On March 5, 2024 (PST), YouTube Channel Legal Mindset Streamed a Readout of Talent Contract Leaked from ANYCOLOR Inc. (which operates the VTuber Group NIJISANJI, NIJISANJI EN (New), etc).
This information includes information whose authenticity has not yet been confirmed. We will update this article as soon as the facts are confirmed.
The content is based on Legal Mindset’s personal views and we makes no representation as to its authenticity or accuracy at this time. Please understand this in advance.
The following is a summary of the “Talent Contract” introduced in the streaming video, which was posted on official NIJISANJI reddit.
As for payment, most stuff is subject to separate agreements. However, the contract does cover superchats, (and maybe sponsorships). In this case, after any potential cuts taken by YT and/or Apple, Nijisanji takes a cut of 50%. Any income made as the VTuber has to go through Niji.
Nijisanji may compel the liver to purchase anything the company considers required to the work, but will only reimburse up to 200k Yen / 1333 USD.
Talents must provide “certain information” to Nijisanji. This may be a mistranslation for “personal information”, however in the contract as written, this in theory requires the liver to turn over nearly any information Nijisanji want.
Livers are under an obligation to cooperate, including attending meetings, et cetera.
Livers must procure “materials” under their own cost and responsibility, they may not be used for any other purpose, be altered, reproduced, or transferred, but still belongs to Nijisanji. If a liver somehow does gain copyright over anything, it’s immediately transferred to Nijisanji.
Once the contract ends, livers need to return everything they used in their work. (Seems to be written to include any of their personal property they use, if any.)
Livers are contractually prohibited from streaming a long list of stuff, including “Images that induce bullying, harassment of a third party”, “Images that may cause trouble or comfort to a third party”, or anything Nijisanji considers inappropriate.
If a liver is suspended or terminated (Niji may terminate livers at any time, without reason), they owe a penalty equal to 50% of income through this contract (for an unspecified period?). If they specifically breach the list of things they can’t stream, the penalty is equal to the amount of money they made while in breach, or the amount they made in the prior 12 months, whichever is higher.
Nijisanji does not guarantee that livers make any money at all. Niji doesn’t guarantee anything at all, really. Notably, it’s the livers responsibility to know if any given thing is legal, to deal with copyright strikes, or to deal with disputes with vendors or artists. Niji specifically limits any amount they will pay to the liver for breach of contract on their side to the money the talent made in the previous 6 months, even in cases where Nijisanji has been intentionally or grossly negligent. However, if a liver causes any amount of (monetary) damage to Nijisanji, they need to repay that in full.
If disputes, including legal disputes, arise between livers, Nijisanji must be notified, but otherwise does not do anything. They do not mediate or mitigate.
If a liver is terminated, they must turn over any deliverables on which work has already started. (MVs, et cetera.)
Nijisanji may ammend the contract, and the liver is assumed to have agreed if they don’t object in 14 days, or if they pretty much do anything in their VTuber persona. Note that Nijisanji dictates the communication channels, and may comply a liver to do things like tweet. So they may, contractually, compel a liver to tweet some random thing, thus agreeing to contract ammendments they didn’t even konw exist.
Oh, also most of the contract is specified as surviving the end of the contract (though not the provision that provides for the rest surviving, so who knows if that’s actually effective.)
Edit: I apparently forgot to mention that Nijisanji gets to specify from where livers may do their job (even though it’s fully remote by definition).
On February 5, ANYCOLOR announced that it had terminated its contract with Selen Tatsuki (Dokibird was reportedly the actor) due to “Repeated contract violations and misleading and false statements on social networking sites“. Furthermore, the company’s IR announcement, including the “Impact of Business Performance is Negligible,” has been the source of intense criticism among VTuber listeners and fans.
It is not known at this time whether the “Talent Contract” published on this channel was actually leaked by ANYCOLOR Inc. This information is based on the personal opinion of Legal Mindset, and we make no representation as to its authenticity or accuracy at this time. Please be aware of this.
The “NIJISANJI EN (New)” we use is to distinguish it from the original “NIJISANJI EN (former NIJISANJI IN / India)” that existed in the past.
(P2y.EN)
