Copyright/Piracy

[psychospacecow]

TBH, I think Let's Play monetization should see a 50/50 split between the YouTuber and the developers. There's an obvious demand for that kind of video, and creating a good one can be pretty involved... So both parties should be paid their dues. Particularly when so much of a LPer's money is going to cycle right back into the industry via acquiring new content to LP.

This format has been around since at least MST3K, granted that program made use of PD material.

I think that in general there should be legitimate avenues for monetizing fanwork, whether it's fiction, art, merchandise, LPs, whatever. A portion of that money being driven back to the proper rights holders might make up for some of the dwindling profits in recent years, meanwhile it provides fans with a legitimate avenue to generate enough income that they can actually afford to purchse SMW five different ways. It creates a healthier economy in general.

Heh, I can already imagine Sega's newfound economy in the sonic fandom blossoming.
One thing that I do like about the Let's Play format is that it is pure, and total exposure. You get someone to play a game that just came out that no one would have heard of, and you just earned yourself an audience's worth of people considering it and others involving their audiences.