Just came across this article about the camming industry, thought it was really interesting and would love to see others' take on this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelstabi...-porn-industry


Just came across this article about the camming industry, thought it was really interesting and would love to see others' take on this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelstabi...-porn-industry
Oh no, they're on to us! cheese it!
"For those at the top, the rewards are incredible. A popular model on a large cam site can generate over $40,000 in a single month. There are multiple revenue streams for a cam star, including group chats, but for many the goal is to find a "whale," an online sugar daddy who might spend $20,000 a month on you or, even better, a member of "the platinum club" — the high-net worth fans who spend more than $100,000 a year."
great article, thanks for linking it MoonJade
one comment towards the end pissed me off a little though, the reference to how women in non-Western nations "drive down rates"
a) webcamming initially was predominantly an activity of non-Western women, so I love the typical North American attitude that basically assumes that "we're here now, so this is ours". In reality, women in these nations paved the way in the industry from which we all benefit from today.
b) the studio system has alot to do with the low rates that are charged by some women who live elsewhere than the West. The cam sites themselves are responsible for the persistence of the studio system, in that women from many nations are not permitted to sign up to sites like sm independently. As such, low rates are more of a 'Cyprus' problem than one of Indian, Eastern European, and Colombian women
I know most of us already know this, but I wanted to put in on record after getting a bit irked ready that line of the article.
thanks again for posting it! I hope every chica tempted to do free shows for pennies reads this and absorbs the key prase "personalized interaction"![]()





"It's no longer enough to have a pretty face and a tight body. A cam star needs to be able to connect — and to sell."
Amen to that!
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Follow me on Twitter @ClassyKatyxxx





Should we all be trying LiveJasmin now then?!
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Follow me on Twitter @ClassyKatyxxx





^^^ IMHO the evolulution of the business model toward 'star power' is NOT good news for average camgirls.





The "stars" on AW charge a lot more than us mere mortals...
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Follow me on Twitter @ClassyKatyxxx
Do it Fridays and I will too!!After all I have fans that want a meet and greet!
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This article has a lot of good gems in there.
"If the appeal of those first webcams was voyeurism, the appeal of today's cams is their intimacy.
The cam industry owes as much to phone sex as it does to porn. After all, the goal with cams isn't to get the customers off, but to seduce them into staying online — at $15 a minute, the sizzle is worth much more than the steak.
"Alec Helmy, publisher of the porn industry trade magazine Xbiz, calls cams "one of the industry's few bright spots." While the rest of piracy-plagued porn is struggling to survive, he says top cam companies have been growing by as much as 20 percent annually.
The key to cams' success is the interaction with the star
With cams, the goal isn't so much to go wide as it is to find a few "whales" willing to spend big. It's porn for the 1%.
"It's a different kind of profit. It's a different kind of customer," says Randy Blue."
I'm definitely changing the way I work lately and the type of customers I target. The 1% are out there with money to spend and I'm amazed they are willing and ready to spend it on US! It's awesome.
"When you look at the money that's made by most recording artists, they make their money in concerts. What used to be a $30 ticket is now $125 ticket. Sometimes they do a smaller venue with fans who are willing to pay more."
If you're an artist who wants to remain independent — whether as a filmmaker, a rock band or a porn star — your success is your direct connection, and the only commodity worth selling is the live event.
"While every star has dedicated fans, it's access to new ones that makes it financially sustainable in the long term. If you want to land a whale, you have to sail in deeper waters."
(Deeper water = sites with lots of paying traffic)! I remind myself of that whenever I think of the cut the site takes. Yeah they take a cut but if I'm on my own I really can't get enough whale traffic to sustain over the long term.





Actually, I think camming evens the playing field. Any girl can become a "Star" on cam site. This isn't a studio run company like Vivid or Digital Playground where they say who is a star & who isn't. Cams are where a girl from anywhere in the world with good internet connection & the ability to sell can be a star & make it to the top in sales on any giving major cam site. Then grow her brand with social networks & camming.
I predict that these will be the girls that major porn companies will soon be after. Cam girls with a proven sales record, proven hard work ethic it took to get there.
Good Luck,
Sam
See I wonder if those porn companies are still gonna be around? If they are they're gonna have to change the way they do business and market to the average male. Most men aren't paying for porn, they're paying for the interaction. They wanna tell the girl what they want/talk to them....also porn "stars"? Are porn stars really as big as they used to be anyway?
Melonie mentioned this "star" power, but what makes these girls stars anymore? Most feature dancers i saw, the guys didnt even know who they were. They posed for playboy/hustler/penthouse.....does the new generation of men even read those magazines....hell who actually reads magazines anymore with the internet? They were in so many adult films....yeah that got leaked on the internet and hardly anyone probably paid for.
If less people are paying for porn films/magazines.....whats gonna keep them in business in the next 10 years? People want to stream content.....and webcam provides that. We live in a new age with "reality" tv and youtube and social networking. Its a lot more personal now. Sam is right it evens the playing field. Unknown girls can become stars without a middleman(or an "agent"). They don't have to fly to LA to shoot a movie, they can stay home.
On the flip side....camgirls make less than a porn star in a day(well most do but there's always exceptions)....but its long term $$ vs a quick one time payout for a scene. I hear porn stars can have times where they can't get work, camgirls can always get work. Yeah sex will always sell....but nobody said it wouldn't become cheap!
^^^^I agree with both you and Sam completely. Like the article stated, with the unbelievably broad array of free content out there, we cam chicas are perfectly positioned to provide the one thing a recording cannot. Our personalities. Sure, some porn stars do really well camming, but the skills required to bank as a cam chica are slightly different than the skills that enable a porn actress rise to the top. Not every porn actress who cams will bank, and not every chica who banks will be need the extra promo that being porn star affords. In some niches (like 'girl next door','academic closet freak' or certain varieties of fetish), not being a porn star is actually a plus.
Regarding the 'whale' phenomenon, like many of y'all I find the more a guy spends the less clothing I take off. That's not a judgement that I think being clothed is superior to nude camming in some way (I do tons of nude camming as well), but more a point I'm raising in order to illustrate that the sought-after '10%' are often seeking an experience that's only tangentially sexual in nature. Being in porn doesn't necessarily give one an added advantage in interacting with these customers.
Things change so quickly that who the hell knows what camming will be like in 5 years. I agree completely with the article in stating that I don't think camming is dying however, and that live cams are a game changer in the industry. As a further plus, in line with Sam and Jasmine, I think we definitely do have a lot of power over our careers in this industry. What we sell has tremendous value, and essentially it is something that can't be taken away from us or posted for free on a tube site. Our unique personalities and the abilities to offer personalized interactions are worth mad $$$$. That's the main idea I took from that article, anyway.
I also assume that as camming grows so will the number of parasitic studios hoping to grab a piece of the action (and our $$$$), making it even more vital that we spread the gospel of signing up directly to cam sites.



Interesting read so far. Never knew it came from eastern Europe though. We have alot to thank them for.
Don't Like Me? Have A Seat With The Rest Of The Bitches And Bastards Waiting For Me To Give A Flying Fuck.





The "stars" on AW charge a lot more than us mere mortals...
^^^ for better or for worse, 'stars' doing camming can consistently charge higher rates, consistently get better page placement, etc. That doesn't mean that an 'average' camgirl can't still earn good money, but it definitely makes doing so more difficult.
As to niche markets, I agree that these have been more or less immune from 'star' competition in the past ... which was the reason that I pursued the 'huge boobs' niche market so seriously. However, even in the niche areas, 'star' competitition is beginning to become a factor.
I'll certainly agree with Sam38G that it's possible for a camgirl to promote herself to 'star' status without needing the past mechanisms of publicity via industry magazines / videos / club feature bookings. But she still needs 'outstanding' attributes and/or performance skills.





As a porn star that has tried to help out other porn stars make money by camming, I assure you. Most cam girls don't have any competition. I will fully admit most porn stars are lazy. They don't know how to hustle on camera at all, as you know brand power alone doesn't get you privates or exclusive shows. Men will beg them for free porn, free sex & such. These girls don't know how to handle the beggars & those who think just because they have jacked off to our porn that we don't personally owe them sex.
As an example one of my dear porn star friends tweeted the other day asking which cam company is the best to work for, due to she was to busy to do the research herself. Now, I love her, but seriously. If you dont take the time to do your own basic research to make sure you work for a cam company that fits your needs the best it is all a waste of time. She has NEVER danced. She has NEVER hustled at all online. She comes & goes from the porn biz sporadically, cause she has never taken it seriously.
I know that the time & effort it takes to do camming. To build up your game, getting guys to spend money isn't easy. She doesn't have what it takes to be successful at it.
This is how many porn stars are, to lazy to do the hours each day to be successful at camming.
Besides shooting porn means there is a director telling them how to fuck in a scene. How to get a paying customer in private & keep him there for a while is another story.
Smooches,
Sam





Porn is already too competitive to make into a viable career unless its something you really want to do. There's just not enough money in straight up porn for it to be worth it otherwise. Most porn stars make less than like 40k/yr and I hear contract stars for companies like Digital Playground only make 60k a year, and those are supposed to be the most sought after girls right?
In the future, I doubt there will be much money in the adult world left (bc of free online porn + a fuckton more girls) unless you're a novelty like, for example, huge Z-sized tits, can use huge toys, world's giant ass, etc. Otherwise, all adult careers will pay about the same as say... an accountant. I mean its already like that for most girls. The benefit to working in the adult world though, that will still have girls wanting to work even with average salaries, is that its flexible, it takes no education ($$$), and little to no start-up costs ($$$). And I suspect that competition for ALL jobs will be exponentially greater in 10-20 years anyway, so the adult world will always be worth it for some girls. Regardless of compensation level.
And yes, amateur-ness and customer interaction are VITAL keys to success these days and in the future.





lol I know what you mean. There has been a huge rush in pornstars starting to cam everyday/most days on Streamate in the last 2 weeks, and I was super shocked at how... personality-less on cam and lacking in sales skills most of them were/are. I was especially shocked because some of these girls seem to have awesome behind-the-scenes personalities too, but they just log on cam expecting $$$ and don't make that much $$$ because of an expectant attitude. Funny really. But honest.
Pornstars that later cam have no niche so they are boring as fuck, from what I've noticed. They have no selling points. They don't even know how to sell themselves. They are too used to fucking and getting handed a paycheck and thats it. If they hated dancing or couldn't hack it at dancing, they probably won't be good at camming either. And I have a feeling thats why so many of them don't cam. It just doesn't translate and it takes too much effort for them.





Reason why you have seen a major influx of porn stars on cam is due to the shut down of the industry due to a Mr. Marcus's incident. Most have not diversified & had no way of bringing in income, so they started camming or hooking.
There are less & less shoots they can do. Most have agents that have already signed them up to SM, but they only make 20% not the 35%. Yes, those famous well known agencies in LA ripped them off when it comes to camming on SM. They know it now & don't want to cam & make the agency 15%.
No one trains girls how to be cam stars, how to hustle, how to do this. Nor do they come here & spend the time reading up.
As ya'll have realized through trial & error how to up your game. Remember we were all newbies on cam once, there is a learning curve. Fortunately for me, I was a stripper for 12 years before I even did porn.
Smooches,
Sam
GREAT post, great read, and great seeing the convos going on here between intelligent, experienced cam-girls!
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