If piracy is a constant, the distribution of stolen adult content is a crystal ball. You can learn from pirates and what’s possible when piracy affects you.
For almost 20 years, I’ve been on the front lines, watching, influencing, managing and solving piracy issues. At its core, my job focuses on global anti-piracy issues, relationship management and brokering solutions.
Watch how your content, or better yet, your competitors’ content, is being exploited by pirates. Then use that as a template for ad targeting.
My work has spanned online adult and mainstream entertainment, as well as tech and music businesses. I have been a studio owner, content producer, webmaster, magazine publisher, distributor, affiliate, gateway for tech companies, innovator and … as a result of co-owning Falcon Foto (once one of the largest libraries of images in the world, and thus, oft impacted by content theft) … a pirate hunter.
How it All Began
First, we put up content, then we sold the right to see it. We made buckets of cash. Then pirates came. When the buckets of cash slowed, the pirates mattered.
The first online pirates scanned pictures from magazines and quickly procured digital images, which the internet then duplicated at lightning speed. At that time, piracy was an afterthought. No one on the content side fully understood the magnitude or how to effectively tackle the issue. We were making and licensing content, while counting the dollars.
Then, the problem exploded.
A search would result in thousands of pages of our images on free sites, in members areas, as well as on banner ads. Only about 20-30% of what we found was licensed. We even caught pirates selling discs with our content and providing fake licenses. It felt overwhelming. Fortunately, there are now laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the U.S., which governs copyright infringement liability in the digital world, as well as case history and a road map of what’s possible.
Though we are now better protected with flawed, yet useful safeguards, reflecting on the history of unlawful adult content proliferation offers a good lesson in consumer habits and insights into how best to address piracy. After all, pirates can show a distributor how consumers wish to see products.
Let’s discuss an example of this same song playing out in the music business. In 2002, a stable version of peer-to-peer file-sharing service Napster hit the scene, to which the music industry reacted as they were losing traditional distribution models. People wanted to consume content differently than ever before, the music industry was slow to adapt, even if Steve Jobs’ Apple later solved that problem with an iPod and iTunes.
In its heyday, Napster was a phenomenal tool for finding and downloading music, not to mention a money machine for adult content. What was missed by too many during that entire period as everyone focused on the word “piracy,” was that peer-to-peer technology offered an effective delivery tool. Napster, at its core, operated like edge delivery on the world wide web.
See, while adult was busy making money from this new technology, the music industry solution was to have Madonna record the statement, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” If you downloaded and played certain music, you got verbally spanked by Madonna. It was like getting Rick Rolled. Today, that same model is repeated, albeit slightly different, where the music industry takes down a pirate site and proceeds to send out a press release claiming victory … only to see five more pop up two weeks later from the same pirate.
Now, was Napster all bad? No. If Napster was the beta model, iTunes, Netflix and Hulu are the release model.
No matter the industry, when business slows or competition starts nipping at your bottom line, or a disruptive new technology shows up, it’s vital to take a look at what’s possible before you work to shut it down.
Knowledge is Half the Battle
As the great Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu once said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
And while business owners rightfully blame piracy for lost profits, they also fail to see the hidden lessons that studying pirates can offer. Because while piracy can indeed chip away at bottom lines, even wiping out some businesses, it presents a unique marketing tool. For better and for worse, internet piracy changed the face of our industry by indirectly demonstrating how advertising-driven business models can succeed.
That being said, piracy is like a virus, because it must be taken seriously and properly addressed with nuanced care. Because if overwhelming force was always the answer, then the music industry’s anti-piracy efforts should have wiped out music piracy decades ago. And Hollywood’s attacks against torrent sites should have wiped them out as well. Heck, my own no-holds barred action back in the day should have wiped it out too. It didn’t.
Instead, what we all did was change how pirates operate. As we study them, they study us. It's why I changed my company’s approach and why today, we systematically target problem sites and networks more surgically.
Look at the whole picture, figure out where piracy really presents an issue and then solve those problems. Because when the music industry saw Napster as an attack on their antiquated distribution model, with their control at stake, they ignored the fact this was market demand telling them about a new way to serve content.
Don't Let Pirates Spook You
There will always be opportunity in selling, using and trading content. Advertising models work and membership sites work, just as selling and licensing photographs, videos and cam content are valuable.
So go make your money and gain your fame; just remember that pirates exist and that anti-piracy efforts don’t need to consume you or be costly. Be aware and take a few steps, if for no other reason than knowing you can learn a lot from a pirate.
What have we learned from pirates, exactly?
- You can give content away and still make money from ad sales and upselling
- You can get a piracy network to stay away from your content
- You can turn a pirate into an affiliate
- You can learn SEO tricks
- You can learn what an audience wants and how they want it
- You can spot trends
If you do nothing else, register your copyrights with the US Copyright Office and keep track of your content. Don’t wait. This way, if and when you decide to address the piracy of your content, if need be, you can bring a real claim.
When we take on new clients who have had market penetration for an extended period of time, it can take over a year before we can step back and see the shift from our joint efforts. And while there will be noticeable differences early on, big shifts take time. Once they come, it becomes much easier to lock down deals, shift the tables and fully leverage opportunities. The message is, that the sooner you do something, the easier it is to manage.
As H. Jackson Brown, Jr., the author of “Life’s Little Instruction Book” once said, “Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor.”
You can be ready for that dance by having an organized library, a few Google alerts to monitor your work and copyright registrations. And if you need support organizing your library, we offer free tools, like a DMCA Notice Generator and a Takedown Template. Because when your Google alerts go off, you really should get in the habit of sending a DMCA Takedown Notice. It only takes a few minutes.
Watch how your content, or better yet, your competitors’ content, is being exploited by pirates. Then use that as a template for ad targeting.
With piracy, the end result is always the same: it’s about money. It’s about getting eyeballs and moving them to a location. It’s pure. The main difference between you and a pirate is that you have the cost of creation.
Piracy at its core is still the same as it was 20 years ago. The good news is now you have some tools and maybe a new way to see opportunity.
I hope that this helps you as you continue to create and publish your work. If you have questions or want to share experiences, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Happy hunting!
Jason Tucker is the managing director of Battleship Stance, a copyright management, enforcement and legal services company whose clients include prominent industry players. Follow him @IntelPropHQ on Twitter. For free tools and support, visit IntellectualPropertyHQ.com and go to BattleshipStance.com to inquire about company services.
