Every MondayToday, adult superstar/OC girl Tasha Reign gives us her thoughts on life, sex, politics and everything in between. Today, Tasha weighs in on how piracy is destroying the porn industry. Enjoy!
By Tasha Reign
I'm all for letting people do what they want to do behind closed doors unless it's illegal. So while I'm flattered that people go online to search for me, too often they settle on so-called “Tube” sites that take my clips without my permission. Like porn? By God, pay for it or it'll become a thing of the past. Don't always act out of horniness, boys; think before you tug!
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The tube sites have exploited the xx business in every way imaginable, leaving companies with not enough funding to turn a profit. Because of this piracy, fewer and fewer companies can maintain websites, updates and hire talent, location, makeup and hair, directors, tech people, designers, camera men, and all of the people necessary in creating a solid adult film. Website memberships have plummeted; DVDs are almost as irrelevant as Betamex. We continue to make movies, but there's a smaller and smaller pot of profit that fewer and fewer companies have to fight for every year.
Because of this, consolidation is now happening–and as any lover of the free market knows, monopolies only lead to business stagnation. American jurisprudence always looks down on monopolies, but you never hear about the creeping monopolization of the adult business because of the lack of respect society has sex workers, only using them to satiate their “wicked” desires. But I guarantee you: if this were any other business, the feds would be breaking up the Octopus ala Ma Bell. But it ain't gonna happen.
The sad thing is that I and others can rail about how piracy is ruining this industry, how no one should engage in illegal downloading–but everyone will continue to do it. But we won't stop railing. Why is it okay to take something that cost people all their hard-earned money, time and energy to create, for an audience to just take advantage of them and swindle our product for free without any repercussions? I watched a recent report on the news about tube sites. Its conclusion was telling: according to the story, the public at large says they don't care about the adult business even though so many watch it; people say they have “no respect” for us even though they take part in our business daily; and because of this faux apathy, no one cares to monitor all the Internet pirates. What was even more fascinating was the female reporters who were not media literate enough to keep a straight face and get through the piece without laughing and treating the subject like it was some sort of joke.
Sorry, sisters: you're the joke. Someone steals your newscast, you call the F.C.C. Someone steals my clips, I don't have any government agency behind my back.
My hope, as vain as it may be is, that the Internet can somehow clamp down on the tube sites that get their stuff illegally so the actors and actresses can still profit off the films and budgets don't continue to sink. I want people to realize that their actions have consequences, that being a thief behind a computer is just as bad as being a thief in public, and that if they want good performances, then they better pay for them or it won't be around much longer. When our rates as performers are sinking so low that it's nearly no longer worth it to have sex as a career, there's a problem. The end result is inferior quality. Please do not be a PIRATE.
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