How do we stay alive?

[Christina Carter]

Have you ever have so much happen in a week that you can't even pick what to write about? That's what happened to me this week. Besides the content shooting, custom shooting, my son getting a job and going back to school...my mind is blown. I've been pushing so hard lately, working non-stop. Why?? Who's paying all the bills? Me. Mama's going to need another job. I talk to my friends about the younger generation not knowing that there was ever a time to pay for porn, or that you should. The reasons you should as well. Let's say no one pays for porn from here on out... what happens? My industry goes away. Well.... 98% of the industry that is. What do you have left? Only companies like Brazzzers and wicked and the other $ backed companies. What does that mean for you? Generic run of the mill shit. Porn people that don't know kinks and fetish..they're in charge now. Back to the 90's, you might as well be bust out you VHS.We've seen the BDSM content they are trying to put out already...PULL PUT YOUR FLUFFY HANDCUFFS. Companies like mine fight to stay in the light and to make sure people are aware ... but is it enough? How do we stay alive?? You tell me. I feel just as we are making you aware of mental/suicide issues in our business ..we are not stressing enough as to what is causing this domino effect and tearing this industry down. I can't keep up with the amount of young talent coming onto the industry, because of piracy.. we can no longer hire like we once did. This leaves a lot of people jobless and with crushed hearts and dreams. I'm looking into a way to make more people aware, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Email me directly.. [email protected].

Soon to come....










http://www.clips4sale.com/60717 (Super Heroine) 

http://www.clips4sale.com/38975  (bondage/fetish) 

Love you!!

Christina

[DonShip]

Holy moly, Christina, those "coming soon" pictures are wicked awesome. Especially number 2 where the scarecrow is holding you by the hair.

[lionbadger]

Pitch a documentary to netflix about big business stealing content and crushing the small business woman. The joyrnalist Jon Ronsson is everywhere talking about his time in LA. I saw him in Brussels as a keynote speaker along side EU Comissioners at a data protection conference so there is clearly an interest in what has happened to this industry.

Essentially you're looking to pitch craft beer/gourmet dishes vs industrial piss water/tesco value microwave meals

[Doctor Outcome]

Pitch a documentary to netflix about big business stealing content and crushing the small business woman. The joyrnalist Jon Ronsson is everywhere talking about his time in LA. I saw him in Brussels as a keynote speaker along side EU Comissioners at a data protection conference so there is clearly an interest in what has happened to this industry.

Essentially you're looking to pitch craft beer/gourmet dishes vs industrial piss water/tesco value microwave meals

I love that idea lionbadger. It would also help to get commentary from the fans to see where they stand with the industry and if they engage in piracy and if so why. The main thing that needs to be addressed besides what piracy is doing to the industry is to find those who download stuff illegally and if so why?

Money might be the biggest issue that makes it hard to commission certain kinds of content and other times its because certain performers have limitations which make it harder for them to move up and get recognition but then again the performer also has the right to stick to their guns and not do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

[lionbadger]

I love that idea lionbadger. It would also help to get commentary from the fans to see where they stand with the industry and if they engage in piracy and if so why. The main thing that needs to be addressed besides what piracy is doing to the industry is to find those who download stuff illegally and if so why?

I'm sure you could get a few people to talk about their customs and or why they pirate stuff, or at the least to write something about their customs which could be read back by an actor etc

cut that with a few interviews with producers throw in the phrase "going on a journey" a couple of dozen times etc

[Doctor Outcome]

Sounds great. I mean, there are so many niches in the industry, I'd like to know how and if they're (producers and performers) able to keep up with everything and if that leads to problems with keeping up what works in this industry.

[Heroine Addict]

I would say that producers need to be a lot more proactive with the porn streaming sites. Particularly the two biggest names. I know it's like playing Whack-a-Mole, but monitoring the biggest steaming sites and issuing DMCA notices is the best way to go with regard to piracy.

Also, cultivate a relationship with the streaming sites. Upload your own official trailers and pay them an affiliate fee for every paying customer who comes to you via a link on those sites. If you're a member of their community and an affiliate who brings in revenue, they may respond a little more promptly to copyright complaints.

Another advantage of producers having an official presence on the porn streaming sites is that you can actually upload an explicit trailer there without having to worry about it being taken down at any moment.

[Mr. X]

Might have to settle for a voluntary and/or customs model of business. Basically a "could you please pay" disclaimer on each video and sell through something like patreon. Yes model fees have gone way up too. Quality girls are very expensive and doing a shoot with mediocre equipment etc doesn't make sense so that cost goes up and then do you ever recoup the money you spent let alone make a tiny profit.

I also wonder if the market is flooded however we've had porn around in video form for decades and that would have flooded the market years ago. Also I wonder if the PC-izing of sci-fi/comic book material has had an effect. In the first star wars trilogy we had princess Lea in her brass bikini. Now what do we have? Some frumpy girl in a mechanics outfit. or Squirrel Girl looking like a down syndrome person. Or Carl Manvers. Yeah those Rose action figures are just flying off the shelf at Toys-r-us.

I believe the 70s, 80s and 90s TV and movies and comics generated a whole lot of horny fans. Now TV/Cable/Movies either has no sexiness or you get guilt beat over the head for one or two little scenes. Like Gal Gadot's 5 second booty shot in Justice League. Look at who the requests are for. wonder Woman in the original outfit. Batgirl. Power Girl in the busty version. Who's requested Rose from Last Jedi? Or even Rey?

Without horny men this market dies. All porn as we know it dies. Without straight, toxic masculine men we're all out of work. I'm not seeing that raging drive anymore to want erotic heroine material.

i'm not sure what to do. Everyone is hurting. 2018 is not 2008.

[JohnFeer]

Funny you should mention this, I finally upgraded to high speed digital and downloaded my first "on topic content"...so ya got one more horny man in the mix at least.

JF

[Doctor Outcome]

Might have to settle for a voluntary and/or customs model of business. Basically a "could you please pay" disclaimer on each video and sell through something like patreon. Yes model fees have gone way up too. Quality girls are very expensive and doing a shoot with mediocre equipment etc doesn't make sense so that cost goes up and then do you ever recoup the money you spent let alone make a tiny profit.

I also wonder if the market is flooded however we've had porn around in video form for decades and that would have flooded the market years ago. Also I wonder if the PC-izing of sci-fi/comic book material has had an effect. In the first star wars trilogy we had princess Lea in her brass bikini. Now what do we have? Some frumpy girl in a mechanics outfit. or Squirrel Girl looking like a down syndrome person. Or Carl Manvers. Yeah those Rose action figures are just flying off the shelf at Toys-r-us.

I believe the 70s, 80s and 90s TV and movies and comics generated a whole lot of horny fans. Now TV/Cable/Movies either has no sexiness or you get guilt beat over the head for one or two little scenes. Like Gal Gadot's 5 second booty shot in Justice League. Look at who the requests are for. wonder Woman in the original outfit. Batgirl. Power Girl in the busty version. Who's requested Rose from Last Jedi? Or even Rey?

Without horny men this market dies. All porn as we know it dies. Without straight, toxic masculine men we're all out of work. I'm not seeing that raging drive anymore to want erotic heroine material.

i'm not sure what to do. Everyone is hurting. 2018 is not 2008.

'Everyone is hurting. 2018 is not 2008.'

That is so true. People are finding it harder to find work or hold onto jobs and with what little income that's being made, some people barely have enough to buy what they want now. Some of the people I know have had to save and save and save in order to make enough just in case they're ideas should go into the $1,000 range and they all admit that it's hard when you're trying to balance two jobs at once (I know cause my homegirl and I are in that position now.)

I love your analysis on how cable t.v. has changed over the years Mr. X. Back then the 70s and 80s were the center of hardcore sleasiness and the 90s had the greatest softcore direct to video content in the world. I think one of the unforseen factors for some of the direct to video trade was that they had no idea that DVD and blu-ray would start dominating the industry and as a result a lot of the classic stuff we saw in the past hasn't been transferred to any of the DVD, blu-ray or even 4K formats because the distributors worry about there not being a profitable market for vid transfers.

Also, the market revolves around both male and female. So yes, without a horny audience, the market does indeed die.

As far as not having straight, toxic masculine men (cracking up with laughter), that's kinda the other reason why the industry is in a bit of a freefall. A lot of female fetish performers have limitations now when it comes to who they shoot things with. Some are bi and have no problem going both ways (Christina Carter, Angela Sommers, Sinn Sage, Paris Kennedy, Shay Fox and so forth). Those who limit themselves to just 'straight performance' or 'lesbianism' might have a harder chance of staying in the game unless they're willing, able and ready to show that they can go both ways. That's just how I see it.

Christina Carter is one performer who has shown that she can make that transition with no problem. In fact, she was doing material with males long before she started doing the whole lesbian superheroine thing and when she did 'Catwoman's Demise' I was truly shocked and in awe that she was willing to do material with male fetish performers. Christina knows that in order to stay in this industry, you have to adapt and evolve to what's around you...she knows that there's a compromise, a trade-off that you have to be willing to pay in order to stay active. If you're not prepared to make that trade-off, odds are you may find it a bit harder staying at the 'head of the class'.

[hiddenevil]

*Leans round the corner and gives a wave* I guess I'm one of those diminishing masculine hetrosexuals, but then I was born in the 80s. When PC correctness was making sure you wrote the right thing in on your computer. I'll stop before I get on my soap box, in a nutshell think its a load of bullocks.

I still think there is a market for custom material, I've never ordered one myself but I did come close to ordering some material off a website only a few months ago. The only thing that stopped me was the clip store website, its all credit cards and forms of online currency I dont use. Primarily I use paypal and when I approached the producer asking if I could pay using my preferred payment method, I got a blunt nope. For $25, I'm not going to mess around signing up to another electronic currency, when I have one that works fine for the other 99% of the time.

I realise that probably doesn't help your situation, but I just wanted to add a voice for those of us who are wanting to buy clips, order customs and find the process a little opaque.

[saxman314]

Sorry to hear you're on the verge of needing another job. I'm familiar with that feeling. It's rough out here when what you do is stolen, disregarded or underpaid. Then to top it off, after putting in a 60 hour week, folks still think you should get a "real" job lol. With what time? I'm sure you already are working on a mostly customs model, have an employee or contractor sending notices to the sites that share your work, etc. Honestly, I don't have a clue what can be done. My industry has been in the middle of the same crisis since I got into it. I focus on live work and teaching, as a result. To date, I've never bothered to record except as work for hire. I can definitely relate, though.

[arkane]

Maybe there's a need for a "club for people willing to pay for it," something like membership sites, but featuring several talent and not the work of just one videographer or photographer or model (as today).

You pay, say, 250 $ a year, and take everything you want from the site. If you fork out that kind of money, you're not encouraged to share everything on streaming sites. And you get content made by the best, you can give input for content to be created (every once in a while they have to listen to you), and you get a decent amount of stuff.

Could this work?

[heroinehunter]

Christina Carter is one performer who has shown that she can make that transition with no problem. In fact, she was doing material with males long before she started doing the whole lesbian superheroine thing and when she did 'Catwoman's Demise' I was truly shocked and in awe that she was willing to do material with male fetish performers. Christina knows that in order to stay in this industry, you have to adapt and evolve to what's around you...she knows that there's a compromise, a trade-off that you have to be willing to pay in order to stay active. If you're not prepared to make that trade-off, odds are you may find it a bit harder staying at the 'head of the class'. - Doctor Outcome


Perhaps I shouldn't type this, but here goes: Some female models have enough negative experiences with male producers and models that they eventually want to try things on their own with their own company. In order to attract customers and her business to survive, yes you have to open up who you work with in regards to projects and provide something new to the buying audience.

I was a Kym Wilde fan for awhile. She did a lot of work with male models and male producers early in her career. But I'm sure the lady has horror stories to tell in regards to working with some - not all - of these male producers. Eventually, she developed her own company and started the Ocean series. The series was essentially just Kym working with female models. It was very light fetish and extremely boring. I was disappointed because I'm not into lesbian bondage / bdsm. However, I respect it. There comes a point where the model wants to stop feeling she's being used for another's benefit and make her own money. If Kym did a vid late in her career with a male producer, I'm sure it was a friend or the cost for her services are very high.

Same thing applies to Ms. Carter. Christina was being abducted in a hardcore fashion and working with other male producers early in her career. I'm sure the lady herself has a few horror stories to tell involving male producers and models. Being 'email buddies' until she got a little too big for the little guy anymore, I do remember Christina stating that she was tired of working for male producers and wanted to strike out on her own with her own production company. Start making her own money as her popularity grew. I even tossed a few ideas her way to start, also being one of the earliest perverts to beg her to climb in the Wonder Woman outfit (you're welcome, by the way, society!!). What happened? A lot of light fetish vids with women for years, just like Kym Wilde. I was disappointed in the vids. It's not for me. But I respect it. I even remember tossing another round of ideas for Wonder Woman. Christina thanked me (even hoping I would contact her with my kinky perviness) because I was one of the few males that wanted a storyline or bondage situation - others males wanted her in a gangbang or some other crazy situation that she did not want to do. Yes, she worked with male models and producers eventually again. But I'm sure it's male producer friends or boyfriends only - people she has known for a long time. Not to mention her personal history, Christina is one of those twice married, twice divorced kinds - I'm sure the boyfriends / husbands do not want her playing with other guys which led to the onslaught of lesbian vids. And after a divorce, well...let's just say a lady is probably not wanting to hang around guys for awhile. It takes time. The industry has changed. Now, the industry is all about customs because that's where the money is nowadays.

[Dazzle1]

Maybe there's a need for a "club for people willing to pay for it," something like membership sites, but featuring several talent and not the work of just one videographer or photographer or model (as today).

You pay, say, 250 $ a year, and take everything you want from the site. If you fork out that kind of money, you're not encouraged to share everything on streaming sites. And you get content made by the best, you can give input for content to be created (every once in a while they have to listen to you), and you get a decent amount of stuff.

Could this work?

You mean like Netflix? Part of the problem s that instead of cosolidation, everyone is creating their own: Netflix, Amazon Hulu apple etc. and this is a niche

For instance I would buy if you had a service that has Christina Cater, Kendra James and Bound Honeys, but how many other people would?

[arkane]

Maybe there's a need for a "club for people willing to pay for it," something like membership sites, but featuring several talent and not the work of just one videographer or photographer or model (as today).

You pay, say, 250 $ a year, and take everything you want from the site. If you fork out that kind of money, you're not encouraged to share everything on streaming sites. And you get content made by the best, you can give input for content to be created (every once in a while they have to listen to you), and you get a decent amount of stuff.

Could this work?

You mean like Netflix? Part of the problem s that instead of cosolidation, everyone is creating their own: Netflix, Amazon Hulu apple etc. and this is a niche

For instance I would buy if you had a service that has Christina Cater, Kendra James and Bound Honeys, but how many other people would?

This service should be started by some porn impresario for the niches that need it. Normal XXX is still going well I think, fetish, bondage, superheroine, latex etc... are not so good. If some earning is not.guaranteed they could fade away. If a guy could say "I have 1000 customers who want a discount for good videos" probably many producers would accept to create exclusive content for them.

Obviously if one of the 1000 re-sells the clis or puts them on streaming, everything would fail .....

[christinacarter]

[/quote]

This service should be started by some porn impresario for the niches that need it. Normal XXX is still going well I think, fetish, bondage, superheroine, latex etc... are not so good. If some earning is not.guaranteed they could fade away. If a guy could say "I have 1000 customers who want a discount for good videos" probably many producers would accept to create exclusive content for them.

Obviously if one of the 1000 re-sells the clis or puts them on streaming, everything would fail .....
[/quote]

Actually, normal porn started losing money first. If I remember right.. somewhere around 2010. Normal porn started coming into our side of the business to recover some of their money and started to take us down with them. I remember being so angry when vanilla porn producers started putting BDSM in there vids and getting it all wrong. Of course, we in this industry mostly started out as lifestylers. Niche is the way to still make money, along with really paying attention and connecting with fans. Also, making the deal with the devil..aka.. joining with tube sites. It all sucks, as everyone should have the right to work hard and keep there money.. not have it stolen from under them as they keep working their asses off. It's like having a huge crack in the hot tub as your trying to host a big jacuzzi party..lol... yeah I just made that up.. but it's funny and true!

Love you guys!!

Christina

[BlackOut]

I wish I understood the economics of the internet better then I did. If that was the case I might be a wealthy man. Either way, the only thing I can think of that might relate to the matter at hand is the piracy that rocked the music industry back in the early hay days of file sharing. I really don't know exactly how that all played out. I'm sure it's still a burden to the music industry in some shape and form, but I would like to think they learned to adapt and reformed their approach since then. Maybe somewhere in those history lessons is a little nugget of wisdom that can be applied to the porn industry?

I've bought my fair share of videos over the years though I'm a little bit more picky when it comes to pressing the purchase button now a days. While I absolutely adore your representation of my all time favorite television heroine, I personally would press that button a lot more frequently if only male counterparts were more predominately featured in the videos you produce.

Regardless I wish you all the best in plugging up that crack in the hot tub. Sounds like one hell of a party to let it just run dry.

[GeekyPornCritic]

How did I not notice this topics sooner?

A huge problem is Brazzers aka Mind Geek. They are infamous for OWNING tube sites. They use tube sites to crush their competition.

https://www.chronicsex.org/2018/03/mindgeek-terrible/

Pornhub allows users to upload content. This includes stolen videos. You will see official channels from Studios, but most videos are stolen content. This is how Mindgeek aka Brazzers became a huge porn site. They own the tube sites so they do not allow users to upload free movies from their site. However, they allow users to steal content from their competitors.

[Imagineer]

Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but to me this seems a microcosm of the general trend in unchecked corporate consolidation.

The Verge recently covered some of the difficulties of surviving in the Amazon Marketplace, Prime and Punishment, that may be worth a read.

On the one hand, the ability for anyone to set up a virtual storefront and reach Amazon shoppers is a victory for the little guy against large retailers; on the other hand, everyone is pitted against each other, and over time only the most cleverly vicious predators win -- and even then only to the extent they can avoid being eviscerated by Amazon itself.

Porn has not yet found its Amazon Marketplace, but you can bet that if Brazzers isn't aiming to be that, somebody else is and will eat Brazzers' lunch.

In the meantime, as a mere follower in this world, I am more afraid that the demise of producers will not come from piracy, but from disruptions in payment processing.

I don't think you can beat piracy. As GeekyPornCritic expertly pointed out, piracy serves the big players seeking to control the market.
And as long as DRM-free downloaded content is the norm, you're victim not just to motivated professionals pirating you for profit, but every consumer with a moment of popularity-dopamine-hit-seeking weakness who can click an Upload button. And you'll forever be victim to everyone who tells himself he can't afford your content so you're not losing anything when he pirates it.

Seems to me financial survival depends on maintaining a body of passionate followers of your brand who will pay a premium for your content, and who are given vehicles that allow them to do so.

Outside porn, things like Patreon, Kickstarter, and YouTube monetization make brands viable by making it easy for passionate followers to financially support a brand in different ways at different levels. Unless/until someone makes those technologies available to porn, you're kind of stuck -- because passionate followers will do almost anything, but apparently what nobody will do anymore is write a check, address an envelope, buy a stamp, mail it, and wait for results. Then again, maybe that's only because no one has thought to ask? Of course, a few people do exactly that, and that's why we have customs, yes? Sadly, most attempts to democratize that beyond a single patron seem to get bogged down in brand-staining unmet expectations, but maybe a sharp producer with inexhaustible brand-management cunning can crack that nut. Personally, I don't have that much faith in groups of people.

In more mainstream circles, live shows are a path to solvency. Porn stars "retire" to a second career on the strip club circuit; artists in music go on tour and sell $100+ tickets (and pricey merch). Perhaps there's a fetish brand with enough clout to mount a successful live streaming show -- but I can only begin to imagine the many ways that could go wrong, especially for brands with a reputation for high production value.

There is another aspect of leveraging passionate followers, i.e. asking for their time instead of their money. How effectively is this already being used in the fight to limit piracy? I'm betting they already forward more instances than producers can turn into takedown notices, but is there any other digital gruntwork they could do? Have producers banded together to streamline takedown noticing, or is this already a fight lost?

Without those different monetization vehicles, I'm guessing the current high-production-value fetish market will retreat to just a couple of studios in LA that make single-patron productions, with expert customer relationship management, not limited to any specific fetish, or even to fetish at all. Maybe they buy/subcontract the tech to maintain a secondary streaming market, but those single patrons will pay 2x-3x what they pay now. But I'm just guessing.

[GeekyPornCritic]

Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but to me this seems a microcosm of the general trend in unchecked corporate consolidation.

The Verge recently covered some of the difficulties of surviving in the Amazon Marketplace, Prime and Punishment, that may be worth a read.

On the one hand, the ability for anyone to set up a virtual storefront and reach Amazon shoppers is a victory for the little guy against large retailers; on the other hand, everyone is pitted against each other, and over time only the most cleverly vicious predators win -- and even then only to the extent they can avoid being eviscerated by Amazon itself.

Porn has not yet found its Amazon Marketplace, but you can bet that if Brazzers isn't aiming to be that, somebody else is and will eat Brazzers' lunch.

In the meantime, as a mere follower in this world, I am more afraid that the demise of producers will not come from piracy, but from disruptions in payment processing.

I don't think you can beat piracy. As GeekyPornCritic expertly pointed out, piracy serves the big players seeking to control the market.
And as long as DRM-free downloaded content is the norm, you're victim not just to motivated professionals pirating you for profit, but every consumer with a moment of popularity-dopamine-hit-seeking weakness who can click an Upload button. And you'll forever be victim to everyone who tells himself he can't afford your content so you're not losing anything when he pirates it.

Seems to me financial survival depends on maintaining a body of passionate followers of your brand who will pay a premium for your content, and who are given vehicles that allow them to do so.

Outside porn, things like Patreon, Kickstarter, and YouTube monetization make brands viable by making it easy for passionate followers to financially support a brand in different ways at different levels. Unless/until someone makes those technologies available to porn, you're kind of stuck -- because passionate followers will do almost anything, but apparently what nobody will do anymore is write a check, address an envelope, buy a stamp, mail it, and wait for results. Then again, maybe that's only because no one has thought to ask? Of course, a few people do exactly that, and that's why we have customs, yes? Sadly, most attempts to democratize that beyond a single patron seem to get bogged down in brand-staining unmet expectations, but maybe a sharp producer with inexhaustible brand-management cunning can crack that nut. Personally, I don't have that much faith in groups of people.

In more mainstream circles, live shows are a path to solvency. Porn stars "retire" to a second career on the strip club circuit; artists in music go on tour and sell $100+ tickets (and pricey merch). Perhaps there's a fetish brand with enough clout to mount a successful live streaming show -- but I can only begin to imagine the many ways that could go wrong, especially for brands with a reputation for high production value.

There is another aspect of leveraging passionate followers, i.e. asking for their time instead of their money. How effectively is this already being used in the fight to limit piracy? I'm betting they already forward more instances than producers can turn into takedown notices, but is there any other digital gruntwork they could do? Have producers banded together to streamline takedown noticing, or is this already a fight lost?

Without those different monetization vehicles, I'm guessing the current high-production-value fetish market will retreat to just a couple of studios in LA that make single-patron productions, with expert customer relationship management, not limited to any specific fetish, or even to fetish at all. Maybe they buy/subcontract the tech to maintain a secondary streaming market, but those single patrons will pay 2x-3x what they pay now. But I'm just guessing.

I think Brazzers is trying to become the "Amazon" of porn. Brazzers was originally known for filming the hottest models with big tits. Then, the company changed, and began expanding by buying competitors and entering new niches. GPrime a current or former employee said the team originally did not want to dip into other fetishes and genres. However, that attitude has changed in recent years. Brazzers is now targeting the gay and transsexual markets. They created a gay site and transsexual site. I recently saw a director announce a new bisexual site is coming soon.

I am disgusted at how Brazzers rose to the top by STEALING content from their competitors. They have been sued numerous times over the years.

I don't think DRM works in porn. Giga uses DRM and their movies are still pirated. Anyone can download a streaming video with the right application on a browser.

The biggest problem with DRM is inconvenience and being unrealistic. I'll use myself as an example. I have purchased 651 videos from Clips4Sale as of the day of this post. This means I will need 651 DRM codes to watch my videos. That is really unrealistic and annoying.

What happens to DRM if a company goes out of business and their servers are shut down? It would be scary to purchase thousands in SHIP videos and lose them in a single day because the servers are forever down.

[GeekyPornCritic]

Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but to me this seems a microcosm of the general trend in unchecked corporate consolidation.

The Verge recently covered some of the difficulties of surviving in the Amazon Marketplace, Prime and Punishment, that may be worth a read.

On the one hand, the ability for anyone to set up a virtual storefront and reach Amazon shoppers is a victory for the little guy against large retailers; on the other hand, everyone is pitted against each other, and over time only the most cleverly vicious predators win -- and even then only to the extent they can avoid being eviscerated by Amazon itself.

Porn has not yet found its Amazon Marketplace, but you can bet that if Brazzers isn't aiming to be that, somebody else is and will eat Brazzers' lunch.

In the meantime, as a mere follower in this world, I am more afraid that the demise of producers will not come from piracy, but from disruptions in payment processing.

I don't think you can beat piracy. As GeekyPornCritic expertly pointed out, piracy serves the big players seeking to control the market.
And as long as DRM-free downloaded content is the norm, you're victim not just to motivated professionals pirating you for profit, but every consumer with a moment of popularity-dopamine-hit-seeking weakness who can click an Upload button. And you'll forever be victim to everyone who tells himself he can't afford your content so you're not losing anything when he pirates it.

Seems to me financial survival depends on maintaining a body of passionate followers of your brand who will pay a premium for your content, and who are given vehicles that allow them to do so.

Outside porn, things like Patreon, Kickstarter, and YouTube monetization make brands viable by making it easy for passionate followers to financially support a brand in different ways at different levels. Unless/until someone makes those technologies available to porn, you're kind of stuck -- because passionate followers will do almost anything, but apparently what nobody will do anymore is write a check, address an envelope, buy a stamp, mail it, and wait for results. Then again, maybe that's only because no one has thought to ask? Of course, a few people do exactly that, and that's why we have customs, yes? Sadly, most attempts to democratize that beyond a single patron seem to get bogged down in brand-staining unmet expectations, but maybe a sharp producer with inexhaustible brand-management cunning can crack that nut. Personally, I don't have that much faith in groups of people.

In more mainstream circles, live shows are a path to solvency. Porn stars "retire" to a second career on the strip club circuit; artists in music go on tour and sell $100+ tickets (and pricey merch). Perhaps there's a fetish brand with enough clout to mount a successful live streaming show -- but I can only begin to imagine the many ways that could go wrong, especially for brands with a reputation for high production value.

There is another aspect of leveraging passionate followers, i.e. asking for their time instead of their money. How effectively is this already being used in the fight to limit piracy? I'm betting they already forward more instances than producers can turn into takedown notices, but is there any other digital gruntwork they could do? Have producers banded together to streamline takedown noticing, or is this already a fight lost?

Without those different monetization vehicles, I'm guessing the current high-production-value fetish market will retreat to just a couple of studios in LA that make single-patron productions, with expert customer relationship management, not limited to any specific fetish, or even to fetish at all. Maybe they buy/subcontract the tech to maintain a secondary streaming market, but those single patrons will pay 2x-3x what they pay now. But I'm just guessing.

I think Brazzers is trying to become the "Amazon" of porn. Brazzers was originally known for filming the hottest models with big tits. Then, the company changed, and began expanding by buying competitors and entering new niches. GPrime a current or former employee said the team originally did not want to dip into other fetishes and genres. However, that attitude has changed in recent years. Brazzers is now targeting the gay and transsexual markets. They created a gay site and transsexual site. I recently saw a director announce a new bisexual site is coming soon.

I am disgusted at how Brazzers rose to the top by STEALING content from their competitors. They have been sued numerous times over the years.

I don't think DRM works in porn. Giga uses DRM and their movies are still pirated. Anyone can download a streaming video with the right application on a browser.

The biggest problem with DRM is inconvenience and being unrealistic. I'll use myself as an example. I have purchased 651 videos from Clips4Sale as of the day of this post. This means I will need 651 DRM codes to watch my videos. That is really unrealistic and annoying.

What happens to DRM if a company goes out of business and their servers are shut down? It would be scary to purchase thousands in SHIP videos and lose them in a single day because the servers are forever down.

[Imagineer]

The Amazon of Porn will be a streaming service.
They won't care much if a few cheapskates pirate it. They'll make the same calculations that every mainstream streaming service does. As will consumers.

[GeekyPornCritic]

The Amazon of Porn will be a streaming service.
They won't care much if a few cheapskates pirate it. They'll make the same calculations that every mainstream streaming service does. As will consumers.

It would more likely work as the ITunes of Porn. That's probably the direction that it will lead to. I would be more comfortable with an ITunes approach. That gives me an idea.

[Imagineer]

Apple iTunes is shifting to the cloud streaming model.

Two words: recurring revenue.

[Malice]

Actually, normal porn started losing money first. If I remember right.. somewhere around 2010. Normal porn started coming into our side of the business to recover some of their money and started to take us down with them. I remember being so angry when vanilla porn producers started putting BDSM in there vids and getting it all wrong. Of course, we in this industry mostly started out as lifestylers. Niche is the way to still make money, along with really paying attention and connecting with fans. Also, making the deal with the devil..aka.. joining with tube sites. It all sucks, as everyone should have the right to work hard and keep there money.. not have it stolen from under them as they keep working their asses off. It's like having a huge crack in the hot tub as your trying to host a big jacuzzi party..lol... yeah I just made that up.. but it's funny and true!

I think awareness is key. Hot Girls Wanted was an eye-opening experience, and it remains relevant almost a decade later.

It’s genuinely heartbreaking to see how the "tube-culture" is impacting the industry.

To be fair, and maybe it’s the age talking, I’d much rather spend a few bucks on a quality flick I know I’ll enjoy than endlessly scroll through porn sites (trust me, I’ve been there).

How are things now? A pandemic later and a few years down the road, what’s the landscape looking like?

In any event, all the best!