>>38953409This isn't a black company mindset, this is basic capitalism mindset. The whole point of having a vtuber is so you don't have to pay royalties when manufacturing merchandise. All companies exist to make money, not to pay charity for no reason. When you own the rights to the character, there's very little reason to pay the actor a royalty.
>>38953469The Lamy video specifically seems to be talking about her voice packs. Having Lamy cover the COGS of actual merchandise makes no sense from a business POV.
If we look at her 2021 set
https://shop.geekjack.net/products/yukihana-lamy-birthday-commemoration-2021-full-setThis is a playmat, a cup, plushie, etc. Sells for $100, so lets assume manufacturing costs at $50 per unit. Lets be conservative and estimate that Cover only ordered 5k units. That still comes to $250k in manufacturing costs. It would make no sense for Lamy to cover that, or even a small portion, like how would you divide the expenses, and the revenue, it would be a logistical nightmare.
On the other hand, if she was referring to her voice packs, then that might cost a couple thousand to hire an audio engineer or editiors, etc. It would make more sense to have Lamy herself cover that expense, especially if she got to decide the contents of the voice pack, as she'll have to receive royalty from the voice pack regardless. Logistically, it clears up a lot of annoying paperwork.
>>38953890I think this is where the language difference create ambiguity. When we talk about "merch", we usually refer to physical merchandise - figures, pictures, scented candles. But in Japanese, they're using the word グッズ, which can refer to both physical and digital material, like voice packs, which I never disputed royalty payments for.
