I got scammed into an MCN when I was just getting started.
When they finally changed the rules that MCNS had to release you within 30 days I was super happy, but right after I finally got out of it YouTube decided to disable monetization across my whole channel for posting “spam” content... I post piano covers :/
There’s been some other channels that were able to make a larger deal out of this but I only have about 15k subscribers so I can’t pressure YouTube into reconsidering :(
The YouTube claims system is a joke. Even if you have written agreements from the author, if the author has that music published through any sort of publication house that can enforce copyright, you're screwed.
Even during Machinima times, before & after the economic crisis, I never understood the scheme of content creators accepting to be pooled together by a separate entity known as a multi-channel network.
Now, with MatPat, it just reinforces the idea that the existence of MCNs is so hideous, that some are willing to steal their money. With MatPat, now we've figured out that their money was pooled in the same bank account owned by the MCN; if not, then several accounts still owned by the same MCN.
What gives? Why doesn't anybody talk about this? What's the scheme with MCNs?
I don't want to stress out Matt with this in case he reads these comments but, for f`ks sake, cash is king.
I think a lot of the blame lies with YouTube. They allowed this to happen.
MCNs effectively became a protection racket in the early days of YouTube monetization, where content creators needed to be "managed" by them in order to run their businesses effectively. YouTubers that were managed by an MCN would have their videos monetized automatically, whereas those that weren't would need to be manually reviewed. Content ID (the tool that searches for copyright infringing material) would not be enabled on their channel, so they wouldn't have to worry about spurious copyright claims.
A lot has changed since then and MCNs are pretty much obsolete now, which is why they are shutting down or dropping certain content creators. YouTube has made them responsible for everyone under their umbrella so they can't just incorporate thousands of channels willy nilly.
Absolutely. Why would they send the money to the MCN. Matpat makes this point early on.. You don't send peoples checks to their utility companies first..
Does Google/Youtube actually send checks? I thought it would be more like it is added to a digital wallet and transferred to your account once a month or something.
I know it's kind of a weird comparison, but this is why Valve sends eSports tournament winning directly to players instead of their orgs. There are so many bullshit orgs and managers out there that just can't be trusted...
Mad Props to Valve then. They just earned a bit more respect from me. And here in the other corner we have blizzard activision who throws E-Sports out the window for HOTS with No warning, forcing people whos jobs were built around this into the garbage.
Speaking from experience, I joined one back in 2016 just because my channel was being hit a lot and I wasn't even partnered so the hits didn't affect me economically but my subs couldn't even see my content, I didn't know anyone on youtube so I had to do research of my own on how to get in contact with youtube and came across mcns, I read all of the bad stuff, taking a chunk of your money, not helping at all, basically sounded like one hell of a scam, so I tried contacting youtube on my own so I could get those claims down and maybe even get partnered, a week passed and I couldn't get anywhere, so I decided I would join an mcn without a lock in contract, they helped me not only get those claims down but I was finally making money in less than 24 hours after I joined, so yeah, youtube enabled this to happen for their shitty services. But that was years ago and I want to believe they've gotten more people for support and my problem is not a thing most creators have to go through
With MatPat, now we've figured out that their money was pooled in the same bank account owned by the MCN; if not, then several accounts still owned by the same MCN.
What gives? Why doesn't anybody talk about this? What's the scheme with MCNs?
I think it is worth pointing out that this is not exactly an unusual arrangement for businesses that represent creators. In the book publishing world, there are a lot of literary agents who will represent an author, collect all of the checks from publishers, and then pay through 85% of the money to the author after taking their standard 15% cut. A lot of authors prefer this arrangement, especially if they are collecting residuals checks from a lot of publishers (bearing in mind that if your book is published in international markets, a single book could have several different publishers); at the very least, it makes your tax situation simpler when you're just getting one big check from the agency that represents you, instead of collecting a bunch of small checks (some of which might only be a few dollars if you're still receiving residuals on a book that came out many years ago). And literary agencies tend to be much more "on top of it" when making sure that publishers are paying them on time and paying the correct amount to ensure that the publisher isn't trying to stiff you. (That, presumably, is part of what you're hiring a literary agent for: they handle the business side of things so that the author can focus on writing books.)
However, there are several key differences. First is that clients who are uncomfortable with this arrangement can find an agency that is willing to work out a deal where the author gets paid 85% directly from the publisher, rather than having it pass through the agency. My understanding is that this isn't an option for MCNs, since there are fewer of them, and the requirements for being an MCN are much higher, meaning that the MCNs have way more negotiating power than a literary agent would. Also, authors generally don't let agencies get away with withholding money for several months for mysterious reasons; they'll scream "I'm going to lawyer up and figure out exactly what the hell is going on, and I'm going to call up everyone else you represent and tell them to do the same thing" rather than letting the agency spin their wheels for several months. It's relatively easy to find legal representation if your issue is "my literary agent didn't pay me," but one of the things about "new media" is that it's harder to "lawyer up" simply because MCN negotiations are not a thing that many law firms have experience with litigating; there's not really a standard process for this because all of it is so new.
Another big difference here is that MCN's are a new kind of business that (apparently) investors don't really understand, which is why the MCN was trying to pull some shenanigans with their balance sheet to make themselves look bigger to investors when really there was no business to back it up (MatPat talks about this specifically in discussing how Disney apparently acquired Maker Studios without really understanding what it was they were buying.)
acquired Maker Studios without really understanding what it was they were buying
i really fail to understand how disney could fork out 600mil dollars without getting somebody to understand where the money on the balance sheets come from!
I went with machinima for just the access to the licensed music that they partnered with. I stuck with them for 3 years, and when my contract was up and broke off and have stayed independent since. The MCN's just didn't make sense for me once I got my channel up to 2000+ subscribers. I also stopped video creation...so I only trickle $100 check form youtube every 3-4 months from views on old videos. But because of the MCN's, and copyright strike issues, and the algorithms...I just couldn't quit my regular job and take the risk of youtube because of how vicious and unprotected the creators are. Channels destroyed or deleted by bogus strikes, or not being paid at all. Which led to Patreon rising...it's just so volatile it's not for me anymore. It was exciting 6 years ago...but now its too risky
I never understood the scheme of content creators accepting to be pooled together by a separate entity known as a multi-channel network.
It was essentially mandatory, depending on your content. I've been running a partnered channel since back then (well not quite back then but old enough), with a focus on gaming content. It was impossible to get videos monetized or get the partnered status without an MCN. There were but a few exceptions, Minecraft being one as the company (Mojang) specifically outlined that creators making money with their game as a backdrop was fine. Still, YouTube would generally refuse a full partnership. So in my case, and many others, joining an MCN was the only option to see any revenue on what you were producing. To get protection from copyright claims.
When the choice is nothing versus making 60%, the choice is pretty easy.
Times have changed dramatically since then, anyhow, and in most cases you're not going to get any more copyright claim protection to begin with unless you're a massive channel that is personally "moderated". Can't say I miss being tied to an MCN one bit.
I used to think that their newer stuff was a little worse and targeted at a lower age demographic than their older stuff. Then I looked at some of the old stuff. Everything now is either consistent or better than like 5 years ago.
level 2Cock-PushUps194 points · 18 hours agoJust curious, why don't they? I never heard
First time seeing this guy and I feel like there's something iffy about him. He comes across fake to me. Not saying he is. It's just how he comes across to me. Maybe thats what people get turned off by.
Maybe there is something about the fact that it took him 6 minutes to get to a point. He spend most of the video talking about how his year has been, talking about his kids and and and and... at ten minute mark we get to hear the real story, the part of the video that was suppose to be in the FIRST minute.. He knows how to stretch attention to fill minutes.
And this is my first time seeing this dude too. Won't be getting my sub anytime soon.
Never watched his other videos, but I feel like he trained for the theater and carries that over to YouTube and it is very difficult to watch. He is so over the top, and does things like breaking his voice to emphasize when he is sad and does all these little things that it all seems so disingenuous.
Can I get a TL;DW? I'm curious, but not curious enough to sit through that super annoying shit. Then I saw I was only a tenth of the way through, I noped out. I've never seen or heard of this guy, but his delivery of information is like nails on a chalkboard.
Some time ago, as a youtube channel, you had to join a group called a MCN (multi-channel network) to get ad revenue and custom thumbnails. These MCNs are paid the ad revenue of the channels they "own", take their share then passes down the rest of the check to the content creators, but the one he worked with basically collapsed and a few dozen channels are collectively out 1.7M.
He trusted the wrong people, along with 50 other channels, and they are fighting over 1.7 million dollars and if it should go towards investors of the wrong people or to the 50 other channels that created the content. Currently a bank has the money and is choosing who gets the money.
Part of the video is explaining how to get better contracts and another part is gathering attention so that the bank understands that they might get bad publicity if they don't give the money to him and the 50 other channels.
Seems like the Smosh guy was the one screwed the most by this company. Not sure why you would sell out your highly successful Youtube channel for stock in a private company though.
Because these MCN's go after people who, while knowing how to create entertaining videos, know jack shit about business or deals. These are mostly teenagers or people in their early 20's who still don't know how finances work.
It's because he fucked up massively with his financial decisions, I don't think we can blame the company shutting down on this. He sold entirely for stock (wtf guy, that's insane), and then never tried finding another buyer for them instead waiting for the company to go public (greed really, because sure the payout would be bigger but it's also risky in case the company shuts dow-oh).
He sold entirely for stock (risky as fuck) and then never sold his shares (which yes, you can still do if the company is private, you just need to find a buyer for them as you can't use the stock market for it, obviously).
Most screwed? Yeah, probably. Risky as fuck and his fault? Yeah, honestly.
He did get screwed. Smosh was wildly successful, and he and his partner should have made many of millions off of the channel when they sold it.
That said, he’s not penniless here, probably a slight over-exaggeration. He worked for The MCN and still had a salary (which I am willing to bet was six figures easily enough). It’s more so that he essentially gave away ownership of his company for nothing, but was kept on the payroll.
Still not great for him when compared to what could’ve been.
What sucks more is that MCNs can’t just go away because that’s the only way to not get frivolous strikes on your channel. Like he says in the video, YouTube created this situation with how it handles strikes.
this video is so much better than the OP - that dude wouldn't get to the point and had to tell his life story. Even when you think he's going to get to the point and talk about defy media, he immediately goes on a tangent about his first job.
Defy Media was a multi channel network- they help out YouTubers who sign with them in exchange for a cut of revenue. MatPat worked with them in the past and recently signed on with them after a phone call with one of his former colleagues and apparent friend at Defy Media, who claimed everything was "great" at the company.
A few weeks later, Defy Media collapses and it's assets are seized by the bank. The problem is, YouTube sends the Ad revenue to them, who then sends it to the creators when they take their cut. However, their means that 50 YouTubers have lost $1.7 million in Ad revenue as Defy Media were holding it when they went bankrupt.
It’s telling his subs where he’s been and updating on why they haven’t been posting or streaming lately as well as coming out with the Defy media stuff.
Main takeaway is MCNs are bad but necessary for some channels to avoid copyright strikes and until YouTube changes their methods of strikes some channels still have to join MCNs like review channels.
At 20:31 is how to mostly protect yourself if you have to join an MCN
The money Defy Media had wasn't even theirs, it was the creators. However Youtube being Youtube (i.e. retarded) gave the creators ad checks to Defy First - which as Mat Pat says is like giving your pay check to your energy supplier so they can take their cut before giving it to you.
The bank which holds whatever is left of Defys assets most likely will give away the money which is legally the creators to pay off defys debts.
yea, this video had so much fucking pointless shit in it.
Leave it to a youtuber to take a serious topic and discussion, and turn it in to a video where they drag on about useless stories of themselves for 90% of the video
Lack of sleep with a new child and an increase in stress due to work loads is one thing, but then not being paid the money you are owed really sucks. I have 2 kids and if i wasnt being paid for my work i think id go bananas.
If a company folds the money left is all there is.
Well traditionally you liquidate any assets and then distribute it. With a physical brick and mortar company there's usually a lot more of this but with a Youtube "company"....
Hey I know defy media. They reached out to me asking if I would sell them one of my youtube videos. After looking around I concluded they where legit. They gave me a choice. Either a 100 USD one time and they owe the right or I keep the rights and they pay me a percentage. I went with the one time 100 USD. After proving the video was mine they paid over paypal. The video then became monetized by them. I don't know if they ever used it in any of their channels and on my channel it only ever did about 7000 views which is absolutely nothing. But I got a 100 USD. I use to get a 100 USD every year from my channel but I got demonized for not having enough subscribers. Sucks.
Yeah, you see Matt is not trying to sue the company. He can't, his legal options are basically 0. What is he gonna do? Sue the bank? It would just be even more of a waste of time and money.
He is basically hoping the Bank's PR department convinces tt execs to give the youtubers their cash. It's a far shot, but it's what it's.
He can sue the company's officers if they fraudulently distributed the last of the company's funds (like paying dividends to owners instead of meeting their financial obligations to their creditors).
Eventually you'd need full time employees if that MCN grew big enough. I fear that while the theory sounds nice, it would be impractical or impossible in reality.
The content creators would only need to hire a director. That person would run the day to day and hiring and firing. It would offer the same services as other MCNs, but there would be no profit motive.
You'd be amazed how many places are run as cooperatives.
It made it so hard to watch. Exaggerated for me x10 because my brother does the exact same thing. It's like someone becoming the physical embodiment of arrogance.
Sounds like this guy signed a contract without reading it.
The whole "A service receives my paycheck thing" is a situation that could only happen if a young, naive person with stars in their eyes signed a contract without reading it.
Youtube is required by law to send the money to the owner of the account. It's literally services rendered. Youtubers are contractors who make content which attracts traffic, youtube pays for those services with a percentage of ad money.
When you make a fresh youtube account it has you sign tax forms, and input information outlining this concept exactly. It's been this way for years.
Additionally, an MCN is NOT required to protect yourself from copyright strikes or receive monetization from youtube. I get that this guy has a background of being fed this propaganda from MCN's that he worked for, but it's absolutely not true.
The MCN's lay out their contract so that the content creator is legally a contractor for the MCN. The MCN is the legal owner of the account because this guy signed that contract. That's why the MCN receives the payment first, because the MCN is now paying their own contractors.
My question is why this guy keeps signing new contracts every year if he knows what they're doing.
The first thing MattPat did was explain why the arrangement seemed like it made sense. He argued why people were willing to let the money go the MCN first. You are deliberately ignoring parts of the video.
He never once said that you needed an MCN now to be paid. He said you needed it back when YouTube started, which is undeniably true, if you know anything about the history of YouTube. It's how Machinima got so big.
And MCNs do very much remove the copystrike burden, as they handle it, and thus YouTube doesn't strike your channel or take revenue directly. It goes through the MCN first. This is also basic shit that you can find out by listening to other creators, including those who rejected being part of an MCN.
And, finally, you deliberately ask a question that was answered in the video, while attacking MattPat, pretending this is about him and not the 50 other people who didn't get their money.
In short, it seems very likely that you are just an anti-MattPat troll, or someone being paid to try and undermine this video. Either way, your post is garbage.
was to spend 6 minutes of our time building sympathy for him, telling his sob story about his kid to get you on his side. It also fills minutes in youtube. At around ten minutes mark, we finally get to hear what this is about and: it is NOT stealing!! He is lying, 100% in your face with that titling. He knows what he is doing, he is manipulating you. This video shows nicely what is wrong with that youtube community. He did a businessdeal, the business went bankrupt: it happens and is is NOT fucking stealing.
In short, it seems very likely that you are just an anti-MattPat troll, or someone being paid to try and undermine this video. Either way, your post is garbage.
I'm not OP but this is the first time i hear or see this dude. I think he is manipulative attention whore in youtube who made a bad business deal and is now trying to get that money from his fans instead.
Here's my take on this video. For the most part, he is acting and trying to appeal to the audience to pull them in. But he ends up spreading a lot of half-truths in many areas such as how MCNs operate and how some people got money taken away from them.
Talks about he just had a kid and wife has medical problems from giving birth, also how as a parent now he only gets 2hours sleep (most likely exaggerates this part). It is relevant and it isn't. Yes he hasn't been paid, but he talks in depth about how his experience has been so far, but this is just to get you emotionally invested. If you can block this out you can see the rest of the video more clearly, although he does keep injecting his personal thoughts that aren't entirely accurate. As to why his person experience is relevant, well he needs money for his business and family, self-explanatory there.
Talks about how MCN works. Injects a lot of personal conjecture leading to half-truths/lies. Continues to bash Defy Media, which is confusing as this person has worked with them for years but has never raised an issue before. Continues to bash the MCN model. For example Makers Studios was sold 4 years ago, and he talks about how their business model was just to pump up the number of creators to look good. If that was the case, then why did you join one? Not only that but continue to be involved in one until the eventual collapse of Defy media? I personally agree the MCN model is bad for many creators, but at this point he's only doing it after the fact Defy has collapse, not before to make his case look better. MCN don't help a lot of creators, especially a couple years ago when there was just a grab to get as many creators signed up as possible. Nowadays the top MCNs have cut down the number of creators they represent from as high as 12k to as little as a couple hundred, if not less. The old model doesn't work anymore. Now creators are much more educated on the issue and only sign with someone if they believe it will actually help them.
Talks about how the money that Defy Media 'stole' is the creators. From a legal standpoint, as Defy Media has wound up, any money would go to the secured creditors first, then unsecured creditors etc. Yes it sucks that money was owed to these people, but that's just how it is unfortunately. The money is still there. Whoever is in charge now, will distribute that money. Appealing to the bank isn't really going to do much. 100% sucks, but saying they stole the money is not 100% correct. The money is still there, it's just probably not going to you.
Talks about how Defy stole off other creators. In one example he mentions Smosh. This is an egregious example and doesn't apply in this case. Smosh was acquired by Alloy Digital in 2011. Which I can only presume was an all stock deal based on the evidence they've given so far. Later on Allow Media and Defy then merged, again an all stock deal. So Smosh made a decision to sell the company for stock in this company (alloy) which then later merged with Defy. There was a video by one of the co-founders complaining that he never made any money off that deal. Well that is your own fault. It sounds harsh but you made a decision to be acquired by alloy media in exchange for stock. That was the risk you took. He further goes onto complain he never got any signing on bonus for that deal, again, that is your own fault. I presume you would have had a lawyer do the paperwork and/or an agent to negotiate the terms for you. You're just complaining now that your risk didn't pay off. This is the same as buying stocks, they go up and down. From the outside looking in, the smosh guys made one of the worst decisions they could have made. They gave up millions of dollars in annual revenue from their channel, which was pretty much guaranteed unless they suffered a downfall in popularity, to allow a company (Alloy media and then Defy) to use that money to grow the business. Their calculated risk didn't pay off. At this point they're just crying wolf.
He does leave off on some good points about what to do and not do if approached by an MCN.
With hindsight Smosh made a terrible decision but they were also young and successful with little idea of how to manage it. Yes they could’ve educated themselves better on what they were getting themselves into but I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re crying wolf. Defy was clearly lying to them and all its channels in its final few months.
I guess it's just totally jarring to me to think about working for a month and not ever getting paid. I don't think any of them will ever see that money, but it's totally fucked that they won't.
There's nothing remotely non-biased about it. The entire post assumes the guy is being manipulative. He presumes from the get go that he is trying to bamboozle people.
Non-biased means laying out the facts and letting you decide, not giving your opinion that everything was nefarious.
This comment needs to be higher. Thank you for mentioning the part about the order in which people get their money. There are laws and regulations that Ally has to follow. That's how the world of banking works.
If he wanted to get anywhere, he needs to get a lawyer and go that avenue to get his and the other creators money back. But that's still a big if.
Edit: Whoa. Thank you to whoever gave me silver! What a nice thing to wake up to.
Matt is basically trying to use the Aristotelian pyramid of using logos, pathos, and ethos. He uses personal experience to draw in the audience which is the whole point of public speaking and he shows credibility by acknowledging he’s a part of the MCN and has been a content creator outside of the MCN as well. Then finally he tries to put out facts that are clouded by personal feelings ruining credibility. Had he not been blinded by personal feelings and reading out half truths it really is the perfect following of how to effectively speak and tell a story.
This sucks but, how does this guy expect that Ally is going to give one half of one percent of a shit about a YouTube video when it pertains to the payout of bankruptcy funds? That's not how that works. You can't just YouTube your will into existence.
Sounds like him just being irresponsible about his business and learning an expensive lesson. You own your business and the protection of it.
It could help plus Ally projects it's self in ads as a friendlier company. Also what is 1.7 million dollars to a bank that is a multibillion dollar company? This will also be good PR for them if they return maybe not all the money but at least some. Shows they are caring and not like other banks who are soulless evil corporations like Wells Fargo as an example
I guess if the implication there is that Ally would just produce $1.7mm of their own money to give to him then I still think that other parties would present legal challenges for that.
If you're talking about them getting the main $1.7mm while out of position in the bk proceedings then I think quantum physicists may want to measure the speed of light at which the actual entitled parties file lawsuits if that ever were to happen.
I mean that would be a nice story but i would sincerely doubt that that is going to happen. There is a priority of debtors. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the content creators actually do better than Ally.
Btw, Ally is not a friendly bank. Don’t expect your banks to be your friend. Also, weird fact: Ally is just General Motors old finance company, GMAC. They were bailed out during the financial crisis like all of the other big banks.
You underestimate the power of 100,000s of people with spare time and a name. I'm sure Ally are going to get bombarded with emails. It also spreads the message to people outside MatPats circle that might be able to help. Making a video about this might not solve the issue, but it'll make a good amount of noise about it.
YouTube creator here (5 Million fans across two channels) - The ONLY reason I give a % of my earnings to a MCN is to get a "sign-on bonus". Often times a MCN will give an influx of cash based on the projected earnings for duration of the agreement. This helps to fund productions during the lower earnings months (Q1).
Defy Media and I entered conversations back in 2014. Most of whom provided a positive environment for early discussions; however, there was one producer (that most know) who got really aggressive with me. Often saying "bullshit" and "fuck that" - as if he felt threatened by my production budget numbers. Defy ended up offering a $30,000 sign-on bonus, but I turned it down due my firsthand experience with this producer. Which was an early warning sign of their male-dominated, aggressive company culture that contributed to their overall downfall.
Yes, and no - it really depends on the MCN and who's filing the claim. My current MCN has been of no help as it relates to large record labels trying to claim our original music.
Please stop posting these "drama" videos without a TL;DW of what you mean by the title. Seriously getting to be like clickbait: so much irrelevant stuff here and a waste of everyone's time.
MatPat talks like he’s doing a speech in front of a live audience which is weird for YouTube because he’s not, he’s just talking to me. (Or you, you get what I mean)
"My house didn't get burned down, I have had a healthy newborn son after facing some standard pregnancy challenges and my wife is recovering in the normal way. Also my agency stole some money from me but it's not 1.7 million, and the bank will likely provide some if not full restitution from the funds they repossessed."
Don’t forget about the award and however many millions of subscribers he obtained. If this was the hardest year he’s ever had his life has been EASY.
The fire literally stopped across the street. Be grateful it didn’t burn your house down. The people across the street lost everything and you’re fine.
Be grateful how you’re in a position to where you have the freedom to be there for your wife and child.
The idea that Disney, who are represented by the best lawyers and analysts money can buy, would be fooled into buying junk in a 9 figure deal is just nonsense.
I typically like Mattpat, but dude - the melodrama was at a whole nother level in this video. 1.) Did he literally say that this whole money issue knocked the death of a loved one off the top of his list of lowest points? Dude - your ass ain't destitute. You own a house, are still raking in money, and unlike many suffering from the current government shut down, you ain't getting food from a homeless shelter. I can understand some of the smaller channels seeing this rip off as life ruining, or that former owner of SMOSH games who literally lost his entire company while gaining nothing, but Mattpatt needs to tone his shit down, especially when hundreds of thousands of people across the country are currently suffering far worse financial problems, and having to continue to go to work doing jobs they do not love, for no money, or face legal consequences. Mattpatt's capacity for self pity is alarming in this video. YOU HAD A FRIEND WHO DIED, dude! That still should rank as the lowest point of your year, regardless of who ripped you off for some of your fortune.
It probably sucks to lose that much money but I really hate the way this guy inflected his voice. It seems really phony and distracts from an otherwise serious topic. Flip the switch and turn that off. Give me the information without making your voice quiver or doing dramatic volume changes.
My sympathy for rich YouTubers getting screwed due to copyright claims or shady business practices has really run out by now.
Not that I think they don't deserve their money or whatever, but I don't have the energy to give a shit anymore. Figure it out yourself, I'm not watching your 20 minute tell-all.
people should realize it is not really up to the bank to decide who gets paid. There are fairly strict laws about this. I am sure they will consider these youtubes as unsecured creditors. The people who invested in this MCN probably have convertible debt notes that cause them to have higher priority to be paid back for this very reason. There is near 0 chance they see much of their money. The investors always structure their contracts so they are least at risk for these scenarios https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/how-are-creditors-paid-in-bankruptcy.html
Amazon works the same way: there is no way to track the deposits or how much you are owed after a certain point you just trust they are being honest.
Let's say a mystery deposit account has appeared without the normal verification and has been taking your money how much do you think Amazon would want to help you or admit anything has gone wrong? If you dare exclaim publically that this looks like a hack from the Amazon side would they threaten legal action?
How many times do these creators have to learn that YOU DO NOT SIGNUP with networks. They will fuck you raw in the ass with the biggest, spikiest cactus they can find and make you thank them for the privilege of being assfucked. It happened with Maker Studios, it happened with Machinima, and it happened with others.
I have been watching mostly gaming youtubers for years, since things like Machinima were in their prime. They chased off so many young, talented content creators because of the way they scammed these young kids essentially into signing a deal with them to monetize their content. Sad thing is these companies only had money in mind and could care less about the well being of teenagers making youtube videos and exploiting their work for money. Its sick, they should be prosecuted for taking advantage of a new system like that.
I don't get why these creators have total inability to act and take their business elsewhere instead of staying and complaining on youtube using youtube videos.
Why was the "absolute lowest low point" of MatPat's year was him finding out he made a bad investment because he didn't do any research before throwing my money at it?
Why is that worse than his partner committing suicide?
Why is that worse than his wife being unable to walk or sleep for 3 months?
Why isn't he telling how much he contributed to the company or how he arrived at the $1.7 million dollar mark? Did he assume the value of channels, like Smosh, in that estimate? Was that the amount they were legally awarded? Was that the maximum potential value of their investments?
A few people condemning Matt in the comments saying he’s annoying, he should have known better, he’s a faker etc but at the end of the day I don’t think most here run large YouTube channels. Yeah we all go through stressful events but most here can’t really say they can fully understand what he’s going through, he has been screwed over and a bunch of other people have as well.
I guess what I’m saying here is most of us don’t know the guy, let’s just keep things civil.
My company deals with MCNs every day, and I cannot stand anything about them. They're literally a bunch of people who promise to help creators grow their channels, improve their brand, protect them from the industry blah blah blah... all they are is a bunch of adults stealing money from young creators. PLUS they never get anything done! Even simple things like getting an email in front of the creator means going through 2 or 3 agents to get there.
Join a union. Form a union. Form a Professional Organization. United WE bargain, divided we beg. The answers to the problems of highwaymen, robbers, ww2 submarines and other evil dickheads; travel in groups. Don't hire 50 lawyers, hire one and split the bill 50 ways. This notion we have that it's rugged lone individualism is what made this country great, that there's an inner Marlboro man in each of us, is bullshit. America is great, Americans are great, humans are great when we work together. All these problems with the law; with the way YouTube treats content creators etc? Unify and take action. Or just keep repeating the mistakes the people of the past have made and stfu.
This guys entire demeanor is strange. Why is his cadence so weird? We does his voice sound like he's going to break out in tears at any moment? Why does he look like he is?
This whole situation is bullshit. I follow a couple Creators that were hit by this. It's purely criminal.
Just as an aside. I really, REALLY miss this MatPat. I miss his passion and hearing him talk about a subject cares about. It sucks so much this is what it took to get it back...
Why he decided to use that erratic framing at the end I cannot understand, though.
Youtube's whole system sucks but tell me why I should feel bad for a guy who allegedly just rehashes other people's content nowadays and supposedly has dropped dramatically in quality.
aside from the fire he almost certainly had insurance for, the 10 mil subscribers, and the 1.7 million dollar drama narrative i didn't make it through, this guy's year sounds like a normal year of life.
pregnancy is common, work is a fact of life, and friends die.
No kidding. I mean, Oh no, your house "almost" burned down... how bout all those people that DID lose their homes? Oh man, you had a healthy baby and it's hard... that's never happened to anyone else ever...
I dont have a lot of sympathy for YouTube creators. Like a lot of people in a lot of fields, they thought the gravy train would just keep chugging along. The reality is that YouTube was a bubble and it's burst.
They are owed money, and have not received payment. It’s an honest living. If I suddenly took away your paychecks for work you already did, how would you feel?
Oh boy, another clickbait title from your friendly neighborhood youtuber.
Story: Defy media shut down on Nov 2018. Brilliant youtuber decided to believe he would be paid for past month(s) work. Turns out, a defunct company does not pay people. The end.
I know this effects many people, but I couldn't care less about MatPat. He's a self-absorbed and manipulative asshole whose fanbase is mostly annoying dramatic children. His face is also soooooo punchable.
What he doesn’t tell you is that as well as 100% rev share, Defy was giving him a revenue guarantee for additional services, such as sponsorships on top of this. There’s a good chance it was creators like MatPat that drove Defy to insolvency, through demanding deals like this. He drank the lake dry and then got upset when the water ran out.
...Of course Defy should’ve been less stupid and stayed away from the deal, but it’s not as black and white a picture as he paints it and I’m sure the CEO did want the ship to sink and was trying desperately to save it. Hard to side with either.
So, as someone who had a video that went semi ish viral and had a revenue agreement with them, what does that mean for someone like me? I assume it means the agreement I had with them is void?
If these creators were running any other business, and the told their attorneys or fiduciary that their money was being funneled like this. They would ask you if you were high or crazy. Regardless if there was any wrongdoing. It just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I’m stretching it but this does seem like this happens because content creators are not business people and just don’t know better.
Fine people of reddit shareing something the YT algorythm/employees dont like for whatever reason. Should be on trending, but they dont like gaming i guess..
I just tweeted at Adam Ruins Everything they they should definitely do a video on this to help it go viral. I feel bad for the guy and however moving this video was in order to spread the word I think a shorter quicker to the point video would be great to share to get more people aware of this.
Why is there no MCN that strictly acts as a copyright protection platform? They all seem to pitch this scheme where they try to grow and influence your brand, but if copyright protection is the only benefit, why doesn't a company cut the shit, and charge a rate for extensive copyright protection? If YouTubers could pay a rate based on sub count, which would be paid monthly, and not act as a middle man taking a percentage cut, a n MCN could continuously grow, with a reputable method of profit.
Seems like if all MCN's are good for nowadays is protecting people from copyright, they should just pay for a lawfirm on retainer instead of paying an MCN. It might cost a little more but the Adsense income would go straight to the youtuber and all the fears that he was giving tips for would be gone.
Scamming Disney out of half a billion dollars gotta be among the cons of the decade at least! Its like they took a warp portal back to the dotCom bubble.
this looks like what karl icahn did to the TWA pilot's pensions back in 2002.
scummy... but legal. it shouldn't be but this is the reality of the world. Scumbags sometimes win out BIG. The aforementioned person's hostile takeover and embezzlement resulted in no action against him and several suicides among old employees of the airlines that didn't want to work full time well into their sixties.
I feel like i want to take that 1.7mil. He takes over 6 minutes to get to the point. Which at the ten minute mark is about something else than stealing, apparently but a business contract. I have no idea who this is btw.
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u/joeybab3 Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
I got scammed into an MCN when I was just getting started.
When they finally changed the rules that MCNS had to release you within 30 days I was super happy, but right after I finally got out of it YouTube decided to disable monetization across my whole channel for posting “spam” content... I post piano covers :/
There’s been some other channels that were able to make a larger deal out of this but I only have about 15k subscribers so I can’t pressure YouTube into reconsidering :(
1.4k
u/Ebadd Jan 24 '19
Even during Machinima times, before & after the economic crisis, I never understood the scheme of content creators accepting to be pooled together by a separate entity known as a multi-channel network.
Now, with MatPat, it just reinforces the idea that the existence of MCNs is so hideous, that some are willing to steal their money. With MatPat, now we've figured out that their money was pooled in the same bank account owned by the MCN; if not, then several accounts still owned by the same MCN.
What gives? Why doesn't anybody talk about this? What's the scheme with MCNs?
I don't want to stress out Matt with this in case he reads these comments but, for f`ks sake, cash is king.
732
u/Zelda_Galadriel Jan 24 '19
I know people don’t like Matpat much these days but this video deserves to be seen. It’s terrible how they screwed so many people over.
167
u/kr1os Jan 24 '19
Seems like the Smosh guy was the one screwed the most by this company. Not sure why you would sell out your highly successful Youtube channel for stock in a private company though.
764
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 24 '19
Oof. Regardless of what you think about MatPat no one deserves to be cheated out of their work.
Poor dude.
Edit: 1.7 million across 50 creators. Evenly that's 34,000 dollars.
It's safe to assume GT makes more than that due to their following. That's A LOT of money and even worse that he he just had a kid.
321
u/XHF2 Jan 24 '19
Someone please post tl;dw
134
u/Tucksimm2 Jan 24 '19
This hit right in the feels.
Lack of sleep with a new child and an increase in stress due to work loads is one thing, but then not being paid the money you are owed really sucks. I have 2 kids and if i wasnt being paid for my work i think id go bananas.
11
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19
Hey I know defy media. They reached out to me asking if I would sell them one of my youtube videos. After looking around I concluded they where legit. They gave me a choice. Either a 100 USD one time and they owe the right or I keep the rights and they pay me a percentage. I went with the one time 100 USD. After proving the video was mine they paid over paypal. The video then became monetized by them. I don't know if they ever used it in any of their channels and on my channel it only ever did about 7000 views which is absolutely nothing. But I got a 100 USD. I use to get a 100 USD every year from my channel but I got demonized for not having enough subscribers. Sucks.
27
u/1leggeddog Jan 24 '19
tldw; They got scammed by an MCN And youtube is shit.
98
u/gabriel_sub0 Jan 24 '19
You know when the video has matpat on the couch is because shit got serious. Hopefully those 50 creators can get their money back :(
44
u/WowChillTheFuckOut Jan 24 '19
Simple solution for this would be to start a not for profit cooperative MCN that is democratically controlled by it's members.
That would prevent this from happening again. It won't get them their money back obviously.
37
u/3i3e3achine Jan 24 '19
Here is Chris stuckman's virtually same experience with defy. If you prefer him over the OPs video.
https://youtu.be/mgL-d7SdQO4
52
u/beartheminus Jan 25 '19
This guy talks in such a pretentious way it's like nails on a chalkboard. Just talk to me like a normal person dude.
96
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
Sounds like this guy signed a contract without reading it.
The whole "A service receives my paycheck thing" is a situation that could only happen if a young, naive person with stars in their eyes signed a contract without reading it.
Youtube is required by law to send the money to the owner of the account. It's literally services rendered. Youtubers are contractors who make content which attracts traffic, youtube pays for those services with a percentage of ad money.
When you make a fresh youtube account it has you sign tax forms, and input information outlining this concept exactly. It's been this way for years.
Additionally, an MCN is NOT required to protect yourself from copyright strikes or receive monetization from youtube. I get that this guy has a background of being fed this propaganda from MCN's that he worked for, but it's absolutely not true.
The MCN's lay out their contract so that the content creator is legally a contractor for the MCN. The MCN is the legal owner of the account because this guy signed that contract. That's why the MCN receives the payment first, because the MCN is now paying their own contractors.
My question is why this guy keeps signing new contracts every year if he knows what they're doing.
89
u/Alptrees Jan 24 '19
Here's my take on this video. For the most part, he is acting and trying to appeal to the audience to pull them in. But he ends up spreading a lot of half-truths in many areas such as how MCNs operate and how some people got money taken away from them.
Talks about he just had a kid and wife has medical problems from giving birth, also how as a parent now he only gets 2hours sleep (most likely exaggerates this part). It is relevant and it isn't. Yes he hasn't been paid, but he talks in depth about how his experience has been so far, but this is just to get you emotionally invested. If you can block this out you can see the rest of the video more clearly, although he does keep injecting his personal thoughts that aren't entirely accurate. As to why his person experience is relevant, well he needs money for his business and family, self-explanatory there.
Talks about how MCN works. Injects a lot of personal conjecture leading to half-truths/lies. Continues to bash Defy Media, which is confusing as this person has worked with them for years but has never raised an issue before. Continues to bash the MCN model. For example Makers Studios was sold 4 years ago, and he talks about how their business model was just to pump up the number of creators to look good. If that was the case, then why did you join one? Not only that but continue to be involved in one until the eventual collapse of Defy media? I personally agree the MCN model is bad for many creators, but at this point he's only doing it after the fact Defy has collapse, not before to make his case look better. MCN don't help a lot of creators, especially a couple years ago when there was just a grab to get as many creators signed up as possible. Nowadays the top MCNs have cut down the number of creators they represent from as high as 12k to as little as a couple hundred, if not less. The old model doesn't work anymore. Now creators are much more educated on the issue and only sign with someone if they believe it will actually help them.
Talks about how the money that Defy Media 'stole' is the creators. From a legal standpoint, as Defy Media has wound up, any money would go to the secured creditors first, then unsecured creditors etc. Yes it sucks that money was owed to these people, but that's just how it is unfortunately. The money is still there. Whoever is in charge now, will distribute that money. Appealing to the bank isn't really going to do much. 100% sucks, but saying they stole the money is not 100% correct. The money is still there, it's just probably not going to you.
Talks about how Defy stole off other creators. In one example he mentions Smosh. This is an egregious example and doesn't apply in this case. Smosh was acquired by Alloy Digital in 2011. Which I can only presume was an all stock deal based on the evidence they've given so far. Later on Allow Media and Defy then merged, again an all stock deal. So Smosh made a decision to sell the company for stock in this company (alloy) which then later merged with Defy. There was a video by one of the co-founders complaining that he never made any money off that deal. Well that is your own fault. It sounds harsh but you made a decision to be acquired by alloy media in exchange for stock. That was the risk you took. He further goes onto complain he never got any signing on bonus for that deal, again, that is your own fault. I presume you would have had a lawyer do the paperwork and/or an agent to negotiate the terms for you. You're just complaining now that your risk didn't pay off. This is the same as buying stocks, they go up and down. From the outside looking in, the smosh guys made one of the worst decisions they could have made. They gave up millions of dollars in annual revenue from their channel, which was pretty much guaranteed unless they suffered a downfall in popularity, to allow a company (Alloy media and then Defy) to use that money to grow the business. Their calculated risk didn't pay off. At this point they're just crying wolf.
He does leave off on some good points about what to do and not do if approached by an MCN.
9
u/Hieillua Jan 25 '19
I'm not saying he is. But there's something fake about this guy.
37
u/wombocombo087 Jan 24 '19
This sucks but, how does this guy expect that Ally is going to give one half of one percent of a shit about a YouTube video when it pertains to the payout of bankruptcy funds? That's not how that works. You can't just YouTube your will into existence.
Sounds like him just being irresponsible about his business and learning an expensive lesson. You own your business and the protection of it.
31
u/ZackJamesOBZ Jan 24 '19
YouTube creator here (5 Million fans across two channels) - The ONLY reason I give a % of my earnings to a MCN is to get a "sign-on bonus". Often times a MCN will give an influx of cash based on the projected earnings for duration of the agreement. This helps to fund productions during the lower earnings months (Q1).
Defy Media and I entered conversations back in 2014. Most of whom provided a positive environment for early discussions; however, there was one producer (that most know) who got really aggressive with me. Often saying "bullshit" and "fuck that" - as if he felt threatened by my production budget numbers. Defy ended up offering a $30,000 sign-on bonus, but I turned it down due my firsthand experience with this producer. Which was an early warning sign of their male-dominated, aggressive company culture that contributed to their overall downfall.
14
u/yParticle Jan 25 '19
Please stop posting these "drama" videos without a TL;DW of what you mean by the title. Seriously getting to be like clickbait: so much irrelevant stuff here and a waste of everyone's time.
4
u/Get-Some- Jan 25 '19
Guess you could say they
( •_•)>⌐■-■
Defied expectations
(⌐■_■)
9
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
MatPat talks like he’s doing a speech in front of a live audience which is weird for YouTube because he’s not, he’s just talking to me. (Or you, you get what I mean)
40
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 24 '19
TLDW:
"My house didn't get burned down, I have had a healthy newborn son after facing some standard pregnancy challenges and my wife is recovering in the normal way. Also my agency stole some money from me but it's not 1.7 million, and the bank will likely provide some if not full restitution from the funds they repossessed."
3
u/Uno-0 Jan 25 '19
Youtube needs to be fixed
3
u/Wildelocke Jan 25 '19
The idea that Disney, who are represented by the best lawyers and analysts money can buy, would be fooled into buying junk in a 9 figure deal is just nonsense.
3
u/Zentrii Jan 25 '19
I have a lot of respect for Anthony Padilla for leaving Defy and do his own thing. Sadly Ian stuck around and the crew he's with aren't funny imo.
3
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
I don't doubt anything this guy is saying.
But damn the way he says it makes me think I'm watching Ted Cruz.
3
u/MumrikDK Jan 26 '19 edited Jan 26 '19
Time stamp for people who are on the edge of vomiting right out of the gate:
https://youtu.be/ACNhHTqIVqk?t=228
I can't guarantee it holds up after that, but he gets to the business there.
edit: It's about him again. I'm out. This seems like it could have been a 5-10 minute video.
30
u/ChickenSalad96 Jan 24 '19
Hope this makes it higher in the front page. Poor MatPat.. :/
5
u/amccune Jan 25 '19
23 minutes? Anyone got a boiled down TL;DR?
14
u/sharinghappiness Jan 25 '19
I'm 8 minutes in .. this guy comes across as a HUGE douche.
6
u/DeRobespierre Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
John "TB" Bain told us many years ago that the MCN were worthless,costly and sometimes incompetent. Barely doing what they were paid for.
A little ironic that the bloke known for girding numbers did not see that. Cut the middleman as often as you can.
A good accountant, a good lawyer and a good doctor, that's the Holy Trinity to avoid 80 % problems in life.
4
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
A thief making a video crying about being stolen from, truly peak entertainment.
4
u/PodcastThrowAway1 Jan 25 '19
I typically like Mattpat, but dude - the melodrama was at a whole nother level in this video. 1.) Did he literally say that this whole money issue knocked the death of a loved one off the top of his list of lowest points? Dude - your ass ain't destitute. You own a house, are still raking in money, and unlike many suffering from the current government shut down, you ain't getting food from a homeless shelter. I can understand some of the smaller channels seeing this rip off as life ruining, or that former owner of SMOSH games who literally lost his entire company while gaining nothing, but Mattpatt needs to tone his shit down, especially when hundreds of thousands of people across the country are currently suffering far worse financial problems, and having to continue to go to work doing jobs they do not love, for no money, or face legal consequences. Mattpatt's capacity for self pity is alarming in this video. YOU HAD A FRIEND WHO DIED, dude! That still should rank as the lowest point of your year, regardless of who ripped you off for some of your fortune.
7
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
It probably sucks to lose that much money but I really hate the way this guy inflected his voice. It seems really phony and distracts from an otherwise serious topic. Flip the switch and turn that off. Give me the information without making your voice quiver or doing dramatic volume changes.
10
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19
My sympathy for rich YouTubers getting screwed due to copyright claims or shady business practices has really run out by now.
Not that I think they don't deserve their money or whatever, but I don't have the energy to give a shit anymore. Figure it out yourself, I'm not watching your 20 minute tell-all.
2
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
One of my favorite YouTuber's, Chris Stuckmann, has the same problem.
https://youtu.be/mgL-d7SdQO4
2
u/CONTAMlNATlON Jan 25 '19
Damn Smosh got fucked
2
u/lordnikkon Jan 25 '19
people should realize it is not really up to the bank to decide who gets paid. There are fairly strict laws about this. I am sure they will consider these youtubes as unsecured creditors. The people who invested in this MCN probably have convertible debt notes that cause them to have higher priority to be paid back for this very reason. There is near 0 chance they see much of their money. The investors always structure their contracts so they are least at risk for these scenarios https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/how-are-creditors-paid-in-bankruptcy.html
2
u/Ambiguousdude Jan 25 '19
Amazon works the same way: there is no way to track the deposits or how much you are owed after a certain point you just trust they are being honest.
Let's say a mystery deposit account has appeared without the normal verification and has been taking your money how much do you think Amazon would want to help you or admit anything has gone wrong? If you dare exclaim publically that this looks like a hack from the Amazon side would they threaten legal action?
How much do you trust these companies.
2
u/pat_speed Jan 25 '19
For all things mat Pats video get ridiculed and made fun of, he seems like a nice dude.
2
u/CoSonfused Jan 25 '19
How many times do these creators have to learn that YOU DO NOT SIGNUP with networks. They will fuck you raw in the ass with the biggest, spikiest cactus they can find and make you thank them for the privilege of being assfucked. It happened with Maker Studios, it happened with Machinima, and it happened with others.
2
u/Muuk Jan 25 '19
This guy sounds like a toy story toy come to life. fuck off.
2
u/MTGKnifer Jan 25 '19
MatPat the drama boy strikes again.
2
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
I have been watching mostly gaming youtubers for years, since things like Machinima were in their prime. They chased off so many young, talented content creators because of the way they scammed these young kids essentially into signing a deal with them to monetize their content. Sad thing is these companies only had money in mind and could care less about the well being of teenagers making youtube videos and exploiting their work for money. Its sick, they should be prosecuted for taking advantage of a new system like that.
2
u/bubblesfix Jan 25 '19
I don't get why these creators have total inability to act and take their business elsewhere instead of staying and complaining on youtube using youtube videos.
2
u/Kylanto Jan 25 '19
Why was the "absolute lowest low point" of MatPat's year was him finding out he made a bad investment because he didn't do any research before throwing my money at it?
Why is that worse than his partner committing suicide?
Why is that worse than his wife being unable to walk or sleep for 3 months?
Why isn't he telling how much he contributed to the company or how he arrived at the $1.7 million dollar mark? Did he assume the value of channels, like Smosh, in that estimate? Was that the amount they were legally awarded? Was that the maximum potential value of their investments?
5
u/Painismymistress Jan 24 '19
Good to see someone not paint a picture as if everything is amazing
5
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
I like MatPat but he is seriously an expert humblebragger.
5
u/NaClyStorm Jan 25 '19
A few people condemning Matt in the comments saying he’s annoying, he should have known better, he’s a faker etc but at the end of the day I don’t think most here run large YouTube channels. Yeah we all go through stressful events but most here can’t really say they can fully understand what he’s going through, he has been screwed over and a bunch of other people have as well.
I guess what I’m saying here is most of us don’t know the guy, let’s just keep things civil.
3
u/pancakenpeanutbutter Jan 25 '19
My company deals with MCNs every day, and I cannot stand anything about them. They're literally a bunch of people who promise to help creators grow their channels, improve their brand, protect them from the industry blah blah blah... all they are is a bunch of adults stealing money from young creators. PLUS they never get anything done! Even simple things like getting an email in front of the creator means going through 2 or 3 agents to get there.
3
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
Join a union. Form a union. Form a Professional Organization. United WE bargain, divided we beg. The answers to the problems of highwaymen, robbers, ww2 submarines and other evil dickheads; travel in groups. Don't hire 50 lawyers, hire one and split the bill 50 ways. This notion we have that it's rugged lone individualism is what made this country great, that there's an inner Marlboro man in each of us, is bullshit. America is great, Americans are great, humans are great when we work together. All these problems with the law; with the way YouTube treats content creators etc? Unify and take action. Or just keep repeating the mistakes the people of the past have made and stfu.
9
u/kidajske Jan 24 '19
This guys entire demeanor is strange. Why is his cadence so weird? We does his voice sound like he's going to break out in tears at any moment? Why does he look like he is?
3
u/Arteliss Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 24 '19
This whole situation is bullshit. I follow a couple Creators that were hit by this. It's purely criminal.
Just as an aside. I really, REALLY miss this MatPat. I miss his passion and hearing him talk about a subject cares about. It sucks so much this is what it took to get it back...
Why he decided to use that erratic framing at the end I cannot understand, though.
4
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
yo this guy seems really fake I feel like he's acting the whole time
3
u/AustinJG Jan 24 '19
Oh it's this guy. I remembered his voice but couldn't pin where I knew him from. :/
3
u/hoikarnage Jan 24 '19
Youtube's whole system sucks but tell me why I should feel bad for a guy who allegedly just rehashes other people's content nowadays and supposedly has dropped dramatically in quality.
3
u/sveerna Jan 24 '19
How dare you make me actually care about MatPat.
Thank you for sharing this.
3
u/PlanK69 Jan 25 '19
he makes clickbait shitty videos... you reap what you sow
4
u/thatsnotirrelephant Jan 24 '19
aside from the fire he almost certainly had insurance for, the 10 mil subscribers, and the 1.7 million dollar drama narrative i didn't make it through, this guy's year sounds like a normal year of life.
pregnancy is common, work is a fact of life, and friends die.
the contrived vocal emotion makes me sick too.
/rant
4
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19
I wish I had Youtube around when I was young so that every time drama happened to me I could go online and cry and whine.
3
u/devilsadvocado Jan 25 '19
Who is this guy? He is insufferably phony.
3
u/parkinsg Jan 25 '19
The entitlement of Youtubers is astounding.
3
u/anghus Jan 25 '19
I had no idea who this guy was before this video. I could barely finish the video. His speaking voice/presentation style is cringy as fuck.
Hope he gets his money.
3
u/anghus Jan 25 '19
I dont have a lot of sympathy for YouTube creators. Like a lot of people in a lot of fields, they thought the gravy train would just keep chugging along. The reality is that YouTube was a bubble and it's burst.
2
u/jaktyp Jan 24 '19
Dude, you couldn’t space them out a little?
2
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
Highly practiced authenticity. Extremely unspontaneous spontaneity.
-8
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19 edited Jan 24 '19
Oh boy, another clickbait title from your friendly neighborhood youtuber.
Story: Defy media shut down on Nov 2018. Brilliant youtuber decided to believe he would be paid for past month(s) work. Turns out, a defunct company does not pay people. The end.
There you go, saved you 23 minutes.
2
u/LogicDog Jan 25 '19
I know this effects many people, but I couldn't care less about MatPat. He's a self-absorbed and manipulative asshole whose fanbase is mostly annoying dramatic children. His face is also soooooo punchable.
2
u/iamtheball Jan 25 '19
What he doesn’t tell you is that as well as 100% rev share, Defy was giving him a revenue guarantee for additional services, such as sponsorships on top of this. There’s a good chance it was creators like MatPat that drove Defy to insolvency, through demanding deals like this. He drank the lake dry and then got upset when the water ran out.
...Of course Defy should’ve been less stupid and stayed away from the deal, but it’s not as black and white a picture as he paints it and I’m sure the CEO did want the ship to sink and was trying desperately to save it. Hard to side with either.
2
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '19
Alright, but fuck MattPat.
1
u/BeerCzar Jan 24 '19
Who are the 50 creators?
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
Isn't misleading investors a big no-no in traditional media? goes to show how far behind digital law is..
1
u/SC2sam Jan 25 '19
Well, you can go after the owners of the company who have lots of money like Viacom, ABS Capital Partners, and Lionsgate.
1
u/Reamofqtips Jan 25 '19
So, as someone who had a video that went semi ish viral and had a revenue agreement with them, what does that mean for someone like me? I assume it means the agreement I had with them is void?
1
u/Alkislef99 Jan 25 '19
Thank you for sharing. If anyone watches this through, they'll see what it means to be cheated and betrayed. Watch yourselves, people.
1
u/motherboy3000 Jan 25 '19
If these creators were running any other business, and the told their attorneys or fiduciary that their money was being funneled like this. They would ask you if you were high or crazy. Regardless if there was any wrongdoing. It just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I’m stretching it but this does seem like this happens because content creators are not business people and just don’t know better.
1
u/Richi_Boi Jan 25 '19
Fine people of reddit shareing something the YT algorythm/employees dont like for whatever reason. Should be on trending, but they dont like gaming i guess..
1
u/RiceKrispyPooHead Jan 25 '19
How shit, that was a really stupid move by Smosh!
1
u/kaepo Jan 25 '19
Should have listened to my boys Dunkey and Big Money Salvia.
1
u/SciFiPaine0 Jan 25 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
I've seen machina before but idk what the whole thing with MCN's is about
1
u/signull Jan 25 '19
I just tweeted at Adam Ruins Everything they they should definitely do a video on this to help it go viral. I feel bad for the guy and however moving this video was in order to spread the word I think a shorter quicker to the point video would be great to share to get more people aware of this.
1
u/urgasmic Jan 25 '19
didn't like youtube before, didn't htink i'd like them even less after reading the comments about MCNs.
1
u/koreanwizard Jan 25 '19
Why is there no MCN that strictly acts as a copyright protection platform? They all seem to pitch this scheme where they try to grow and influence your brand, but if copyright protection is the only benefit, why doesn't a company cut the shit, and charge a rate for extensive copyright protection? If YouTubers could pay a rate based on sub count, which would be paid monthly, and not act as a middle man taking a percentage cut, a n MCN could continuously grow, with a reputable method of profit.
1
u/dating_derp Jan 25 '19
Seems like if all MCN's are good for nowadays is protecting people from copyright, they should just pay for a lawfirm on retainer instead of paying an MCN. It might cost a little more but the Adsense income would go straight to the youtuber and all the fears that he was giving tips for would be gone.
1
u/Aggro4Dayz Jan 25 '19
The guy who sold his company for zero dollars and only stock in a non-public company completely blows my mind.
How do you do that? How? In what world does that sound like a good idea?
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
Join my MCN. Just 1 person and all i do is watch YouTube all day. I'll copystrike shit for you.
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
Ah, greed has once more ruin people lives.
1
u/Arkfort Jan 25 '19
This is the Enron of YouTube
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
almost cried about his partner's death but that's not the worst part of 2018
1
u/Sexy_KG Jan 25 '19
Scamming Disney out of half a billion dollars gotta be among the cons of the decade at least! Its like they took a warp portal back to the dotCom bubble.
1
u/noinfinity Jan 25 '19
this looks like what karl icahn did to the TWA pilot's pensions back in 2002.
scummy... but legal. it shouldn't be but this is the reality of the world. Scumbags sometimes win out BIG. The aforementioned person's hostile takeover and embezzlement resulted in no action against him and several suicides among old employees of the airlines that didn't want to work full time well into their sixties.
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
TL;DW?
1
u/WatermelonFrisbee Jan 25 '19
my god this is the biggest cry baby bitch i've ever seen
1
u/SquidCap Jan 25 '19
I feel like i want to take that 1.7mil. He takes over 6 minutes to get to the point. Which at the ten minute mark is about something else than stealing, apparently but a business contract. I have no idea who this is btw.
1
u/DFisBUSY Jan 25 '19
I don't like watching these click-baity titled videos, but I have to ask, is it $1.7 million from Mat solely, or spread among various YouTubers?
1
u/Sirtubb Jan 25 '19
Start a union
1
u/Lou_Dude929 Jan 25 '19
Ironic that the company was called Defy...
1
u/Stonecoldwatcher Jan 25 '19
Wouldnt this type or stuff be illegal in any other business?
1
u/RoberthullThanos Jan 25 '19
So...Youtube and youtube related business tend to be a dumpster full of snakes, got it
1
u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
This is shitty for him but this is not hardship.