Advice on combating pirating from fellow producers

[SleepySuperheroines]

Hi Everyone,

My first release is only 8 days old and I'm already starting to see piracy. How do you guys combat this? It costs money and effort to create these videos and I'm afraid I won't be able to do this anymore if they start getting pirated.

Any advice would be helpful.

[Mr. X]

My personal view is there is a zero conversion rate of pirates to customers. Pirates simply will not pay for anything so no matter what security you put on pirating they simply won't pay. All you do is frustrate paying customers.

The people you need to be concerned with are the on the fence customers who may see it easier to grab a pirate copy instead of purchase it out of laziness or cheapness. Good customers will support producers.

One thing you can do is look where the video is actually stored. A lot of pirates use free share places like Rapidshare to post material. You can contact Rapidshare and they will take it down. So you have to be vigilant and just find these places and pull them.

Another tactic is to put out distraction material. Like I will fill a zip to about 150 megs full of crap jpgs and post it like I'm a pirate sharing. That way its already out there so someone else doesn't think to post it and the user then gets a file of crap. Also I find if something is very huge its less likely to get pirated. Someone may pirate a 20 meg file but not a 150 meg file or a 3 part file etc.

One thing to do is to always make sure you have your copyright and web address on your materials. I put that along the bottom of videos I make. This is free advertising and hopefully the pirate goes and buys something off your site.

Also be aware that just cause someone posted your video on a pirate sight does not mean people are downloading it. The best one can do is nail the upload sites and have the material removed and to treat the pirated material as free advertisement.

Hey at least someone is pirating your stuff... must be good

[SleepySuperheroines]

Thanks Mr. X. Lots of good point. One question, how do you find out who the contact person is in places like Mega or Rapidshare.

[tallyho]

Kudos to you Mr X lots of useful stuff there

[Mr. X]

Thanks Mr. X. Lots of good point. One question, how do you find out who the contact person is in places like Mega or Rapidshare.

Those places have a link for Takedown notices. It does pay to at least join the free ones (don't pay just get a free account) so that you can submit a form and they remember your contact info. For example Uploaded has a take down page (link at the bottom of the page with the link to the stolen material)
http://uploaded.net/takedown/notice

They usually respond within 24 hours. If any give you grief like they want you to send some form from a lawyer just write back mad and scream at them and they take the stuff down.

[Valik10]

They will take it down when you send them a letter but that doesn't solve the problem. All the person who posts it does is rename the video and post it again and again so there really is no way to stop it. I tried and always found that yes it goes away but just pops back up. Its a huge issue

[Heroine Addict]

They will take it down when you send them a letter but that doesn't solve the problem. All the person who posts it does is rename the video and post it again and again so there really is no way to stop it. I tried and always found that yes it goes away but just pops back up. Its a huge issue

Perhaps you could flood the streaming sites with your own previews? I mean the ones you used to post anyway on the Heroine Peril website, usually lasting under a minute each.

Some companies do that, such as Ferro Network, owners of ePantyhoseland and various other European nylon sites. I hardly ever see their stuff pirated anymore, as they have a strong official presence on the streaming sites. Possibly meaning that the streaming sites are bit more eager to police content when they're getting affiliate kickbacks from producers.

It's also a good way to advertise your back catalogue. People had to actively search to find your previews hidden within the pages on your own site. Why not put the very same previews out there to bring the customers to you?

[Unmaskee]

All I can say as a customer is to offer good detail on what you've got to offer. If it's clear it's going to appeal to me I'll buy it for sure. Plus as I'm basically only interested in an unmasking/dressup then if it's a 90 minute video for $50 I'm not bothered. I think it can be a good idea to split a video into affordable chunks that give the customer what they want. But I realise that can take up a lot of time and may potentially reduce revenue (but maybe it could increase it as some may buy that wouldn't normally).

[Mr. X]

All I can say as a customer is to offer good detail on what you've got to offer. If it's clear it's going to appeal to me I'll buy it for sure. Plus as I'm basically only interested in an unmasking/dressup then if it's a 90 minute video for $50 I'm not bothered. I think it can be a good idea to split a video into affordable chunks that give the customer what they want. But I realise that can take up a lot of time and may potentially reduce revenue (but maybe it could increase it as some may buy that wouldn't normally).

I agree here. Make it clear what's in your product and don't over exaggerate. If you piss off a customer they may want to pirate. $50 is a lot of money and I don't blame someone for not wanting to get burned. For example make it clear there is no nudity or what kind of nudity (topless, full).

[Mr. X]

They will take it down when you send them a letter but that doesn't solve the problem. All the person who posts it does is rename the video and post it again and again so there really is no way to stop it. I tried and always found that yes it goes away but just pops back up. Its a huge issue

Yeah that's a big problem. That's why I recommend instead of taking it down you beat them to the punch and upload a file full of junk or advertisement. I am playing wack-a-mole with this stuff once a week and its annoying.

[batgirl1969]

Catch the pirates, hogtie, buttplug and ballgag them...probelm solved and new material for the next video! Lol

[Femina]

Gotta agree with Mr. X on this point. The people who are pirating your stuff are people who either REFUSE to buy things and so they steal them, or are people who CAN'T buy things and so they steal them. Either way they weren't ever going to purchase it in the first place. I really hope that we live in a world where people who have the money to buy things DO... I mean... we could use the economy :(

[hiddenevil]

Just my two cents but one thing I'd suggest from a customers perspective, is offer a wide range of payment methods. I recently tried buying a video but the store didn't offer PayPal and though I contacted the producer they didn't offer any help. Leaving me wanted to give them my money, but getting no where.