is not the case for most vtubers.
They join these agencies hoping that they will support their creative journey, but some of them take advantage of their trust, either with shady contracts or exploitive working conditions.
Honestly, it pisses me off seeing this happening time and time again.
If you still decide to join an agency after all this, please get a lawyer to check your contracts and make absolutely sure that everything they promise you is in the papers to protect yourself legally.
That's all for today.
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Brother Angelo is a one-man project ran by Angelo Sin. A vtuber, streamer, and content creator, who grew up with video games and anime and fell in love with vtubers once he found them.
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