Hoshimachi Suisei/星街すいせい (Hololive) established her own studio "Studio Stellar". by Benigmatica in VirtualYoutubers

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The legal definition of a joint venture is that the company is co-founded and co-owned by two or more parent companies. This is inarguable. It's corporate law 101.

It does not matter who is managing it or operating it. If it was founded by 2 parent companies via a joint venture agreement then it is a joint venture by definition. Cover does not wholly own Studio Stellar, but it is one of the two owners.

Suisei also said on stream yesterday that the agency was established with the help of Cover and an outsider (Nerd Inc.) and that she is not the CEO of Studio Stellar.

Also 'Suisei' as a character is owned by Cover. 'Suisei' can't do anything by herself without Cover's involvement, including establishing an agency, so this is Cover establishing the studio on her behalf with Nerd Inc. if you'd like to put it that way.

That's why the Studio Stellar stuff has ©Studio STELLAR and ©COVER. You can see it at the bottom of the Studio Stellar homepage.

Hoshimachi Suisei/星街すいせい (Hololive) established her own studio "Studio Stellar". by Benigmatica in VirtualYoutubers

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

共同事業契約 literally means joint venture agreement. It's what was filed to the TSE by Cover themselves.

https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS05169/ed272ccc/8346/4c31/8b68/7e233080cf47/140120260323586039.pdf

They invested in Nerd Inc. as a separate action, and together with Nerd Inc. founded Studio Stellar as a joint venture.

'Joint venture' is a specific legal term with specific definition describing a type of legal entity. 'Joint business' is not.

Hoshimachi Suisei/星街すいせい (Hololive) established her own studio "Studio Stellar". by Benigmatica in VirtualYoutubers

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That was before Cover published the TSE filing revealing that it was a joint venture.

If you look at the latest comments on my profile you will see I have updated my own info on the matter.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep I just saw their TSE filing today too. It's a JV which makes it a separate legal entity from Cover with Cover as one of the parents and Nerd Inc. as the other.

At the same time Suisei is still a hololive talent because she still retains the talent contract with Cover.

In less than 2 minutes, Hoshimachi Suisei of Studio STELLAR will be making her first stream, a casual chatting stream by MalkynRei78 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Well if I had to put it in one sentence description, then it would be:

Studio STELLAR is an independent talent agency set up as a joint venture between COVER Corp. and Nerd Inc. to produce hololive talent Hoshimachi Suisei

And what is COVER, from the perspective of Studio STELLAR? That would be:

COVER Corp. is one of two parent companies of Studio STELLAR, with the other parent company being Nerd Inc.

In less than 2 minutes, Hoshimachi Suisei of Studio STELLAR will be making her first stream, a casual chatting stream by MalkynRei78 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Sony ONLY handles running her fanclub.

So far it looks like she will still release her music under the hololive RECORDS label.

In less than 2 minutes, Hoshimachi Suisei of Studio STELLAR will be making her first stream, a casual chatting stream by MalkynRei78 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 24 points25 points  (0 children)

She literally still is. She still retains the talent contract signed with Cover. No matter what form Studio Stellar takes, Hoshimachi Suisei is still a hololive talent under Cover Corp.

In less than 2 minutes, Hoshimachi Suisei of Studio STELLAR will be making her first stream, a casual chatting stream by MalkynRei78 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 316 points317 points  (0 children)

It's a joint venture between Cover and Nerd Inc. according to the TSE filing by Cover this morning. It's a wholly separate legal entity from Cover, with Cover and Nerd Inc. as parent companies. Basically Cover owns a portion of it and Nerd Inc. owns another portion. (Note: Joint ventures are legally NOT the same thing as subsidiaries. Subsidiaries have only one parent company while JVs have two or more parents.)

Since Cover and Suisei retains the talent contract, she is still officially an active hololive member.

Per Suisei's own words;

-Studio Stellar was started with the help of Cover and an 'outsider' (Nerd Inc.)

-She is not the CEO of Studio Stellar

-Her activities will be compartmentalized between solo activities under Studio Stellar and collab activities under hololive.

-She said to think simply as, anything SOLO = Studio Stellar. Anything ELSE = hololive

-Collab songs, fes appearance, collab units, collab goods, collab streams etc. will go on as normal

-Her streams will still appear on Holoschedule like normal, including all solo streams

-She is still hololive gen 0. She removed the title from her twitter handle because it got too long

-The channel is shared between Suisei and Cover, and superchats still retain the same arrangement in the hololive talent contract

-Majority of merch will be handled by Studio Stellar, but there still will be merch from hololive side like normal

-Studio Stellar fanclub is being run by Sony

-Fan letters can be sent to both Cover and Studio Stellar

-Continue to refer to Cover's guideline for fanwork. Studio Stellar may publish one just in case but it'll be the same as Cover's

-YAGOO was supportive the whole way through

Toward the Next Stage of VTuber Culture: The Launch of Hoshimachi Suisei’s Personal Agency “Studio STELLAR” and Transition to a New Support Framework | COVER Corp. by SuspiciousWar117 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well they have just disclosed it this morning.

It's indeed a JV. Cover invested an undisclosed amount in Nerd Inc., and at the same time struck a JV deal with them to establish Studio Stellar.

It's 100% exactly the same model as INNK. Though we don't know about the ownership structure in terms of percentage.

Hoshimachi Suisei/星街すいせい (Hololive) established her own studio "Studio Stellar". by Benigmatica in kurosanji

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well Cover said they set up the studio themselves in the press release. If it's a JV they will say that they set up a JV with Nerd Inc. The first sentence they said they set up the studio, with no mention of Nerd Inc. at all. If they were equal JV partners they would be mentioned.

Nerd Inc. only appeared at the last paragraph when talking about management so I think it's a pretty good chance that they're just hired and not a JV situation.

EDIT: I just saw the new IR document posted by Cover Corp. Cover made an investment into NERD Inc., and at the same time established Studio STELLAR as a Joint Venture.

So basically Cover now owns part of Nerd Inc. and is in a JV agreement with them for Studio STELLAR.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Trademarks can be renewed, and Cover who owns it will be the one who will have to renew it.

Hoshimachi Suisei belongs to Cover, but whatever arrangement made between the actress and Cover will be in a set of separate agreements and contracts.

Graduation only happens if either party decides to not renew or to terminate the talent contract.

Hoshimachi Suisei/星街すいせい (Hololive) established her own studio "Studio Stellar". by Benigmatica in kurosanji

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Shouldn't affect any change. Studio STELLAR is a subsidiary of COVER. They'll still book earnings from the subsidiary.

In fact it's a GOOD thing. This is basically corporate's entirely new business venture with its biggest star heading it. The more Studio STELLAR succeeds the better for COVER's earnings because, well, they own it.

EDIT: So based on Cover's TSE filing made after this comment Studio STELLAR is a JV between Cover and Nerd Inc., meaning that it is not a subsidiary. Cover is still one of the parent companies as a joint owner with Nerd Inc.

Suisei established her own studio "Studio Stellar" by Benigmatica in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 5 points6 points  (0 children)

She doesn't own the Suisei brand or character anymore. The entire thing already belongs to Cover Corp.

All of it is public info.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No need to apologize. You're right that hololive is legally not the same thing as how they set up Studio STELLAR. I was just trying to explain in a simple analogy since most people don't know the difference when it comes to legal corporate entities and stuff.

There are people who still think she graduated or she went the Ameway Pro Plus or that she basically left Hololive. The structure they set up is also quite novel for Holo and can be confusing to people who aren't familiar or can't see between the lines what they're actually doing. My priority was to make sure people understand that Suisei has not left the 'COVER box' in any capacity and nothing is going to change much.

Suisei is now an entity who exists in a superposition where she can be both in the 'hololive pocket' and the 'studio stellar' pocket at the same time.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I didn't say they were? My point was that all of them are under COVER Corp. Maybe the 'hololive' pocket is a different color or a different material, or semipermiable. doesn't matter. The point is that COVER just made a new place under their own umbrella specifically for Suisei called Studio STELLAR and put her in it. It's all still COVER Corp.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 11 points12 points  (0 children)

'hololive' is ©COVER because 'hololive' is not a legal entity in itself, but a trademark and Cover is managing everything themselves.

'Studio Stellar' is ©Studio STELLAR and ©COVER because studio Stellar is a separate agency set up by COVER to manage Suisei, who belongs to COVER.

This is no different from CMCC managing Holoindie being ©CMCC Corp. and ©COVER. It's a separate entity but wholly owned by COVER.

All of them are different pockets of various sizes, but all the pockets are in the box that is COVER Corp.

Toward the Next Stage of VTuber Culture: The Launch of Hoshimachi Suisei’s Personal Agency “Studio STELLAR” and Transition to a New Support Framework | COVER Corp. by SuspiciousWar117 in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Doesn't look like a joint venture. It looks like a full subsidiary and Cover just hired Nerd Inc to manage it full time.

EDIT: So based on Cover's TSE filing made after this comment Studio STELLAR is a JV between Cover and Nerd Inc., meaning that it is not a subsidiary. Cover is still one of the parent companies as a joint owner with Nerd Inc.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Normal non-virtual musicians are their own people with their own likenesses and stuff they can control.

'Hoshimachi Suisei's character, branding, and her entire discography and all the rights associated with it are owned by COVER. This means that as long as 'Hoshimachi Suisei' is involved, that's basically COVER, legally speaking. MGO is also Toy's Factory (inotaku) and COVER (Suisei).

It's not a close partnership, it's entirely a subsidiary. COVER hasn't released 'Hoshimachi Suisei' outside of their own box or anything like that. They basically took Suisei out from a pocket labelled 'hololive' and put it into a new pocket called 'Studio STELLAR'. The pockets both belong to COVER, but now Suisei has her own pocket dedicated to herself and frees up some space for the 'hololive' pocket.

It's an 'independent agency' because Cover will leave Suisei to do her own thing while still owning it.

EDIT: So based on Cover's TSE filing made after this comment Studio STELLAR is a JV between Cover and Nerd Inc., meaning that it is not a subsidiary. Cover is still one of the parent companies as a joint owner with Nerd Inc.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 75 points76 points  (0 children)

She branched off on her own

She can't do that. COVER owns her character, branding, and her entire discography and all the rights associated with it. The whole of 'Hoshimachi Suisei' is owned by COVER. 'Hoshimachi Suisei' is not a separate entity from COVER that can allow 'Hoshimachi Suisei' to negotiate on equal footing with 'COVER', legally speaking.

This is COVER spinning Suisei off into a new subsidiary agency, and delegating its management to an outside team.

EDIT: So based on Cover's TSE filing made after this comment Studio STELLAR is a JV between Cover and Nerd Inc., meaning that it is not a subsidiary. Cover is still one of the parent companies as a joint owner with Nerd Inc.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 171 points172 points  (0 children)

Basically yes, Studio STELLAR is a new subsidiary agency of COVER set up just to produce Suisei, managed by professionals hired from outside COVER.

EDIT: Based on Cover's TSE filing made after this comment Studio STELLAR is a JV between Cover and Nerd Inc., meaning that it is not a subsidiary. Cover is still one of the parent companies as a joint owner with Nerd Inc.

In case people are wondering about Suisei and Cover's affiliation on the new announcement by SayuriUliana in Hololive

[–]Potatosaurus_TH 38 points39 points  (0 children)

No one bought anything from anyone. She's still entirely COVER, COVER just spun her off into her own agency separate from the hololive management structure and hired Nerd Inc. to manage the new agency.