I am sure Bootsy was compensated for time spent recording the shows. I have no idea how much, maybe a flat amount for each appearance, or an amount based on the number of views that a video generates. To come on the channel every now and then for free doesn't seem like a stretch, but Bootsy was in close to 100 videos on the channel and made a lot of music for it. They had to have paid him. It probably wasn't enough to make a living off of, and that's probably the core reason for why he left. It was a fun part time job, but not enough to pay the bills. Obviously this is just speculation, but my guess is he took a job that paid well and made spending time recording shows obsolete from a financial standpoint.

The odd thing about it is that it seems like they've cut him from the channel entirely, rather than just discontinuing his regular shows. Because of that we can only guess the true reason behind it. Maybe him wanting to discontinue the shows upset Mike or James or both, since they have a bit of a content vacuum happening on the channel while James is raising his kid. Maybe things got emotional and the business relationship didn't end well. Or maybe he just didn't want to do it anymore. Maybe he wanted to move on to a new chapter in his life and he felt like walking away from Cinemassacre entirely was the best way to do it. Who knows, a million different things could have happened.