WolverineDK: In that event, "sell your soul" is not the wording you wanted to use, since that implies abandoning what got you where you are. AFAIK, Clint still has total creative freedom and rights over his own work. If he had "sold his soul" to RetrowareTV, it would imply that he doesn't. :P
TBH though, publicity is extremely hard to get without spending a fortune on advertising. I have actually had my own ads in the Google system for my games and I can tell you that it gets really expensive, really fast. After spending $400 in only two months on the cheapest Google ads I could, I compared it to the gross profits I had made in that time and it only came out to $300. Net loss of $100. :/
For a web show where the ad revenue is miniscule, running ads for the show itself is impractical and spreading the word is incredibly difficult without coming off as a self-promoting retard who doesn't care about his viewers and just wants lots of ad revenue.
My point is that places like The Escapist, RetrowareTV, Blistered Thumbs, they are designed in such a way that they expand viewership by being very particular about which shows they host, so that visitors get a choice between a small number of well-made shows, rather than a massive number of shows, most of which will be only average to poor quality. So long as I could maintain total creative freedom and rights to my stuff, I would welcome being a part of any of those places, among several others.
--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- Pixelmusement Website: www.pixelships.com
--- Ancient DOS Games Webshow: www.pixelships.com/adg