Sometimes those of us who have worked in the business of Internet porn for too long can use the opinions of outsiders. Outsiders provide a fresh perspective on the problems that we face as an Industry, and it doesn’t take an insdier to see that free porn is a problem. Outsider D. Payne warns that we give away too much to surfers, and ask for too little in return for ourselves and our models.Sometimes those of us who have worked in the business of Internet porn for too long can use the opinions of outsiders. Outsiders provide a fresh perspective on the problems that we face as an Industry, and it doesn’t take an insdier to see that free porn is a problem. Outsider D. Payne warns that we give away too much to surfers, and ask for too little in return for ourselves and our models.
I’m not an adult webmaster, I’m a semi-pro photographer that has looked into the Industry with thoughts of becoming a content provider. Looking in from the outside enables an outsider like myself to see things many people in the Industry don’t. Here is what I have seen. This is clearly my opinion, you can take it or leave it. I feel there are four core problems plaguing the Industry, and they stick out at me like a 5′ tall, 105 lb. blue-eyed brunette: the lack of fresh content; too much free content; the way content is licensed; the way models are used. Now, let me explain each of my four points.
FRESH CONTENT
Since I’m a surfer myself, it did not take me long to realize there is a shortage of new content. Sure, new sets of content come out, but seldom do we see new girls. It’s like that old saying about the x-mas gift… “After the wrapping is ripped off, re-wrapping it and reopening it is just not the same.” I’m sure most all would agree there is a shortage, so what is causing the shortage? I feel the biggest problem is the way models are paid… they seem to be getting the short end of the stick. Compare models to local stock car races… the drivers put on the show. If they don’t get paid, they don’t race. If they don’t race, the race promoter (webmaster) who makes his money from selling admission tickets has no show to sell. This applies to many venues… concerts, plays, movies etc. Look at what the models are asked to do for $50 – $150 an hour. Sounds like great money at first glance, but the Industry expects the models to give up all rights to the photos for the rest of her life. How much can she make before she is old news, over-exposed, and no one wants to hire her anymore? I’ll touch more on this later.
FREE, FREE, FREE
THE TERM “LICENSED CONTENT”
I don’t know if the practice of licensing content for life was started by the photography industry or what, but my point is that a licensing agreement should have a specified time period. If you don’t need to renew the license (like you do with a driver’s license, fishing license, hunting license), then it’s not really licensing, it’s selling outright. I can see where this can be good and bad for the webmaster. You might think, buy it once, leave it set in a huge gallery, boast on your site about this huge gallery to attract new business… well I’m here to say, most all sites have huge galleries, and if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. What good are they really… they just suck up bandwidth while your customers browse them with hopes of finding something new. Then they realize there is not any new stuff, that they’ve seen all this on the free sites, and they cancel. It is my opinion that you should leave your content on your site no longer than a year. Then, if you want to bring a set of photos back in 3 to 5 years, bingo… they are fresh again. I don’t think there are many customers that hold subscriptions for years… maybe I’m wrong, but this would help ease the problem of the lack of good content.
“I feel if photographers would start providing residuals to models, you would see a lot more beautiful girls modeling nude for the Net.”
Content providers should start the change if the webmasters don’t. They all should start licensing content on a yearly basis. This would help them in a couple of ways. First, they would find it easier to get the girl next door, or the college girl to pose. The models would not need to commit to being a porn star for life. If three or four years down the road she wants to settle down and get married, she could simply request that no more licenses be issued for content of her… and as existing licenses expire, wa-la she is no longer a porn star. Second, they would now be able to truly offer prospective models a residual on all the licensing fees for her photos… which could lower the up-front cost of shooting content. In the long run, everyone would win. Model, photographer, webmaster and the customer. The customer would always have fresh content, and that is what makes money for webmasters.
THE MODELS
Many of the things I mentioned before pertain to the models and their decisions on whether to get naked or not. I feel if photographers would start providing residuals to models, you would see a lot more beautiful girls modeling nude for the Net. Photographers should look at their release forms… there are ways to do it without requiring the model to give up all rights for life. We must remember that the models put on the show. Without them we have nothing. Change is hard to accept, but change can be good, and I feel it is time for change.
D. Payne is a guest writer for The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine. He is a semi-professional photographer who recently has been scouting the online Adult Industry with an eye on joining the ranks of content providers.
