Some performers do use Patreon. But if you want to promote your erotic work, Patreon doesn't accept accounts promoting porn with live actors, only drawn art.
oh yeah, lots of creators use Patreon. Fenoxo, the creator of the text based RPG Trials in Tainted Space (he sells it in MiKandi), uses Patreon and brings in $20K a month. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121401&u=121401&ty=h
So far it's a great service for adult art and fiction creators. But as with any mainstream service and adult content, you can't ever be sure how long it'll last. Past experience has shown it's a matter of time before adult gets kicked out of the party. I hope that won't be the case with Patreon.
When I was a kid you could hardly get any legal software in Poland too, and whatever there was available legally, was priced beyond reach of a simple low-to-middle-class family. Quite honestly, I owe my entire career to software piracy. Now that I work and earn money I buy everything I need legally if it's available, but I still support policies and technologies that give cheap or free access to tools, knowledge and culture to youth. Fortunately the current situation in IT is much better now, thanks to the Internet and companies realizing they can get more paying customers later if they give personal-use licenses for free.
> When I was a kid you could hardly get any legal software in Poland too
True. Poland market was so small (and so far away, relatively - that was before fast Internet connections) that no one gave a "flying fuck" what was happening here. I remember buying pirated CDs in broad daylight at the mall circa '95, no one cared. A few years later I wanted to buy Visual C++ 6.0 (standard edition) and it took me half a year to finally get it - nobody had it for sale at all. You theoretically could buy software abroad, but then it was so expensive no one really did this. The only software distribution platform was sneakernet.
Yeah. I was buying games on CDs in a particular market in my city around '97. Also VC++ 6.0 was my first real programming environment; I got it from a friend of my dad, I have no clue where he did find it, but it was what turned me into a programmer. I still have fond memories towards that environment.
Actually, I was on the phone with Microsoft once, applying for internship. I was asked what is my favourite dev software; I answered something along the way of "VS C++ 6.0, because the 200x editions kind of suck", just little more politely. I didn't get the internship eventually, but I want to believe this was for unrelated reasons.
You guys had CDs? I was buying software on floppies by mail order from my friendly neighborhood pirate. My favorite thing about it was that whenever I ordered a program or two, he would include a bunch of other programs and games for free to fill the extra room on the floppies, since the floppies were the expensive part and it didn't cost him any extra. It was like getting a box of chocolates. Ah those were the days.
In late 90s/early 2000s (around 1997-2005) the standard practice was to go to a specific marketplace in the city to get games and software for $6 - $7 (around 25 PLN); this was a standard price for a CD of anything, the content didn't really matter. I was a kid at that time, so I don't remember how it was before. Maybe we had a floppy market as well; someone older would have to chime in.
So I just signed up for a Mikandi account, you know, just to explore a little...
A couple of things:
1. I tried buying account credit (aka "Mikandi Gold"), but it wouldn't work, looks like jQuery isn't being loaded, error from console:
> ReferenceError: $ is not defined [1]
2. Do you guys accept Bitcoin/cryptocurrency? If not, why? Seems like the perfect venue for it, I would think most geeks wouldn't want those types of purchases tied to their credit card.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll take a look. Most of the activity happens in the Android client, not on the site, so we sometimes don't check the web property as often as we should.
We've talked about cryptocurrency but go back and forth on it. Right now, we're mainly focused on streamlining credit card, direct debit, and SMS billing, and carrier where we can get it. We just got approved to use Paypal through Epoch so that's really exciting for us since a lot of people want to buy adult content by Paypal.
You should do an AMA here in this thread about the industry!
I'll start. What are some common misconceptions about the industry in general and what do you think about the accuracy of the article and how it paints the industry?
I think the article covered the misconceptions and the state of the industry pretty well.
I think the biggest misconceptions are:
1. No one pays for porn, but we know they do.
2. Selling is a sure-fire way to make a ton of money. It's only sure-fire if you're going to use less than favorable tactics, as with any business.
3. Everyone in porn is a scammer. There are bad apples, but most folks in the adult industry are really great to work with.
4. That porn tube sites are the common enemy. But in many ways it's the big mainstream tech giants that threaten the industry. Take a look at Tumblr. They made it so easy to spread and share pirated content with one click and even if you wanted to claim your content back by adding your affiliate links, they will ban your account and call that "spam".
I just want to say, it was a nice stunt you did with Google Glass! I think the jokes were even better than the... more explicit part. It was also the first time I heard of MiKandi. Please do something like this with HoloLens as well, such take on up-and-coming technologies is a material for infinite amount of laughter over at watercooler at work.
Thanks! We had a ton of fun shooting that. Andy and James ad libbed a lot of it. It was fun to shoot because we had to hide in the back room while they did their thang, otherwise they'd catch us in the Glass footage huddled around the corner laughing. :D The funny thing about shooting Glass POV porn is we thought we could be in the room to help direct, but literally everything you see is recorded, so we were constantly accidentally caught on film. So they kicked us out. :D
I love Android because it's open and am happy that Google kept it that way... to an extent. Some of the things they do are backhanded. For example, there's a strong campaign to condition users to only trust Google for apps. Downloading any third party APK from Chrome brings up a scary warning: https://v5j7s7h5.ssl.hwcdn.net/v2/mkstatic/chrome-warning.pn...
If you do a mobile search for porn apps, half the screen is taken up by anti-porn apps available in Play Store. They campaign that Play is the only legitimate and safe source, but malicious apps find their way in Play too. Instead of lumping all third party sources as "Unknown" and potentially dangerous, there ought to be a way for third parties to earn "Known" status and verified as a trusted source. But I doubt we'll ever get that fair treatment.
It's not just Google though, obviously. These tech giants have the opportunity and thus responsibility to make a positive difference here. Instead, by blocking one of our most basic human desires, they often chose to devolve and perpetuate the war on sex.
I daydream that, one day, tech giants like Google, Amazon, or Yahoo, or VCs and banks will say, “Let’s open our doors to SexTech companies we can trust.” We try to operate everyday as if this is a possibility, because one day I hope it will be.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply! I'll look through those links tomorrow and may drop you a line. This is a political issue I care deeply about so I'd like to stay in touch.
Oh man. Just from looking at the title, I had a feeling your might be in the adult space. The same happened to me. We were using Mailchimp to send technical newsletters to our registered developers.
I did try speaking with someone at Mailchimp to plead our case. Unfortunately it didn't work. You might have some luck though because you're more in the health & wellness area of the industry, whereas I own an adult app store, so I'm 100% in the "porn" side of it.
There are some adult friendly newsletter services out there, but they're usually very costly. I think I saw one a few years back that was $150 a month. We've been using Amazon SES to send verification emails for new registrations, so we opted for SES for our monthly dev newsletter, neither of which have any porn or adult content in them whatsoever.
Excellent question. Five years ago, I started my company with my partner. Before that, I joined his first startup. All in all, we've been working together and living together for almost 10 years. Our families are close and we have the same group of friends. Basically, we're around each other all. the. time.
Both our current company and our last one were in the adult space (sex toy design and manufacturing, and our adult mobile app store). For a few years we ran both companies simultaneously, mostly from home in a room that was both our bedroom and office (because 1. #startuplife and 2. adult startups don't usually get funding that affords us office space). We even moved to a small factory town in China for a couple of years to lead a group of designers and engineers and oversee manufacturing, where we had no friends aside from each other.
Sounds maddening, doesn't it? Except it isn't.
Some might say there are a lot of land mines here. Having virtually no separate life from your partner is dangerous, working in the adult space can be hazardous to your sex life, the pressures of running a company can turn you against each other. But only you and your partner know how you tick together. I believe that as long as both of you are putting your all into it (the relationship and the business) AND you genuinely love and admire your partner for who they are, vice and virtue, it can be an incredibly rewarding experience. You'll both be working for the same dream personally and professionally. Remember some of the greatest companies in the world are family-owned.
Things I would look out for are not so much about what your partner does or their personality traits, but more about how you both are together. How do you argue? How do you make up? Do you turn to each other when you're under stress? Do you value each other's input? Do you inspire each other? Can you tell each other when the other is slipping up? Can you handle harsh criticism from the person you're most vulnerable to?
If you haven't already, you need to learn how to argue. Say what you mean, criticize what they do not who they are, and when you're done, apologize right away. Both of you. Actually, both of you should get used to apologizing a lot. I've found that because you're under a lot of stress, the smallest jab can become a war wound. Likewise, offer accolades often too. Unlike traditional business partnerships, you don't get a lot of emotional distance when you work with your significant other. I'm not suggesting you coddle each other either. You need to learn how to give and take criticism with the understanding that it can be emotionally charged and received.
You should inspire each other and feel accountable to each other to work efficiently and effectively. If either of you don't feel this way about the other, I'd advise against working together because inevitably one or the other will feel they're pulling all the weight. You don't get extra leeway because you're sleeping with your business partner.
Speaking of sex, embrace the quickie. Because, let's face it, you're not gonna have a lot of time all the time.
Lastly, and importantly, don't shit with the door open. Also, take a shower, brush your teeth, put on pants. Keep some of the little mystery you have left. :)
Sound advice for anyone choosing a name in a foreign language. I lived and worked in China and met numerous men with lofty names like Jenius (yes, with a J) and King (1). I also worked with a Western man who renamed himself Dragun (yes, with a U) when he moved to the heavenly kingdom.
edit: (1) This one is likely a translation of Wang into English.
Oh man, you've just opened the floodgates. I just love to geek out on this topic. :)
I've been in the adult industry for almost a decade- both in "hardware" (sex toys) and software (mobile app store, video streaming). What sort of innovations are you looking for? Content, social, tech?
A sex toy company I find innovative is Revel Body. Most vibrators use a rotary motor that spins an off-kilter weight to create the vibration. Revel Body developed their own patented linear motor that uses magnetic fields of alternating polarity to slide a weight back and forth in a linear motion. It's super quiet, more powerful and last longer than the older motors. They also designed their own chip to give the user precise control of the frequency and speed. I would have loved to have used RB's motor in the toys I designed.
Lovepalz has the Zeus and Hera toys that couple hardware with software for long distance partners. Minna toys have pressure sensitive control panels.
The folks at Utherverse created an immersive adults-only virtual world. I believe they launched a major overhaul to their platform last month. They've also built a VR compatible platform specifically for the Oculus Rift universe. In terms of VR porn, Utherverse is at the forefront.
For software, I think we tend to look at consumer-facing sites and products, but there's a wealth of tech innovation happening behind the scenes. SendFaster, while not an adult company (but a tech co that powers a number of adult sites, mine included) has amazing TCP acceleration and image compression software.
While not a startup, Streamates developed their own live streaming technology that's used by millions of visitors daily.
Speaking of my company, I co-founded the MiKandi Adult App Store. We launched almost 5 years ago as the first adults only app store, before Android really hit it big. Being early adopters of Android and one of the few third party Android app stores at the time, we really dove head first into it. Under our belt today, we've got app distribution, mobile video streaming, in-app billing, notifications, DRM and content management, and soon-to-launch an ebook reader, mobile game creator, and comic reader and creator. We've tried to push other tech forward but are usually shot down soon after launching them- our Google Glass adult app, Tits & Glass, and our third party Chrome app store, MiKandi Mint.
As far as the problem we're trying to solve, it's less about a problem in the adult industry as much as it's a problem in the mainstream tech and banking industries, which is being discussed a lot here. I wrote about the hostile business world here: http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/sextech-startups-in-a-hos...
Agreed. With so much free porn online, everyone has be come a connoisseur. What stands out is experience, quality/niche, and convenience. I found this reddit thread on who pays for porn and why an interesting read.
