Fully tatted and fully locked-and-loaded, Evan Seinfeld is a true Renaissance man, having founded heavy metal band Biohazard in the ‘80s, starred in six seasons of HBO’s hit show “Oz” and (since 2002) rocked all kinds of entrepreneurial adult industry endeavors.
Now, he is helming CRE8 Media alongside his wife, COO and Social Media Director Lupe Fuentes, a vet in the biz and bona fide influencer herself. With a tight-knit team spanning four timezones and numerous brands under an ever-expanding umbrella of premium content networks and engagement-driving companies, Seinfeld is taking his IsMyGirl.com venture to newfound heights, flexing serious muscle.
We are proud to announce our first label of 2020 as Ohrangutang Girls, one of the most artistic and established brands on Instagram.
As he recruits more and more exclusive models to reap the multi-faceted benefits of his one-stop platform shop, which sports a diverse array of features like pay-per-minute live streaming, premium Snapchat functionality and custom videos (to name but a few), Seinfeld is ready to amp up his game to the next level.
Fresh off a successful 2020 XBIZ Show run, where he made a splash mixing it up on clips panels and hosting his own star-studded seminar, Seinfeld shares his fascinating professional history, far-seeing industry insights and a few of the (doubtless numerous) winning cards hidden up his sleeve, in this executive seat interview.
XBIZ: Tell us about your career before the creation of IsMyGirl.
Seinfeld: My professional career started in the late ‘80s as the lead singer, bassist and founder of New York City-based hardcore heavy metal band Biohazard. Our band was signed to Warner Brothers, managed by Rush Artist Management (Def Jam) and sold over 5 million albums in the ‘90s. I toured with Metallica, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Wu-Tang Clan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie and too many others to list. In 1997, I was cast in a principal acting role for the HBO series, “Oz,” where I worked for six seasons portraying “Jaz Hoyt” — the leader of the Oz prison bikers gang.
In 2002, I began my career in the adult industry. I was the founder and CEO of several companies including Teravision, Iron Cross Entertainment, PornstarCamHouse and others. Always a fan of strategic partnerships, I worked very closely with companies like Hustler TV, Vivid, Gamma, etc. I have always been interested in star-studded content paired with technology-forward delivery methods. I focused a lot on exploring all available mediums to distribute content such as paysites, live streaming, mobile content, etc.
Then, in 2009, I began working with my wife, Lupe Fuentes, who was an internet sensation and had a solo site ranked under 3,000 according to Alexa. Lupe has since retired from the industry and now has a successful career as an influencer, DJ, and music producer and works alongside me on all of our business ventures. Additionally, Lupe serves as CRE8 Media’s COO and Social Media Director.
In 2010, I launched PornstarCamHouse.com in partnership with Streamate. PornstarCamHouse.com has been shooting/streaming live sex scenes for the last 10 years. We have shot over 2,000 adult stars and have a huge membership base where fans have access to thousands and thousands of archived shows, and two new live shows each week. In recent years, I have turned my focus towards social media, its convergence with mainstream PR, influencer marketing and business development with Inked.
XBIZ: What ultimately inspired you to build a premium social media network?
Seinfeld: I have always felt there was a huge disconnect between stars and their fans. I believe wholeheartedly in the concept of connecting stars directly with their audience. In 2009, I launched a site called PeepStar, which now, looking back, was the earliest incarnation of the CRE8 Media network (IsMyGirl.com, InkedGirl.com, IsMyGuy.com, etc). Technology was nowhere near what it is now, and we were sending links to online videos via SMS. This technology was definitely ahead of its time, and the project ultimately failed due to my inability to explain or coach the models how to make and monetize their own content. The word “selfie” had not yet been coined and this prevented me from launching a successful platform and business at that time. Today, we cannot get people to stop taking photos and videos of themselves.
I believe the world is changing faster than it isn’t and so is the way we are entertained. I lived through many technological changes during the evolution of the adult industry VHS, DVD, Bluray, Paysites, VOD, Cable TV, etc. Reality check: Today, there is an unlimited amount of free porn on the tubes. No one really needs to pay for generic porn, and for this reason, most professional porn content is losing its value. Yesterday’s stars are now cannibalized by the work that has gotten them fame, but the value/exclusivity of their content is often diluted by their career paths. While many people expect their adult entertainment to be free, I believe people are willing to pay for an experience and especially the opportunity to gain access to content they can't find elsewhere.
The philosophical difference between our premium social network and the popular fan platforms out there is the social experience we provide. It organically creates a connection between the models and their fans alike to share not just content, but true engagement. Our models can “friend” each other and view each other’s content, shout for shout on social media and leverage our platform traffic to grow their social following as well. Since technology has opened the door for people to create high-end/exclusive content on their own with ease, my vision became bigger than creating, producing, owning, distributing or even aggregating content. I wanted to create opportunities for a real strategic partnership with our models.
We get our models real mainstream press. This week alone, we have interviews in media outlets such as Business Insider, Women’s Wear Daily, Nutriciouslife, and Forbes. Our models are influencers. They are stars. More importantly, they are relatable because they are real. This is what the adult business was missing. The world is exhausted of fake reality porn, and the same old performers again and again. I think most millenials and Gen Z would rather see a homemade adult video from someone they follow on Instagram than someone they have seen in 100 porn scenarios.
I thought it was interesting that in the latest XBIZ article about Pornhub, the most searched term was “amateur.” We have already proven our theory to be true. To be successful in today’s adult industry, a model does not need an agent, manager or even to shoot adult content for any third-party companies. The power is in your hands to create your own monetizable brand within one comfort zone utilizing our next-gen technology. My goal was never to build a porn site, but rather a social platform to connect models/influencers to their fans, like Uber connects people who need a ride. With all of the discussion about judgment/censorship in social media, it was important for us to maintain a culture that practiced freedom, non-judgment and inclusivity. In simple terms, IsMyGirl and its connected communities are safe online environments for models/influencers alike to paywall with zero censorship, without fear of deletion, shadow-banning, etc.
XBIZ: Describe your approach to launching IsMyGirl in its first year, recruiting models to a new platform. How did your strategy shift as your numbers grew?
Seinfeld: When we launched our first platform (IsMyGirl.com), my partners, Inked Magazine and I began recruiting by leveraging our personal relationships, reaching out to models we were friends with or have worked with in the past. IsMyGirl caught fire very quickly amongst Instagram models. We began building our brand and promoting to our social communities by presenting the opportunity to make money from your own content and fans. The models knew that we would also be promoting them to our 35 million social media fans, which attracts excited and loyal models to our platform.
Most people are hungry for fame, exposure and social growth. As word started to spread that these Instagram models were now making serious money on a recurring basis, model sign-ups grew exponentially. With so much promotion on social media, virality was inevitable. Our internal staff recruiting via Instagram and other social platforms, in addition to our referral program, which incentivizes models to recruit other models — and even their friends.
XBIZ: What are the biggest key features that IsMyGirl offers talent and their fans?
Seinfeld: With our experience modeled after Facebook and Instagram, as well as staying updated with current trends on social media, IsMyGirl is a model’s ultimate one-stop shop to monetize their content and fanbase. IsMyGirl, IsMyGuy and Inked Girls all offer 10 different revenue streams from one convenient model dashboard. We work very hard and are constantly in development to bring out new features to revolutionize ways for our models to provide the most unique social experience for their fans. Just posting content is not enough anymore — people want to have an experience. Our models make money from the following different revenue streams:
1. Follow (recurring monthly subscription)
2. Premium videos
3. Private video messages
4. Pay-per-minute live streaming
5. One-on-one FanCam (like Facetime)
6. Tipping
7. Referrals
8. Snapchat premium
9. Custom videos
10. Premium galleries
To better benefit the fans, we are trying to educate and encourage our models to create a true sales funnel and direct their fans to one unique URL. When models are promoting multiple links in a Linktree, we have received overwhelming feedback from our customers that it is confusing for the fans as to where to find content. It dilutes each revenue stream by spreading it around to so many platforms. Fans are not stupid. Many fans know that models are just posting the same videos on different platforms. Sometimes, models have so many links, it almost looks desperate. We have converted models from many different platforms to being exclusive on one of our websites. In almost every case, the model made more money just by managing one platform. We promote the concept of work smarter, not harder. We encourage our models to build a true brand identity for themselves. Additionally, we have close to 40 million social media followers that we actively market our models to on social media, our website and email blasts everyday.
The number one reason models enjoy working with IsMyGirl, or CRE8 Media, is because of the culture we create. We do our best to treat every model as our business partners. We never leave models alone on an island to promote their content with one mysterious link to a website with no homepage. IsMyGirl has a robust homepage with millions of unique visitors that can help our models be discovered by new paying fans. By working with IsMyGirl, models have the opportunity to gain more fans by tapping into our millions of social media followers and users that we actively promote to vs. only their own following on social media.
XBIZ: How do you ensure the platform stays cutting-edge on the technological side?
Seinfeld: While most people probably view CRE8 Media as a social experience, our focus and spending are definitely very development-heavy. We watch social media and its trends along with trends in society. We create an experience for our models that feels fun and social. When your technology is ahead of the curve, sometimes it can take a bit of time for people to adopt it and catch on. But in the long run, I believe it is what will separate us from the rest.
XBIZ: Discuss your marketing strategy for the IsMyGirl brand and the ways you encourage creators to stay loyal to the platform.
Seinfeld: I’ve been marketing everything from brands to music, pizza and porn — the devil is in the details. In terms of model loyalty, I would have to think that is the same for most platforms. Bottom line — do the models make money? How much? How is the experience? How is the culture?
I believe in communities. Our first community within IsMyGirl has become a movement of power women. It is truly social. The models get to know one another and friendships are formed, business relationships are made and there’s an organic culture to it. At the end of the day, the best marketing is the endorsement of a happy successful model, which I’m proud to say we have thousands of.
XBIZ: How do you work closely with your top models, as well as with newcomers, to help ensure their success?
Seinfeld: IsMyGirl, Inked Girls and IsMyGuy all have in-house model managers for our models that want guidance and advice. We also have a model mentoring program where models can be trained by seasoned, successful models on how to make the most money, promote correctly on social media for their brand and more. We are a little bit outside the box.
We had one of our top models Sayora from MTV’s “Bad Girls Club” on a billboard on Sunset Blvd for several months. Once again, this comes back to our culture. With our mainstream background, we believe we have successfully crossed over adult into mainstream. Social media drives the culture as well as the traffic to our models’ profile and our homepage. Additionally, we feature new models in our email blasts every day. Our goal is to help our models gain the maximum exposure to make the most sales possible.
For our models that are exclusive to our platform, we act as an influencer agency/talent management company for business-minded models. We actively look to provide opportunities for our models, such as photo shoots with Instagram’s hottest photographers, to gain mainstream exposure, grow their social media following and develop their brands into businesses.
XBIZ: Of all the different ways models can monetize themselves on IsMyGirl, which are the most popular?
Seinfeld: While most people look at IsMyGirl and our other communities, and would probably assume subscriptions (which we call follows) are the lion's share of the revenue, our models definitely make more money selling premium videos from their model profiles. We give every one of our models a boost by automatically populating their premium videos — which, of course, are locked before purchase — in our premium video stores on each platform such as IsMyGirl.com/Premium-Video.
This brings the models additional sales and exposure. One of the things that truly sets our platform apart from our competitors is our fully mobile-capable pay-per-minute live streaming feature that is catching fire. Models earn 70 percent of all live streaming minutes and have an incredible mobile Facetime-like experience via phone or laptop. Models who get the right type of customers and know how to utilize our system make several thousands of dollars a day using our live streaming feature. Once again, our models are in control of all aspects of 10 revenue streams, preferences, pricing, settings and privacy. We also offer 24-hour live support for our models — simply because we appreciate them.
XBIZ: Talk about your behind-the-scenes teamwork at the IsMyGirl headquarters and what a "typical" work week might look like.
Seinfeld: The IsMyGirl team is spread across four time zones. Regardless of where you are geographically, we are 24/7 interconnected around the globe. The IsMyGirl head-quarters in DTLA (downtown Los Angeles) is the brain center of our platform. Our doors are always open to our models when they want to come by and discuss how to work our new features, discuss partnerships and sometimes simply bounce around ideas. We really listen to our models. We train all of our team members to be extremely versatile and detail-oriented problem solvers.
Our day is ping-pong between approving new models, social media promotion/marketing, back-end and front-end development, DMCA takedowns, email marketing, recruiting and model management. We take a great deal of pride in how efficiently the workplace is run. In the office, we have built an amazing culture of positivity that we are proud of. Our female communities are managed by women, for women, to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for all models. Customer service is our highest priority, and our customers are our models. Some of the office staff are also models in the community, so they have real hands-on experience/can relate to whatever assistance the model may need first-hand. Our two chihuahuas and frenchie bulldog are also in the office every day to bring everyone love and good energy.
XBIZ: What are your biggest ambitions for 2020, and beyond?
Seinfeld: For CRE8 Media, 2020 is all about expansion and evolution. We have plans to roll out branded partnerships and more curated white-labeled communities. We also are launching several new features for our models to build a more authentic engagement with their fans, gain the most exposure, and make the most money possible. We are doing our best to effectuate change and educate models on our platform and in our industry in general to spearhead the conversation about the value of exclusivity. We are encouraging our models to direct their fans to their online destination by creating an exclusive home and a true sales funnel for independent models versus displaying virtual FOMO by sharing so many different links that dilute, and fragment their brand, as well as confuse their fans. We encourage models to spend their energy creating content, engaging with their fans, and giving a personalized experience. I firmly believe that this is the best path forward today for independent models to be the most successful, and if anyone wants to have a conversation about it my door is always open.
