What was more profound were some of the comments on the YouTube threads for each video.
I cherry-picked some quotes that expressed repeated opinions on the threads.
Only one adult company responded to the YouTube thread, though we know there are a lot of industry businesses that feel the same way. They said:
“As a mom-and-pop business in the adult film industry, I can attest to the truth of this PSA. Yes, you are screwing over the ‘little’ people who work behind the scenes. Yes, this does affect tax revenue both nationally and locally (our state taxes, for examples, are a percentage of our income). Finally, the industry employs a ton of people. In this economy, with the high unemployment rate, that’s a very good thing. BTW, amateur porn is a cheap alternative to stealing if you can’t afford a $2 VOD.” —afilmdatabase
However, there were others that took an ethical stand. One said:
“People that steal from others just because they feel they won’t get caught are scum.
“You don’t want people to steal from you? Don’t steal from others. Copyrite [sic] theft and P2P, Tubesites etc [sic] is stealing.
“Actually tube sites are made by people who actually make the stuff in the first place, They show short clips to their full movies but no one ever needs a full ridiculous 10 hours of porn packed into one DVD.” —VanessaChaland
Several comments, like these two, were suggestions for how to encourage online sales (misspellings included in all posts):
“I agree tho, you should get payed for what you do, but you have to realize that you have to package it diffrently, you cant just make a digital movie and think you will make money on it, you have to create Value… today, a porno flick has no value on the internet. Create better websites, charge less per file, alot less, and many, many more will …pay for the content you create. If you sell 3-4 minute clips for 1-2-3 dollars a pice, with good search functions to find the clip you want, and make the payment method easy you will get payed I promise. – ahriam
“Seriously? This is a problem with every ‘performing’ industry. How about a new business model? How about electronic distribution of your products and cutting out the middle man. You can sell more, at a lower price, but it’s more.” —SkaraaBradock
To which another commenter replied:
“You are so completely wrong, no disrespect meant. If I write a book, and someone copies it, and publishes it before me, I still have the original book. But they earn all the money from it, and I’m screwed. But per your argument, no theft occurred. Yet very clearly, it did. Same applies for any creative output. Theft does not only apply to taking physical possessions. I’m not being holier-than-thou either, I download the stuff.” —PDCXHawk
To which yet another post answered:
“@PDCXHawk — I disagree. While the people copying the work and selling it in your analogy are doing something wrong, they are not stealing.
I’m pro-piracy as long as:
- You are not going to make money from what you copy illegally.
- You would not have bought the content anyway.
I would never buy porno, so I’m not paying for it.” —blowmeuptomleykis
But he doesn’t mind having a look for free.
