Voice actress Laura Post recently brought attention to perceived discrepancies in the contractual agreements offered by Crunchyroll for voice acting roles. On a Twitter thread posted on the 2nd of June, Post revealed that the forthcoming Tower of God mobile game would not include voice performances from the original English cast of the anime. She cited Crunchyroll’s intervention as the cause for the actors’ inability to audition for the game.
Crunchyroll, the streaming service, had co-produced the anime series in 2020 under its “Crunchyroll Original” banner, in collaboration with Naver Webtoon.
In her statements, Post claimed that when the game developer sought out a studio for English localization recording, “CR directly contacted the client, asserting that they possessed the ‘voice prints’ of the original cast”. However, Post refuted this claim, stating that Crunchyroll does not have ownership over the voice prints. Despite Anime News Network’s efforts to confirm these claims with Crunchyroll, no response was received prior to publication.
Post further elaborated on Twitter, “They continued to insist that the videogame client was legally restricted from employing ANY of the original cast in any role for the game. This includes new or different characters from the ones we initially portrayed. We were not even allowed to audition for these roles. We were effectively barred,”. She asserted that Crunchyroll’s claims were baseless and unsupported by the contractual agreements which she had meticulously reviewed with the help of legal counsel.
In the entertainment industry, a voice print is understood as the comprehensive audio recording of a performer’s sessions, in this instance, everything produced for the dub. It can also refer to the unique combination of pitch and rhythm in a voice. According to Sean Thordsen of Thordsen Law Offices, unless a character’s voice is unmistakably distinct and iconic, the voice print would not cover the unique voice style crafted by the performer for a character.
Post disclosed a section of her contract with Crunchyroll to Anime News Network, detailing Crunchyroll’s stipulations concerning the copyright of her work. Thordsen interpreted the verbiage in the contract excerpt as confirming that the initial party, in this case, Crunchyroll, owns the copyright of the voice work and consequently the voice prints. Hence, only Crunchyroll has the authority to use or license the voice prints to third parties, like a game developer. However, these licensing capabilities would be subject to the rest of the contractual terms.
Thordsen clarified that although the contract does specify copyright ownership of the completed work, it doesn’t prevent an actor from reprising their role in a different medium. Post did not make the entire contract available for scrutiny. Thordsen suggested that any limitations on role reprisal would be addressed elsewhere in the contract.
Standard practice in the entertainment industry, Thordsen confirmed, is to include such clauses to prevent actors from asserting copyright over their performance, which could lead to them demanding additional payments, licensing their voice recordings to others, or seeking an injunction to block the work from being exhibited at all.
Tower of God, based on a webcomic by SIU, follows the journey of Bam, a young boy determined to climb the Tower and reunite with Rachel. He is aided by Princess Yuri of Jahad and her companion Evan, and with the aid of the magical sword Black March, Bam advances to the tower’s second floor.
Post voiced the character Hwaryu and the Black March sword in the series, which has a second season currently in development.
Post did not disclose the name or developer of the upcoming Tower of God game. Earlier this month, South Korean mobile game developer Netmarble (known for The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, Seven Knights 2, The King of Fighters Arena) initiated
