CWF-RTB, NSFW update

Masnick at TechDirt picks up on the prior economics discussion of the end of effective copyright and the porn industry.

[Crampton] then suggests that touring is a possibility -- with online clips being used as enticement to come out and see "live" performances of some kind, though, I would imagine that might not fully work either. I would guess that for most -- "stripping" and "porn" aren't quite the same thing, and while I'm not familiar with how licenses for strip clubs work, I'd have to imagine that most don't allow actual sexual acts between people to happen either. Though, the Freakonomics article does say that some porn actresses use online clips to drive people to come see them strip -- which is a higher margin business.

Of course, a commenter suggests an even more obvious (though very illegal, mostly) form of CwF+RtB: prostitution. Though, that's got all sorts of problems as well.

What surprises me is that one of the more obvious models is mostly left out: straight up advertising. One thing that porn does well is attract a lot of eyeballs. In fact, plenty of online porn sites have supported themselves with advertising for ages. There's no reason for that to change. And, certainly you could think of interesting "tiers" that some top porn stars could use to attract people to pay for greater levels of access, such as private videos, chats and the like. A few months ago, someone had submitted a story about a porn star who was offering special packages on her website where she would attend sporting events with you (I believe for the Phoenix Suns), but I can't find that submission any more.

Either way, I have to concur with the initial analysis [Freakonomics]. Whatever the business model that comes out, it doesn't seem likely that porn is going away any time soon, even if copyright is totally ignored.

Advertising pays the clips sites, but it doesn't pay the content producers. Absent effective copyright, something else has to pay the producers. I still expect that we wind up with a segmented market where the clips sites mostly host amateur or very cheaply produced content, but where a few star performers are able to capitalize on acquired fame by selling props from the set, touring, or providing higher end experiential goods - the DVD costs $20, but the DVD plus dinner with the star costs $20,000.

Folks over in the comments section there had some interesting ideas for business strategy as well. They point out that there is already a pretty lucrative touring market for big name stars in adult entertainment venues. One commenter notes that "game used" memorabilia in sports has a big market; he's surprised it's not taken off in this context. I wonder whether there are regulatory barriers connected to health and safety issues, though presumably disinfectant would solve such problems. Another notes that one star has taken to occasionally advertising that she has two tickets to a Phoenix hockey game; folks could then presumably bid to go see the game with her. A third suggests "pay more to produce more":

For example, a famous porn actress could star in a free but short porn clip, with a possibility of 3 different ways it could be extended. Folks would pay .50 or so to vote for their favorite choice, and then a short time later the next segment would be free released as well, with yet another vote for the next segment.

Serialization of the show, with the next installment produced when enough micropayments have been received, and a chance to vote on ...plot developments... as incentive to pay - neat idea.

I'd appreciate it if any readers who pay more attention than I do to innovations in this industry (you know who you are) would report in if any of these start taking off.