Over the years, through my involvement in the adult industry as a submissive and promoter, I have had the privilege of interacting with some of the most amazing women I could ever hope to meet. Many of them, most in fact, are clip artists, among other vocations, selling their creative products to those who wish to purchase them. Some of these clips are custom requests from submissives, while many others are the direct result of the creative kink that flows so perfectly within the woman of your dreams. Either way, a Domme invests something of herself, both emotionally and financially into each and every clip they produce. So when these clips are stolen…yes stolen, it leaves them angry, upset and wondering whether it is even worth continuing to film clips.
As you will read from the selections submitted by a variety of Dommes, piracy is a major concern and something that is adversely affecting the business of clip production and the incredible women who make their living doing it. While many are frustrated, and eager to tackle the problem, others have had to try to find the best of a terrible situation, unconvinced that the issues of piracy will ever be resolved. So who is to blame, and what can be done? Obviously the mindset of many consumers that “if it’s on the internet for free, why would I pay for it?” needs to be addressed. At the same time, media sites that host clips for sale by these Dommes have to assume some responsibility and be tasked with making it as difficult as possible for clips to be stolen. Ultimately, if some radical changes aren’t made, both in the attitude of the consumer and in the mechanics of clip production and sales, it will inevitably lead to fewer Dommes wishing to participate in the production of the clips we so enjoy watching. So here it is, gentlemen (and I use that term loosely for those who steal), you can either support these Goddesses by paying for your porn, recognizing them for the efforts they make to feed your kinks and to bring your fantasies to life, or you can continue stealing until there’s nothing left for you to steal…or watch.
With this in mind, we offer you responses from a variety of Dommes framed around the following questions:
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What kind of piracy experiences have you had as a Femdom clip producer, and how has it affected your business?
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What can be done to help reduce, if not completely alleviate the scourge of piracy in the clip sales business?
I have heard that there are some fetishes out there that tend to get pirated more than others and I knew this was a reality, but to be honest, I never really had the time to properly look into it and check if any of my work had been pirated before some of my followers started to send me emails to inform me about pirated clips. I like it when a slave of mine does this kind of thing that he knows will impress me, without me asking them in advance. So that’s how I found out about the existence of some really obscure sites I didn’t even know existed. I found some membership-based sites where clips from many Dommes are posted and can be accessed for a small monthly fee. I personally think that although it might be tempting, most real subs would actually enjoy it more if they spent money on their clips and would get much more aroused if they paid extra, so I honestly think that the only ones who would feel tempted to watch the pirated clips would actually not be subs. Maybe the ones who are uncertain whether they’re subs or not, the ones trying to run away from their submissive side or most probably other clip artists who want to see your work for less money would be tempted to visit pirate sites. I mean, if I were a sub, even if I didn’t have a Findom fetish, I would prefer to buy the clips from my favorite Domme and thank her for the opportunity, by paying extra. And luckily, that is the case with most subs.
However, what I found to be interesting is that the piracy game can be turned around and used to your advantage. The fact that your clips have been posted means you must be good, because no one is stealing the clips of a no-name artist. Once they’re out there, you can easily send an email with proof that this is you and those are your clips, then have them taken down. I have yet to see a site that won’t take the pirated clips down once you get in touch. The good thing is, though, that after taking clips down, their footprints are still on the site, as in…one can find them if they look for my nickname, but once they click on the actual clip, it says it is no longer available on the site. I think that kinda works as a teaser and a promotional tool, because we all know how the human mind works – when you see something that’s there but you can’t have it, you crave it even more. Forbidden things will always be more tempting. So I personally came to see this as an opportunity to promote myself better, by sending them emails to take the clips down and then just waiting for a flow of sales to come by right after the takedown. And it always happens!
I think that it will always be hard to get rid of such sites and people, but I am personally more annoyed with the people creating fake Twitter accounts to pretend they’re me. It honestly hurts to see someone use a brand you worked hard to create in order to most probably ask for tributes via messages on Twitter. I think that maybe an idea would be for Twitter to come up with a new verification process that will not allow someone to make a new account with a name that already exists, even if they changed it a little, unless they provide proof that they are that person. For example, I created a backup and promo account. If Twitter asked me for proof of being hypnoticnatalie, then I could easily provide it. There is a Twitter account that goes @NatalieHypnotic
which is obviously not me and was created long after I created my account, after I already invested time and effort into building my image. I think that if that person got a message from Twitter being asked to prove that they are hypnoticnatalie, that could’ve prevented this account from still existing nowadays. I do hope they didn’t manage to rip anyone off, but you never know. Feel free to report and block this account, by the way.
I’ve been in the ‘adult business’ for 12 years and I’ve been a Femdom clip producer for about 5 of those years. During that time I’ve noticed that more ‘vanilla’ work gets pirated than fetish, at least in my experience. I personally believe that’s because fetish content is a smaller niche in the overall adult business, however, it could also be argued that it’s because I’ve been doing ‘vanilla’ longer than fetish. Regardless, piracy sucks and takes away a lot of potential income from independent clip producers. I for one have decided not to do certain genre’s in the ‘adult business’, just because of the piracy issues that we face. Why should I make content, for others to profit off of, when they had absolutely no part of the making of it?
I think consumers have this mentality of ‘if it’s out there for free, why pay for it?’. While I understand where they are coming from, I don’t agree with it and certainly don’t support it. As an artist I know how much work goes on behind the scenes, that others outside of this business don’t even realize. I know how long it takes to set up lights and camera equipment. The amount of time it takes to not only film, but to edit the content. Then render, upload, write out descriptions and make GIFs, and then to schedule it out for our fans to purchase. That’s not even counting the emails and other behind the scene work we all do.
When people download our content from torrent sites, bulletin and message boards, or watch it on tube sites, they are taking away our income. Our livelihood. I bet you though, if they go into work and are told they aren’t going to get paid for the work they did this past week and someone else is going to get paid for it, they would pitch a fit, go down to HR, threaten to sue, and probably quit right on the spot. When in reality, by not paying for the content we created, they are doing the same exact thing to us. So some of us do quit, others hope it gets better (eventually), and some don’t even have a choice.
If piracy continues down the path it is, it’s eventually going to run independent content producers out of business. If you enjoy a model, cam girl, clip producer, etc., support them and their business. Pay for her/his content. Give them a tip/tribute. Let them know you appreciate them and the work they do. Most probably don’t know or maybe they do and don’t care, but when you download/stream stolen content, the pirate that uploaded said stolen content, is being paid for every download/view. To them it’s not like giving is caring, to them giving is stealing from someone else and getting paid for it. Then, more times than not, the pirate is using a stolen credit card, so the content creator gets a charge back. So why not go straight to the source, the independent artist, and pay them. They are the ones that should be compensated, not the pirate.
I don’t think piracy is ever going to go away 100%, that would just be wishful thinking. Big name tube sites renovated their sites to where models and content producers can profit off of their stolen content. Which is okay, I guess, but it was still stolen in the first place and models are only making pennies on the dollar, while these tube sites profits off of the advertising and paid memberships. My feelings on that aren’t settled and are mixed, as I have not forgotten how they started and how they made their millions. So instead I think there could be several ways to reduce it, without the ‘middle man’ so to speak.
Having the billing companies be more strict and having more enforcement of declining stolen credit cards could certainly help. I see a bit more than most artists that use only clip sites, as I have my own site with my own billing. It’s astonishing what billing companies allow through the cracks when a “customer” places an order.
A software that would uniquely encrypt artist’s content each time an item sold would be very beneficial. It would help us easily track down who uploaded the content so we could a.) block them from purchasing anything else, then b.) go after them legally for money lost by their upload and copyright infringement. This of course leads into my next point.
If copyright laws were strict, enforced, and the same across the board I truly believe there would be less piracy. Since we are in the ‘adult business’, we kind of get swept under the rug with equality, even more so as an independent producer. Then of course, not all countries even have copyright laws at all. This is where most servers are being hosted FYI, so there can’t be any ramification against the pirates or the sites themselves. If law enforcement would take the issues more seriously, these enabling sites could be closed down. Then a domino effect would occur: pirating sites close, content hosting sites close, less and less stolen content is being shared on the inter-webs. Then in return, independent content producers start making the income they deserve, that they worked for, and fans will get more content because producers are now motivated to produce more high quality stuff for their fans.
Then of course, there would be education on the detrimental effects piracy has on independent clip producers and how pirates profit off of us. Perhaps consumers are naive or maybe they don’t care. They will care though when no new content is produced by their favorite artist and they are stuck fapping to the same old content.
Any clip of mine that makes it to the front page gets pirated, easily. Most of the piracy for my stores are in ballbusting/CBT. A couple times a year, I will issue out DMCA takedowns, and it takes a full day to do so. Some sites will not take down (anything in Russia) because the laws allow for piracy there. And in the meantime, anything of mine that gets pirated, I upload to PornHub under my own name so that at least I have some semblance of control and profit off of the piracy. If people are going to be watching my stuff for free, I’d like it to be attached to my name directly.
It does take a lot of time to keep on top of piracy, hence me only doing it a couple times a year. Any more and it would be a full time job. As of this point, I try not to stress out about it because it’s a losing battle, and I fight my battles when/where I can. While it would be ideal to have every clip of mine be purchased, I know it’s not that realistic. Piracy is a bitch, but it is also an inherent part of adult video work now.
I don’t know if it actually affects my business, as everybody consumes porn differently. Just because someone can’t find a specific video of mine for free online does not necessarily entail that they will buy it. People have their own reasons for purchasing porn. While I do think it’s important for the people stealing porn online to acknowledge that their porn is never actually “free” and that they’re piggybacking off of the fruits of others, there still will always be people who refuse to pay for their porn. It’s just the state of society created by companies like PornHub.
Since I’m not purely just a video Domme, I try not to let piracy get me down. I started doing videos again in 2018 because of FOSTA/SESTA – I see videos as a more effective mode of advertising in a post FOSTA/SESTA world – so for me, while the money from videos is great, it’s not my end-all be-all. I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I do realtime work, phone calls, cam shows, panty selling, etc. – the video side is only one aspect of it, and I encourage any and all Dommes getting started in clips sales to expand out to other venues as well. It’s not a solution for piracy, but it is a solution for financial stability.
Piracy has been a big problem in the independent clip world. Perhaps, much bigger than I anticipated it would be. I acknowledged that piracy happened, but it wasn’t until 2018-early 2019 when it became so bad that a massive decrease in my monthly income stopped making it worth filming shoots for My target market of ballbusting (Unfortunately it was also My favourite category to make).
That 1 year-ish period makes up 67% of My overall chargebacks since opening My store in 2014. I found a few key pirate sites that had My entire video library uploaded (among many other Dommes); and they charged a small access fee for “unlimited downloads” or free for a few downloads.
I have subs that I send on regular link-seeking missions that will report back the exact file-path / location, so that I may submit DMCA takedowns. (This is a lawyer’s letter, that costs money to send. Fortunately clips4sale.com has been amazing in covering this for their clip artists!) Although, some countries where the company’s server may be based, do not recognize anti-piracy law.
I think viewers are unaware of how much work goes into planning, dressing up, creating, editing, uploading, and promoting each clip. Clip Artists often use expensive gear to film and edit on, to create these quality clips. Sometimes studio rentals apply, or model fees. I think the mentality that “it’s just a clip;” is the big issue.
Many of these pirate sites are directly connected to credit card fraud rings. They use stolen credit cards to obtain digital materials (like Our clips). The pirates obtain the files, and then the original card owner notices the card charges and calls their creditor for a chargeback to recoup their funds.
This part is important to know, because creditors will assume that the clip store gave faulty goods, and they will punish the store with a penalty fee. Now I’ve lost goods, future traffic, and money. Moreover, this constant piracy/chargeback barrage on adult digital goods drives the credit card processors to call Our industry “high risk” and charge a hefty fee to process compared to other online stores. This is why Adult Clip Artists typically get only 60% of their clip earnings.
Perhaps now you see why piracy is such a big problem for Artists. Streaming sites usually don’t make sense, because of the set up and server costs. For these reasons, it is important to respect your Domme’s work (Or any kind of artist/porn star/musician/etc.), and pay them for their work.
If you have benefited from pirated clips in the past; you can easily make it up to your favourite Artists/Dommes by sending them a nice big tribute acknowledging their hard work.
The more people that stand behind Our work (with their wallets), the more We can produce what you like; fancier and more plentiful.
– Miss XI
Piracy is a very discouraging part of the clip business for every hard-working video creator. Many of us pour major time, money & heart into our work in order to build our brands and make a living. We do this while at the same time knowing there’s going to be a bunch of creeps stealing our content with the intent to disrespect our property and brands as well as devalue our efforts illegally. I have had to send out tens of thousands of DMCA’s to sites for years, and at times have spent many hundreds of dollars a month to hire help to do it for me. Fortunately, at this time I have a well-trained sub who handles it for me so that I am not dealing with the stress piracy causes me. Having assistance in this matter allows me to be able to focus more on the joys of content creation while protecting my property and income.
Piracy is very much like wildfire in that as soon as a video artist releases a clip, or streams live online, the content is almost immediately stolen and posted illegally. This problem feels very much like a violation of our creative property, finances, and is a direct attack on us personally, since the artist as a professional and a person is what our work is about. It’s a problem that causes every artist to sometimes feel like it’s not worth the effort to create new content or to fight to stop it from happening. I’ve often seen it make a lot of people in this industry feel deeply depressed, defeated, and extremely angry. I empathize and also know that there are things that can be done to combat it so that piracy is less of a “big” problem.
About once a month my sub files DMCA’s that contain hundreds, sometimes thousands, of links to my stolen content. In most cases, those links are removed or at least broken by Google, even if a video title and the preview photos or gifs remain seen on the piracy site. A thief can still try and click on it, but it’s a dead link. Hiring professional help or training one of your friends, or trusted tech-savvy subs to handle this can be so helpful in managing that aspect of your business. Often times I’ve had to change my outlook on piracy and tell myself that it’s “free promotion” which is why I make sure every clip is tagged with my watermark so that at least it’s labeled as mine. I realize most people who don’t pay for their porn aren’t going to care about tracking me down to pay me later, but occasionally I have had people search me out and become a paying client down the road because they were able to find me based on my watermark. A watermark is important to add to every clip as a way to be identified.
One of the ways I believe the media industries are working to combat piracy is by using Blockchain Technology. Blockchain is described as a continuously growing list of digital records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. In most cases, each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a transaction timestamp and transaction data. This means every media and information file is cryptically tagged so that there’s a record of each transaction and where it’s being posted, sold, copied, etc. Blockchain technology is growing rapidly, and I predict that clip sites will need to implement it into their coding in the near future in order to stay ahead of the curve. Blockchain technology does give creators hope that one day we will be able to track all of our stolen content and may have a better system for making sure thieves are tracked and forced to comply with the laws.
I have been a Femdom cam model & phone sex operator for 3 years, & because of that I was made aware of the indie clip market. I instantly fell in love with the idea of making Femdom & fetish content as I am a very creative person, I adore acting, in fact it’s my number one passion & what I always wanted to be since I can remember, & because it’s a passive income stream to supplement my other work. As much as I love making clips it’s also extremely time consuming to plan, film, edit & upload them. The hours of work it takes to produce a 10 min clip can be anywhere from an hour to five hours! I’m not a full time clip maker (yet) so I fit it in around everything else but I do it because I love it & because one day my plan is to be a full time clip Domme. As I do a lot of foot domination in my cam life it was an obvious decision to start making foot related clips, but little did I know about the piracy of foot porn. I just assumed PornHub was for actual sexual porn & in all honesty I had never really considered the piracy of porn. I have always been blessed with a very creative imagination & a very willing husband so it’s not something I ever really indulged in. So I’m loving life making my little foot clips getting an excited little thrill every time someone buys a clip, blissfully unaware that I’m being ripped off. It was extremely gutting to receive a DM on Twitter from one of my followers with a link to one of my clips on PornHub. It was then that I looked on the site & realized that foot fetish porn is actually a big thing. I found 5 of my clips on there & immediately I was trying to figure out a way to get them taken down. Also at that time I had a YouTube account with over 100k views taken down, & then ironically another Domme sent me a link via private message with a ripped off clip of mine on YouTube!
I was naturally pissed off & outraged, trying to figure what to do. I saw that I had to file a DMCA notice but that’s when I also saw that you can sign up for a model account on PornHub, & once verified, get any pirated content moved to your own channel & get paid per view. I was torn on what to do, my clip sales aren’t my main income but that is still my hard work, lots of my time, my creativity right there being ripped off & I now have the option to actually take back control of it & make money which is obviously the whole point in the 1st place. So I signed up, got verified & transferred the ripped off clips to my channel, so at least I was getting something out of it. Is this the best thing to do? I don’t know. I’m a sure of lot girls will say no, it’s just making it more acceptable, but for me it’s the best option. I am a very realistic person & after speaking to my male friends it became pretty obvious that the majority of them think porn is actually free, so I decided that taking control & getting the pay per view was more important to me personally than fighting a losing battle. I would expect submissive men to not share the hard work of his favourite Domme on a tube site, and I wouldn’t expect a submissive man to take money away from his favourite clip maker by sharing her work without consent, but from the amount of pirated Femdom porn out there that is clearly not the case.
I don’t expect people to agree with me, but I just think you can’t stop this from happening so you have to either stop making clips or try find a way to make it work for you. I took back control of my ripped off content, I got paid for it & a tube site has a shit ton of traffic that you can use to your advantage. I have also been the victim of someone buying my content & passing it off as their own, even going so far as to dub over my voice in Arabic in every clip. I might be small fry, but even if you have 1 clip out & you’ve only sold it once or you have thousands of clip sales a month, it doesn’t matter, we are all in a position to have our clips pirated & uploaded without our permission & it pisses me off but I decided to just roll with it. If I had never been ripped off I wouldn’t have considered being on a tube site but it happened & I am, so I’m turning it to my advantage the best way I can. If anyone reading this has ever uploaded a clip to a tube site I just want to say – just because you paid for the clip it doesn’t make it yours to share. In that sense you are no better than a person filming the screen at the cinema!
