Page 58 - AVN January 2013

Business Sense_01.13 12/24/12 2:50 PM Page 58
STOP, THIEF | By Nate Glass
Dollars and Sense
The difference between fans and supporters
to the masses. Talk about how cool it is to download
free porn and get thousands of viewers nodding in
agreement, but if you dare challenge the group-
think, you’re shouted down and attacked.
This highlights the scary side of populism—the
complete ignorance of the rights and views of the
minority.
When confronted about their actions, many of
these fans will say they are in fact helping the per-
formers by giving them publicity. But when I posed
Takedown Piracy is an anti-piracy service started in
2009 by Nate Glass, a 13-year veteran of the adult
industry. TDP offers copyright holders an affordable
and effective means to fight back against content
thieves. To date TDP has removed over 1.6 million con-
tent infringements, and it closely monitors 200 piracy
websites. For details, visit TakedownPiracy.com.
this reasoning to one adult performer, she dismissed
As the adult industry descends upon Las Vegas for the annual AVN Adult
Entertainment Expo, it occurred to me there is a good chance I’ll encounter
several “fans” who have been on the receiving end of a Takedown Piracy
DMCA notice. These days some so-called fans see very little reason to actually
financially support the performers and companies they are fans of.
This leads me to draw a distinction between “fans,” who may or may not pay
it, stating: “I’m pretty sure I know how to get that
kind of publicity on my own, thanks.”
Does uploading a girl’s scenes to piracy sites help
launch her career? Well, let’s ask Kimberly Kole. If
you don’t know who she is, then you might have
proved uploading a performer’s scenes to piracy sites
doesn’t help her career. You see, Kimberly Kole is fea-
tured (and by name no less) in the second most-
watched video of all time on Pornhub.com. Yet
despite one “fan’” helping her get nearly 50 million
Piracy gives a way
for individuals to
stake their claim as a
fan of something
without financiall y
supporting it
”
ases
LEGAL NEWS
for their entertainment, and “supporters”—those who understand this is a busi-
ness and are willing to open their wallets to support the things they love.
Up until recently, I didn’t think there was really any difference between being
a “fan” of something and a “supporter” of that same thing. But piracy has a way
of changing that. Piracy gives a way for individuals to stake their claim as a fan
of something without ever financially supporting it; they even take money away
from the very thing they claim to be supporting.
In adult entertainment, this is incredibly obvious. Take a trip through any
adult file-sharing forum and you will encounter fans who created megathreads,
some even entitled “shrines,” for their favorite performer.
These threads contain screen captures and the names of every scene the per-
former has ever been in, along with one key addition—a link to download the
scene for free. When other fans download the scene, the guy who uploaded it
makes a little bit of money, but the performer they adore gets nothing. Even
more, the studio that produced the scene makes nothing.
In any other walk of life this would be a crime and would be called stealing,
but if it happens on the internet, it is called sharing. It’s like when a car thief
sells your stolen car for less than it’s worth—he’s simply sharing it with society.
The fact he makes money off of it seems to be beside the point when it comes
to internet pirates.
But are these guys fans? Do they really deserve to be called fans? While they
can claim to be the biggest fans in the world, there seems to be no level of fan-
dom necessitating payment for what they are consuming.
Throw out the freeloader justification of “try before you buy”—these guys
have tried it; they loved it; it’s the best ever … yet … they still don’t want to
pay for it. And in an internet echo chamber where like-minded individuals
gather, there’s no negative stigma to profiteering from what they claim to be an
ardent fan of. There is nothing for them to feel guilty about; no one is calling
them a freeloader or questioning their fandom. In a den of thieves, who’s going
to point the finger and yell “Thief!”?
Where is the accountability for these so-called fans? It’s non-existent. And
even asking for it often puts the producer in a worse spot than the guy stealing
from him. The anonymity of the internet can give rise to bullies, but there is
also a real danger in the outright populism approach taken by bloggers and the
media. On the internet, traffic is king and pays the bills, so when the thieves
outnumber the victims in magnitudes of 100s, then bloggers and writers appeal
views over the course of three years, Kimberly has
failed to supplant the most popular porn stars per-
forming today. There doesn’t even appear to be an
official Kimberly Kole website.
Another 50 million Pornhub views for Rucca Page
didn’t put her into elite porn star status, and the
closest thing I can find to an official website for her
is her MySpace profile, which hasn’t had a single bit
of activity for over two years. According to adult
tube site Xhamster.com, a video featuring Brooke
Banner has over 1.2 billion views. That’s 50 percent
more views than Justin Bieber’s “Baby” video on
YouT ube and about 300 million more views than the
“Gangnam Style” video by Psy. Last time I checked,
Brooke Banner isn’t on their level.
Believing it is a good thing if fans pirate/rip your
website’s members area and share it with everyone on
the internet is ignorant. No product in history has
ever become more popular and profitable because
people stopped buying it. The people sharing your
members area on for-profit file-sharing sites aren’t
your fans; they are exploiting you for their own
financial gain and to satisfy their sense of entitlement.
Real fans wouldn’t do this. The real fans are the
ones who realize producing a product costs money,
and if the product isn’t making money, the producer
will stop putting out new products. They realize if
they want to see more Tanya Tate or Kelly Shibari
scenes, they have to show producers they want more
by voting with their pocketbooks.
There are plenty of those kinds of fans out there,
and they should be rewarded and applauded. They
should be put on a higher level than what qualifies
you as merely a “fan” these days. The supporters are
what make it all possible. By giving them credit and
thanks, you might just entice some fans to step up to
the next level.
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