LOS ANGELES — Cams, clips and COVID-19 were the hot topics of discussion as the industry reconnected — virtually, of course — after a momentous year for Day One of XBIZ 2021, presented by Chaturbate. Industry thought-leaders gathered for more than a dozen insightful seminars and mixed-and-mingled in digital lounges as they renewed friendships and made new connections. The action-packed schedule concluded Monday with a candid, uplifting keynote address delivered by performer and entrepreneur Dani Daniels.
“Cams in Focus: Staying Ahead of the Curve”
Featuring the best and brightest in camming, “Cams in Focus: Staying Ahead of the Curve” brought together execs and cam models from a variety of platforms to discuss the latest in streaming.
Contributing their wisdom from the business side, brand reps included Liz Rekevics of Streamate, Andrew H. from ePlay, Stripchat’s Rick Morales, Jamie Rodriguez from Flirt4Free, Cams’ Gunner Taylor and ImLive’s Shay Efron, along with talent pros Lindsey Banks from Stripchat, Brielle Day of MyFreeCams, Max Konnor of CAM4, Ella Silver from ePlay and Streamate, as well as Chaturbate’s Blonde Rider and Casey Kisses.
Moderated by XBIZ Managing Editor of Digital Media, Alejandro Freixes, conversation topics centered on issues relevant to both sides of the talent/platforms fence, such as the impact of the pandemic lockdown, new site features that models appreciate or want introduced, payment processing and server stability issues.
Even as the lockdowns spiked traffic and earnings to untold heights, there have been challenges along the way. “As the year’s gone on, it seems like the money’s drying up for users, so we’ve been doing a lot more free shows to combat that,” Kisses expressed, touching on the power of freemium approaches to driving premium traffic.
As for Konnor, he aims for less-is-more big shows as part of his CAM4 brand ambassadorship. “Right now, I do four shows a month for CAM4 and I try to make at least two of those shows special, flying in models that fans want.”
Silver pointed out that the lockdown has cut down on her social life significantly, which makes chatroom convos trickier. “For me as a performer, it’s not being able to leave my house, going to different places, seeing different performers and having new things to talk about that’s tough,” she shared. “At the end of the day, it’s about talking with your fans and I don’t have anything to talk about!”
Silver gestured behind her and explained, “This square footage of area is all I have, especially now that we’re back in lockdown in the U.K. That’s been my biggest hurdle on creativity.”
Of course, there’s no denying the upside of the lockdowns, which Efron matter-of-factly laid out, albeit with some remorse. “It’s a little embarrassing to say, but the pandemic drove traffic big-time. This is what we’re selling: online relationships from a distance. We love bored people at home, we love people who don’t have anything to do or don’t have the ability to go out.” He then somberly acknowledged that
many people are losing jobs, loved ones or their very lives, even as there is a boon for indie platforms.
Nonetheless, he stated, “For us, business-wise, this is a blessing. Everyone got growth in the cams industry."
Attesting to the decades-long durability of legacy brands like ImLive, Streamate, Flirt4Free, Chaturbate, Cams.com and CAM4, during the lockdown, many fine-tuned well-established systems and procedures for ensuring payments and servers are rock-solid. Relatively newer entrants like Stripchat, which has been around several years now, and ePlay, which recently launched officially this past year, described the
many ways they’re seeking to innovate.
Gunner, with his trademark deep bass voice, lauded the newly redesigned-from-the-ground-up “facelift” Cams.com rolled out, while Rodriguez underscored the importance of Flirt4Free's attentiveness to constantly polishing its systems and releasing updates that incorporate talent feedback. Morales and Banks tag-teamed to promote the slick site features Stripchat offers models to boost fan engagement, while Andrew of ePlay said their ability to iterate and pivot aggressively stems in part from an absence of legacy coding to deal with.
Models like Day, Rider and Kisses shared the sentiment that they like to repackage live shows as clips to sell later, for users who couldn’t make it that day, as camming sites increasingly expand into clips and premium social media-style capabilities. In that vein, Rekevics said that Streamate “introduced improvements for our video stores and from the model standpoint, we’ve introduced fan clubs, which have been growing steadily since then.”
"Premium Paysites: Growing a Subscriber Base Via Compelling Value"
The discussion was wide-ranging and freewheeling during the paysite session.
The recent harsh scrutiny and credit-payment-pounding experienced by Pornhub and other major tube sites was front-and-center on the minds of the participants. “We’ve been waiting for this day forever,” said Bang.com’s Clement. “I think it’s a good thing for us content producers, just because it’s removing a lot of (pirated) legal content. It’s removing a lot of links and movies that we don’t control... It’s just cleaning up the game."
At the same time, the panelists do not expect the major tube sites to take this setback laying down. “I think the (major) tube sites will reinvent themselves,” said Letsdoeit.com’s Gian Carlo.
The debate over creating mega-sites with a wide range of adult content or a stable of tightly-targeted niche sites also came up. According to TeamSkeet.com’s Louis, “I don’t think you should bundle everything into one single site... If you do just have this one giant offer with everything in it, then the user is just not going to have anything else to purchase.”
His view was tempered by FPNCash’s James Deen. “It’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all,” Deen commented. “The strategies are going to be different, depending on what the product is.” He cited JulesJordan.com as a niche site that is hyper-focused, compared to Bang.com and Adult Time that have something for almost everyone.
Each approach has its merits, Deen concluded. To decide which approach is right for them, a premium paysite operator has to “identify what it is that you’re selling, what it is that you do, and then what your consumer base is, because each consumer base is going to behave in a completely different way.”
"Clips in Context: Creative Solos, Customs & Content Trades"
The clips session was moderated by XBIZ Managing Editor of Digital Media, Alejandro Freixes and included an array of popular artists, such as Korina Kova, Katie Cummings, Vanniall, Annabelle Rogers, Alexandra Snow, Lance Hart and Estella Bathory.
The panelists shared what kinds of content were especially popular with each of their fan bases, how to rent sets or locations for their shoots, technical specs (lights and cameras) and how to reach a healthy life/work balance when popularity demands round-the-clock clip making, both customs and for their various content streams.
Popular clip subjects included family taboo (Rogers and Cummings), femdom (Snow and Bathory), custom solo content (Kova), trans videos (“as long as I can get a boner, they’re pretty happy,” said Vanniall) and “gay superheroes hypnotizing each other into doing gay stuff” (Hart).
As for the mechanics of production, the panelists had widely varying approaches to their craft, from pure DIY ingenuity, to extremely elaborate sets.
“I’ll do almost anything that interests me,” said Snow. “I’m almost 3,000 POV videos in, so there’s only so many things you can stare at the camera and do.”
“I started off shooting in an apartment, with a cat,” said Hart, who now owns his own adult site network, PervOut, “with extension cords and Home Depot lights. And you know? It works.”
Vanniall mentioned that, “If I did a jerk-off video, I can just put the camera right there and shoot it, and they’d say ‘It’s awesome,’ but it doesn’t bring [me] joy,” as more elaborate visual challenges would. Many panelists agreed with Vanniall that for many fans, phone content is their favorite because it conveys the illusion of authenticity and intimacy.
On the other end of the complexity spectrum, Alexandra Snow spoke about being a drone pilot and choosing different cameras suitable for travel shoots, with fellow high-end customs purveyor Korina Kova enthusiastically asking for tips.
"Directors Panel: Bringing Out the Best in Talent, While Tapping Into Evolving Genres"
Hosted by Will Ryder, the panel featured lauded directors Joanna Angel, Mike Quasar, Casey Calvert, Whitney Wright, Ricky Greenwood and Kayden Kross.
Though 2021 is a new year, the concerns that impacted the adult entertainment industry in 2020 haven’t disappeared. Yet the directors displayed optimistic attitudes for the future as well as just an overall playful mindset.
Quasar jokingly compared himself to Kross by stating that while Kross’s films were "the Nordstrom of porn," his content is "more like the Walmart of porn," a comparison that inspired laughter from the whole panel.
As the panel moved forward, Mullen asked the directors to describe how they found themselves in their current roles. As a performer, Calvert developed a keen sense for business while her film school background made for a natural transition into her current roles as a director and producer. Despite her experience behind the camera, Calvert revealed she still finds that directing makes her more nervous than performing.
When asked about her transition from performing to directing, Kross shared that she mainly learned how to direct, not from being an actress, but by simply learning on the job. With that said, she did underline that she understands and empathizes with what performers go through on set.
Ryder introduced COVID-19 as another topic to be dissected. With so many new safety protocols being created to deal with the pandemic, Angel said that she waited several months before directing again to learn from how her colleagues were dealing with these new rules.
When discussing new liability issues at play, Kross admitted her good fortune to work with a company that always supports her. Quasar, in contrast, discussed how COVID has made third-party content producers "even more vulnerable to liability concerns" because even though they are frequently hired by big studios, they lack the same protections corporations have.
Wrapping up the panel, the directors discussed their plans for the year with Calvert sharing that she has six movies lined up to direct.
Mike Quasar offered one of the closing statements. "While I have no reason to believe this," he said, "I do think that 2021 will be a much better year than 2020."
"Talent Track Keynote: Dani Daniels"
Closing out XBIZ 2021's first day was the Talent Track keynote address from 2016 XBIZ "Female Performer of the Year" Dani Daniels. In a wide-ranging, hourlong conversational speech, Daniels covered her entrance into the industry, her rise to success and her current status as a lauded entrepreneur in several areas of business, both in adult and beyond.
Daniels provided a candid look at the unique career trajectory that brought a 21-year-old stripper from Omaha, Nebraska into the all-girl niche within mainstream porn, to stardom as a versatile performer and director, and then, in a pivot, to her current life in New York as a married sex worker, premium social media darling and serial business-starter.
Daniels’ overview of recent and future projects included a merch line, a clothing line (shirts, underwear, socks), a curated box business, a TV talk show available on Amazon, a podcast, calendars and several other endeavors. She revealed she has also learned how to fly planes.
"If you do leave the industry, or you just stop shooting mainstream, don’t bash the industry on the way out," Daniels advised. "Be thankful of the industry and where it got you, and what it’s done for you and all the amazing opportunities it has given you."
When she left mainstream shooting to pursue other opportunities, Daniels said, she did praise marquee studio brands. “I said, ‘Brazzers, I’m very thankful you shot me in these amazing scenes that have helped make my brand.’ So when they reached out and asked me to [join] Brazzers+, I don’t think they would have done that” had she not shared her gratitude.
“Be kind and be thankful wherever you go,” Daniels concluded.
Click here for XBIZ's coverage of the week's events.
Reporting by JC Adams, Peter Berton, Alejandro Freixes, Nicholas Gottlieb and Gustavo Turner.
