Vtubers need to buy specific rights for how their bodies can be used Businesses that hire consultants or independent contractors often fail to write a sufficient contract and later realize, “‘Oh my gosh, the person who created the work actually has copyrights in it.’” “This is a trap that a lot of people fall into,” he told The Verge. Swenson, a partner at Patterson Thuente who specializes in IP law. In order to own the character art outright, a streamer would need to have that explicitly written into a work for hire contract, said David P. That means Melody’s artist might have a case: though she can defend herself with receipts, intellectual property experts say there’s little substitute for a clear contract outlining exactly what she’s able to do with her body, even if she otherwise created the character and commissioned the art. If a Vtuber relies on an outside artist to create their character, the Vtuber will need to ensure they get all of the rights they need in order to continue streaming as that character, modify that character later, and market merchandise using that character’s image. The space got even more attention in September, when one of Twitch’s biggest streamers, Pokimane, debuted a virtual version of herself to her audience of, at the time, 5.5 million followers.Īs their numbers grow, Vtubers may face copyright issues that traditional creators - who often just market themselves and their slogans - don’t have to worry about. In August, the top virtual streamers on Twitch, which included Melody, had more than 100,000 hours of viewership each, according to StreamElements and Arsenal.gg. Virtual creators like Melody - a group broadly known as Vtubers - have recently picked up in popularity on Twitch in the US, after first gaining attention on YouTube (thus Vtubers, or “virtual YouTubers”) in Japan a couple of years ago. “This is a trap that a lot of people fall into.” You can buy clothes, stickers, and pillows featuring her image, though the most popular form of merch seems to be posters of her in explicit poses.
In the case of Melody, that’s a skinny anime woman with huge blue eyes, a croptop sweatshirt, and not much else. They just hear her voice and see her reactions through the model that represents her. The model speaks and moves in accord with the person behind it, but viewers of the stream have no idea what that person actually looks like. The setup offers anonymity for the streamer and huge branding potential around the literal cartoon character they’re inhabiting. That’s because Melody is part of a growing wave of virtual streamers who broadcast using a 3D model in place of their body and face. It’s a strange situation, but one that could become more common.
It wasn’t until this month that she ran into a problem: the artist, alleging that Melody owed him money, filed a copyright complaint claiming that she didn’t actually own her body - he did.
And for her thousands of fans on Twitch, this is what they see when she streams herself playing Minecraft, watching movies, or just sitting around chatting in her room. She commissioned it from an artist for $5,000 and even kept the receipts as proof. Projekt Melody swears her body belongs to her - the purple hair, the cat-eared bow, and all the barely there clothing that strategically covers her up.